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2025 Final Four Power Rankings
There weren’t any Cinderella stories in the NCAA Tournament this year. Arkansas was the only double-digit seed to make it out of the second round. All four top seeds made the Final Four for just the second time since the tournament expanded in 1985 (2008). The cumulative total of the seeds in the Elite Eight (13) was the lowest since 2007. The tournament may be “boring” because of the lack of upsets, but what we have might be the best Final Four in history.
Since Ken Pomeroy started his rankings at the beginning of the 1996 season, only 10 teams have had a ranking of 35 or better at the end of the season. Four of them are this year — from the Final Four teams. Duke has the second-highest ranking in history (39.6), only trailing the 1998-99 Duke team. Houston ranks sixth (36.5), Florida ranks eighth (36), and Auburn is 10th (35.2).
We should have all seen this coming, right? Duke and Auburn were the clear top teams for much of the season. Duke and Houston only lost once each in conference play. The upper echelon of teams was far ahead of the pack this season. How do we go about ranking the four elite teams? The only way we can. At this stage of the season, matchups matter.
4. Florida
Strangely enough, Auburn and Florida only met once between the regular season and the SEC Tournament. The Gators beat Auburn in the jungle thanks to big games from Walter Clayton Jr. and Alex Condon. Florida led wire-to-wire despite a double-double from Johni Broome.
Simply put, Florida is lucky to be here. Texas Tech’s odds of making the Final Four were a touch above 98% with three minutes left in the regional final. Two missed front ends of one-and-ones for Tech and Walter Clayton Jr. making everything shattered Tech. Florida is supposed to be the poor free-throw shooting team. Florida is one of the hottest teams in the country right now, but can they really beat Auburn again?
3. Auburn
Auburn let Michigan State back into the game a couple of times but was never any real threat to lose. Johni Broome had a monster game and freshman Tahaad Pettiford scored 10 off the bench. Of concern to Auburn should be the game that Jaxon Kohler had. He had 17 points and 11 rebounds for a team that hasn’t had a strong presence in the middle all season. Florida’s Alex Condon had a big game in the first matchup and now the Gators have Micah Handlogten back as well. I expect a closer game than the nine-point Florida win back in February, but I don’t know that I expect a different victor.
2. Houston
It’s time to show the Cougars some respect. Houston is the first 1 seed since North Carolina in 2017 to beat the 2, 4, and 8 seeds en route to the Final Four. Not only that, but Houston’s defense absolutely dominated Tennessee. The Vols became the first team ever seeded 2 or higher to only score 15 points in a half of an NCAA Tournament game. Only Florida was able to beat Tennessee as badly as Houston did, though the Vols did get revenge later.
1, Duke
Much is made about how weak the ACC was this year and the early exits of Clemson, North Carolina, and Louisville didn’t help the cause. Duke isn’t just a product of a weaker conference. This team dominated much of the season. In the era of the transfer portal, most teams are a shadow of what they will be later in the season in November. For Duke, it wasn’t the transfers. It was the freshmen. However, Duke still beat Auburn early in the season before Cooper Flagg was at his best. This was an Auburn team that was largely the same as it was last season. A Duke team that hadn’t come near its peak yet still beat them. That speaks volumes about where Duke is right now. Some are talking about Cooper Flagg as the best one-and-done player ever. It’s hard to disagree after the season he’s had.
