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Todd Golden’s Florida team looked down and out. But after a thrilling comeback, the only place the Gators are going is the Final Four in San Antonio.
The 1-seed from the West Region erased a 10-point lead down the stretch and outlasted gritty 3-seed Texas Tech, 84-79, in a thriller in San Francisco. Golden, who once coached down the road at the University of San Francisco before heading to Gainesville, had never even won an NCAA Tournament game before this season.
But that’s all changed in a matter of a few weeks, and 1 week after dethroning 2-time defending national champion UConn, Golden is going to his first Final Four. After the incredible rally, the 39-year-old spoke with his entire team behind him in the postgame on-court interview.
“They’ve done it all year. They’ve been incredibly resilient. They’ve stayed the course. We just had to dig in and get the stops,” said Golden, who has Florida in its first Final Four since 2014. “That’s what we’ve done all year. We found a way to win this game.”
Florida, which also won the SEC Tournament a few weeks ago in Nashville, found a way again after doing the same against UConn in the second round. Now, it’s heading to San Antonio and is 2 wins from its first NCAA title since 2007.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
