The men's Final Four is underway in San Antonio.
The No. 1 overall seed Auburn fell to Florida during the opener in San Antonio with Walter Clayton Jr. and the Gators putting the Tigers away 79-73 after trailing at halftime. Florida will face the winner of Duke vs. Houston in Monday night's championship game.
Our reporters on-site and editors throughout the country are tracking all the action below.
Skip to: Analysis of Florida's win
Final Four live tracker
(1) Florida vs.
(1) Auburn
Final: Florida defeated Auburn 79-73
How Florida won: Whenever things begin to fall apart, Florida turns to its star -- it's in those moments when the best version of Walter Clayton Jr., an AP first team All-American, shows up. It happened again Saturday, as Clayton took it upon himself (again) to ruin Auburn's dreams and send the Tigers home when he scored a game-high 34 points. A late 3-point play -- a bucket and a free throw after a foul -- sealed the win for a determined Florida squad. Down by nine points early in the second half, the Gators turned to their hero, who extended his postseason display of back-breaking shots as he led Florida out of another hole to help the program advance to the national title game Monday night for the first time since 2007, when the program won back-to-back national titles. -- Myron Medcalf
No. 1 factor that helped them reach the title game: Walter Clayton Jr. It's always Walter Clayton Jr., isn't it? The senior guard became the first player since Larry Bird in 1979 to produce back-to-back 30-point games in the Elite Eight and national semifinals, according to ESPN Research. He finished with 34 points and five 3-pointers, leaving Auburn completely helpless on how to defend him. Florida looked stagnant offensively with him on the bench in the first half, but came to life when he got going after the break. Auburn had no answer for his stunning shotmaking ability. Bruce Pearl switched his big wings onto Clayton, but it didn't matter. Contested shots, getting run off the 3-point line, Clayton still found a way. It was a remarkable performance. -- Jeff Borzello
Note: The rest of this story was published before the Final Four tipped.
Final Four Predictions
Which teams do ESPN analysts have winning the men's Final Four games this weekend? And which one do they predict to cut down the nets in San Antonio on Monday night?
We polled 56 personalities who have covered the men's college basketball season on ESPN platforms this season -- from past national champions Jim Boeheim and Jay Williams to Bracketologist Joe Lunardi -- on the winners of Auburn vs. Florida and Duke vs. Houston. We also asked them to pick their national champion.
The semifinals results don't stray far from the odds at ESPN BET -- but they do on the title winner.
Duke, Florida favorites to win Final Four
Walter Clayton Jr. and the Florida Gators were picked by 59% of the analysts polled (a 33 to 23 split) to beat Johni Broome and the Auburn Tigers -- almost precisely the same implied probability (60%) of Florida's -155 money-line odds.
Meanwhile, Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils were picked by 73% (or 41) of the respondents to defeat L.J. Cryer and the Houston Cougars, again closely matching the implied probability (72%) of Duke's -260 money-line odds.
Duke favored to win, No. 2 a potential surprise
Little surprise here: Most picked the Blue Devils to cut down the nets at the Alamodome on Monday night with 61% of the support (or 34 votes).
But unlike the futures market at ESPN BET, which gives Florida the second-best odds to win it all, the second-most picked team isn't from the SEC. Rather, 11 of the 15 analysts who picked Houston to win its Final Four matchup against Duke have the Cougars going all the way.
Florida (seven) and Auburn (four) split the final votes. See the full breakdown of votes below!
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