There’s someone missing from the Final Four: Cinderella.
Out-of-nowhere success stories have long been an indelible part of the NCAA men's tournament experience, and the absence of a truly unexpected underdog has been one of the defining themes of this year’s bracket.
But having an A-list Final Four is pretty good, too.
Based on each team’s performance leading into Saturday night, this year’s field of Auburn, Duke, Florida and Houston is one of the strongest in men’s tournament history. Only once before, in 2008, have four No. 1 seeds advanced to the national semifinals.
Whether the next few days live up to expectations remains to be seen – great teams don’t always create great matchups, so these year’s star-studded pairings could easily yield disappointingly one-sided results.
On paper, though, this group stacks up with any Final Four in tournament history. Including this year’s national semifinals, here are the seven strongest Final Four fields since the tournament expanded four decades ago:
2025: No. 1 Auburn, No. 1 Duke, No. 1 Florida, No. 1 Houston
Auburn and Florida rose to the top of an SEC that might have been the strongest single-season conference in NCAA history. Houston has turned into a powerhouse under coach Kelvin Sampson. Duke is back in the Final Four for the first time under coach Jon Scheyer. In addition to the way each dominated the regular season, this year’s Final Four includes a transcendent talent in Blue Devils forward Cooper Flagg, who could complete one of the great freshmen seasons by leading the Blue Devils to the championship.
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2008: No. 1 Kansas, No. 1 Memphis, No. 1 North Carolina, No. 1 UCLA
This group combined for just nine losses during the regular season and then bulldozed into the Final Four, with only two of the combined 12 tournament matchups heading into the national semifinals decided by single digits. Three of the four teams reached No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports men’s college basketball poll; the one exception was Kansas, which would beat Memphis in the championship game.
2015: No. 1 Duke, No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 1 Kentucky, No. 7 Michigan State
This quartet loses some luster for No. 7 Michigan State, which had ...
