The four teams participating in the Final Four this weekend in San Antonio are a perfect microcosm of the new era in college basketball. While a team such as Duke has built its roster with former blue-chip recruits such as Cooper Flagg, Tyrese Proctor and Khaman Maluach, other teams such as Florida have hit on the margins to create a team just two games away from winning the title.
Since Duke coach Jon Scheyer took over the program for Mike Krzyzewski in 2022, he has maintained the excellence on the recruiting trail that made the Blue Devils one of the best teams in the sport for decades. Flagg headlined the No. 1 overall recruiting class in the 2024 cycle, and Duke’s 2023 recruiting class finished second only behind Kentucky.
During the same stretch, Houston finished with the 22nd and 49th-ranked classes in the 2023 and 2024 recruiting cycles. The Cougars returned four starters from a team that won the Big 12 title during the 2023-24 season and replaced All-American guard Jamal Shead with Oklahoma transfer Milos Uzan, who has emerged as a potential NBA Draft prospect and one of the best players in the conference.
National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome is also a former transfer. Broome transferred to Auburn from Morehead State after the 2021-22 season and helped the program reach the Final Four for the second time ever with a win over No. 2 seed Michigan State. The Tigers are one of the most experienced and oldest teams in the sport.
Here is how every Final Four team built their roster.
How Duke built its roster
The nucleus of this Duke roster comes from one of the best high school recruiting classes in the modern era. Having Flagg as Duke’s building…
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