A lot of this is moreso matchups ... Houston style worked this year to earn them a championship shot. But the teams that won over the last 5 years or so were teams that could score AND play tough defense. Uconn is probably the best example of this. They were the last team outside of us that hit an uncanny number of 3s in a playoff game.
It's always going to be different styles with this many teams involved. Just so happened it was Houstons year ... could have easily had a Duke-Auburn matchup Monday.
IMO, Duke & UF were the two best teams, with Duke being the most talented but UF being mentally tougher. UF also had the most “special” player in Clayton, Jr. How many games did this kid win for them this year? It was fitting that he had the biggest play in the champ game. Ironically, it was not a must-have 25-30 ft 3, but the close out which caused the Houston kid to stop his shot.
AU was never going to beat UF. They had to start their game shooting out of their minds but it was still not enough to separate from UF. It would not have been nearly as close if ?Haugh? had not have missed a bucket full of FTs down the stretch.
Houston had no business winning but Duke had an epic collapse. Houston was better offensively than I realized or just had a good offensive game vs UF till real late when UF turned it up a notch.