A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The NCAA men's basketball Final Four is set. Auburn Tigers take on Florida. Duke plays Houston in the other semifinal matchup. Finalists are all No. 1 seeds, something that's only happened once since 1985. Here to talk about the Cinderella-free final four, we're joined by Andscape's Jesse Washington. So, the biggest surprise, Jesse, was that there's no surprise, right? All one seeds are in the Final Four. What happened?
JESSE WASHINGTON: Yeah. I think Cinderella has vanished into the transfer portal is what happened. You know, this new era of college basketball that we're in with freedom of movement for the players, abundant NIL payments at the top schools, the best players gravitate to these great schools and end up top heavy in a tournament like this with all the No. 1 seeds making it. You know, in past years, Iona might have been our Cinderella because that's where the Florida senior transcendent guard Walter Clayton Jr. started his career. But in this era, he transferred to Florida. He powered them to the Final Four as a No. 1 seed, so that's what we're looking at.
MARTÍNEZ: So Duke is led by Cooper Flagg. Well, one of college basketball's most exciting players. I mean, is he the best at the college level? By the way, he's also got a great name - Cooper Flagg. I mean, my goodness.
WASHINGTON: Yeah. I think he is the best player in college basketball. He's terrific - 6'9", can do everything, has started to dominate toward the end of the year. But Duke's supporting cast is also amazing. You know, Kon Knueppel is great. Duke is looking loaded.
MARTÍNEZ: Alright, let's talk about Auburn. So that's the only team - actually, they've been in the Final Four once before 2019. But for the longest time, Jesse, I mean, Auburn was really just more of a football school than a basketball school. So what's changed for them?
WASHINGTON: Bruce Pearl has really elevated this program. The coach, you know, he's been around. He's been in some trouble. He's gotten out of some trouble. Now he's in the Final Four, trying to win it for the first time. You know, they got a great older, which is another aspect of college basketball that's new, star player, Johni Broome. Power forward, sort of a throwback player. Been around the block a few times. He's sort of the ying to Cooper Flagg's yang in terms of an older player who's really good. And so Auburn is no longer just football.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. So that's what we're seeing then, right? I mean, all these powerhouse schools are kind of getting smaller schools, older players that are really good but maybe won't have much of a championship future on those teams so they transfer over and all of a sudden, the rich keep getting richer.
WASHINGTON: The rich are abundantly rich in this year's tournament, you know, on one hand, people like Cinderella stories and the excitement of an underdog. But whenever the lesser schools get into the Final Four, the ratings go down. And so now we got big names, we got big fan bases, so it should make for very popular and exciting Final Four.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, on the women's side, two No. 1 seeds already in - UCLA in South Carolina. They're in the Final Four. Two No. 1 seeds play tonight - Texas and USC. I'm apologizing, Jesse, to the state of Connecticut and to the rest of the country. I want to see USC and UCLA - two LA schools - in the final four somehow.
WASHINGTON: Yeah. I can't blame you. That would be a great matchup. They've already had some epic battles this season. Unfortunately, USC's transcendent star JuJu Watkins went down with an ACL injury. So, you know, we won't see her in that game. And if UCLA can kind of get over this hump 'cause SC has had their number, for the most part, then it might be with a little asterisk on it because JuJu is not there, but any way you slice it, that would be a terrific, terrific Final Four battle on the women's side.
MARTÍNEZ: I get to keep my LA card, Jesse, for wanting...
WASHINGTON: Yes, sir.
MARTÍNEZ: ...A UCLA-USC Final Four somehow. Alright, that's Andscape's Jesse Washington. Jesse, thanks, as always.
WASHINGTON: Appreciate you. Thanks.
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