On Saturday, Florida, Auburn, Houston and Duke each showed why they were well deserving of No. 1 seeds.
However, Florida and Houston were able to pull off comeback victories to advance to the National Championship game.
On Monday, those two teams will battle to cut down the nets, and two players I'll be backing are Walter Clayton Jr. and LJ Cryer.
Read on for my 2025 college basketball national title game player props on Monday, April 7.
2025 College Basketball National Title Game Player Props
- Walter Clayton Jr. Over 19.5 Points (-130, BetMGM)
- LJ Cryer Over 17.5 Points (-115, BetMGM)
Florida Player Prop: Walter Clayton Jr. Over 19.5 Points
Is there really a reason to not back Clayton at this point? Sure, the trends are there. He's now scored 20 points in eight of his last 10 games, finishing with 18 in another. However, he's shown he can get to this line in a variety of ways.
Against UConn, he started slow and scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half. Then, against Texas Tech, he got to the free throw line 14 times en route to 30 points.
Clayton has also proven himself to be a big shot maker. If the game is tight late — which you would expect in a National Championship game with a 1.5-point spread — the ball will be in Clayton's hands.
Now, Houston has the nation's best defense and slowing Clayton down will be atop its list of priorities. However, Duke's No. 1 option — Cooper Flagg — just had 27 points against the Cougars, while Tennessee's Chaz Lanier got up enough to score 17 points.
Clayton is coming off consecutive games of 30 and 34 points, giving us a ton of value with this line. If he gets there again, you can back him for 25 points at +245 and for 30 points at +750 on FanDuel.
Houston Player Prop: LJ Cryer Over 17.5 Points
Houston is the nation's top 3-point shooting team at 39.9% for the season. So, if Clayton has a big night — as expected — it has the firepower to match him.
Cryer may just be the one leading the way.
In 10 career NCAA Tournament games, Cryer is averaging 19 points per game. He's scored 15 points in nine of those games and has gone for 20 or more in four of them.
Cryer is coming off a 26-point performance in the Cougars' Final Four victory over Duke. He scored 14 of those points in the second half to fuel Houston's comeback.
While Florida is ninth in adjusted defensive efficiency, it doesn't have as much length on the perimeter as Duke. That means the 6-foot-2 Cryer may be able to get his jumpers off a bit easier on Monday.
He's entering this game on a heater from deep, shooting 45.2% on 8.4 3-point attempts in the NCAA Tournament.
If he knocks down at least four triples on Monday, he'll be well on his way to scoring 18 points again.
