The NCAA men’s Final Four, which will be held on Saturday in San Antonio, Texas, with the winners moving on to Monday’s championship game, is replete with four No. 1 seeds. Florida and Auburn will match up in the opening game (6:09 p.m.) and Duke will meet Houston in the nightcap (8:49).
For most of this college basketball season, the aforementioned quartet of programs have been the best, and have resoundingly proved their bonafides during the postseason. Furthermore, for local basketball fans, the weekend will be spiced with New York City-area flavor.
Before becoming a First-Team All-American this season, senior point guard Walter Clayton Jr. starred at Iona College in New Rochelle under their former head coach Rick Pitino. When Pitino left Iona to take his current head coaching position at St. John’s in March 2023, he tried to convince Clayton to join him. It was a difficult deliberation for the three-point sniper, but in the end, the Sebring, Florida native chose his home state school.
Related: March Madness becomes sadness for St. John’s after loss to Arkansas
“Whenever he went to St. John’s, I was thinking about that,” Clayton said of Pitino in a recent interview on ESPN’s “Paul Finebaum Show.” And honestly, that was the plan. But plans can change.
“It was a great environment, they made a great plan … it was a great decision,” the 6’3”, 22 year old said of transferring to the University of Florida.
Auburn’s dynamic freshman point guard Tahaad Pettiford played high school basketball just 9.5 miles from Manhattan. The 6’1” 2024 McDonald’s All-American from Jersey City, New Jersey had a stellar prep career at Hudson Catholic in his hometown. His adept ball-handling skills, shot-making creativity and perimeter shooting have translated exceptionally well to the next level.
He’s been one of Auburn’s most productive and important players, making the Southeastern Conference’s All-Freshman team while averaging nearly 12 points and three assists per game. The Final Four will also showcase college basketball’s top-two candidates for national player of the year in Duke’s remarkable freshman forward Cooper Flagg and Auburn’s senior forward Johni Broome.
Flagg and Broome were this season’s only two unanimous First-Team All-American selections and the 6-9, 18-year-old Flagg will with near certainty be the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA Draft.