Todd Golden's homecoming hits a snag, with Florida rejected from the coach's favorite eatery

Sport

Todd Golden's homecoming hits a snag, with Florida rejected from the coach's favorite eatery

2025-03-25 07:32 Last Updated At：07:40

Florida’s cross-country trip hit a snag Monday.

Coach Todd Golden called his favorite restaurant in San Francisco, Original Joe’s, and got rejected. It didn’t help that he was trying to find space for 17 players, six coaches and at least a dozen more managers and staff.

“They’re too busy. I tried,” Golden said. “They don’t have enough room for the team.”

Golden and the top-seeded Gators (32-4) might have to settle for takeout from the popular Italian-American eatery.

“We’ll figure something out,” he said.

The 39-year-old Golden is counting on the rest of his return trip to Northern California going much smoother — and ending with Florida celebrating the program’s first Final Four in more than a decade.

The Gators play fourth-seeded Maryland (27-8) on Thursday in the Sweet 16 at the Chase Center. It will be a homecoming of sorts for Golden, who played at Saint Mary’s College (2004-08) in nearby Moraga and returned to the Bay Area to coach at San Francisco (2016-22), first as an assistant and then as the head coach for three seasons.

“It’s a handful. It’s a lot,” he said.

His phone has barely stopped buzzing since the Gators rallied past two-time defending national champion UConn, with calls and texts from friends and family members — some looking for tickets and others hoping to line up some time with Golden before his most important game of the season.

“I got a million friends who are like, ‘Hey, do you have 10 minutes for coffee?’ Well, I have 10. But I don’t six different 10s,” Golden said. “Big picture, it sounds great to be able to try to do all these things. But you get there and you’re not going to be able to do that much (stuff).”

Golden has a plan, though. He is inviting those closest to him to Florida’s practice Tuesday and/or walkthrough Wednesday at War Memorial Gym on San Francisco's campus. The Gators are leaving Gainesville early Tuesday and trying to take advantage of the time difference to practice on the West Coast for a couple days.

“It’s going to be awesome being able to go back,” Golden said. “I’m trying to do everything I can to enjoy it, too.”

Playing better would help.

Florida dominated the first 15 minutes of its NCAA Tournament opener against Norfolk State, leading 51-19 before the Spartans rallied and outscored the Gators the rest of the way. And Golden’s team trailed UConn by six midway through the second half Sunday before wearing the Huskies down and escaping with a 77-75 victory in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“I do feel like it was a little bit of a weight off of our team’s shoulders,” Golden said. “We got the 1 seed, and we played great the first 15 minutes against Norfolk and then we just kind of coasted. And there was pressure going into (UConn). We’ve had an incredible year. But if we’re somehow not able to win this game, I certainly mentally was like, ‘It’s going to be a letdown.’ Like the season’s going to feel like a letdown if we can’t get through this UConn game, which is crazy considering we won 31 games up until that point.

“But that’s the pressure of a 1 seed. That’s the pressure of trying to get a program back to its glory days. And I felt it, and our guys felt that way, especially for the first 30 or so minutes of the game.”

Golden believes his guys played tight early, started pressing after falling behind and made uncharacteristic mistakes along the way. All-American guard Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Thomas Haugh bailed the Gators out with several huge plays down the stretch.

“After winning, I do feel like the pin popped the balloon," Golden said. "We can kind of play loose this week.”

Even if they don't get to go to Joe's.

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.

March Madness: How to watch the women's Elite Eight and who's now favored to win the NCAA Tournament

2025-03-29 13:26 Last Updated At：13:31

After a series of blowouts to start the women's NCAA Tournament, things got a lot tougher to start the Sweet 16.

Duke reached its 12th Elite Eight by grinding out a 47-38 win over rival North Carolina in the lowest-scoring game in the Sweet 16 or beyond in women's March Madness history.

The Blue Devils move on to face top seed and reigning national champion South Carolina, which had a bit of a grind of its in own in beating Maryland 71-67.

LSU beat N.C. State 80-73, but didn't hit the go-ahead basket until there was 1:07 left. The Tigers are in the Elite Eight for the third straight year, which included a national championship two years ago.

They'll face top-seeded UCLA, which beat Mississippi 76-62 behind Lauren Betts' 31 points.

The second half of the Sweet 16 is Saturday, with UConn, TCU and Southern California among the teams vying for a spot in the Elite Eight.

UConn (33-3) vs. Oklahoma (27-7), Spokane, Washington. All-American Paige Bueckers closed out her final home game at Gampel Pavilion in style, matching a career high with 34 points in a thumping of South Dakota State in the second round. The road to her first national championship gets a bit tougher against the Sooners. Oklahoma rolled through its first two games and has a 136-68 rebounding advantage so far in the bracket.

Southern California (30-3) vs. Kansas State (28-7), Spokane. The big storyline is how the top-seeded Trojans will play without JuJu Watkins. The All-American tore the ACL in her right knee in USC's win over Mississippi State and is out for the season. The Wildcats reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2002 with a 80-79 overtime victory over Kentucky.

TCU vs. Notre Dame (28-5), Birmingham, Alabama. The experienced Horned Frogs are in the Sweet 16 for the first time after beating Louisville 85-71 in the second round. TCU also has a win over Notre Dame already this season, rallying from 14 down to beat the Irish in the Cayman Islands. But that game came with a catch: Notre Dame was down to six healthy players due to injuries. The Irish now have their full complement of players to go against Sedona Prince, who had a monster game against them in the Thanksgiving tournament.

Texas vs. Tennessee, Birmingham. This all-Southeastern Conference Sweet 16 matchup will be a contrast in styles. The Longhorns like to play bully ball and have outrebounded opponents by nearly 10 per game this season. The Vols play a frenetic style and force 22.4 turnovers per game. Texas won the lone regular-season meeting 80-76 despite being outscored 27-3 from the 3-point arc.

Every game of the women’s tournament will be aired — here is a schedule — on ESPN's networks and streaming services with select games on ABC.

The top four betting favorites at the start Sweet 16 week are (in order): UConn, South Carolina, UCLA and Texas, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

There were 31 automatic bids that went to conference champions and they were combined with 37 at-large picks by the NCAA selection committee. Selection Sunday unveiled the bracket matchups.

First- and second-round games concluded Monday on campuses across the country. Sweet 16 weekend (March 28-31) put games at two sites once again: Birmingham, Alabama, and Spokane, Washington.

The Final Four is in Tampa, Florida, on Friday, April 4, with the championship game on Sunday, April 6. A year ago, the championship game drew a bigger television audience than the men’s title game for the first time, with an average of 18.9 million viewers watching undefeated South Carolina beat Iowa and superstar Caitlin Clark.

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.