WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President honored the 2025 NCAA basketball champion Florida Gators at the White House on Wednesday, proclaiming that 鈥渓esser teams would have crumbled鈥� during its nail-biting title game victory.
鈥淚t was looking bad,鈥� Trump said, noting that Houston led by as many as 12 points in a game Florida rallied to win 65-63 in San Antonio in April. 鈥滵id you think you were going to win?"
Florida (36-4) . The Gators led the finale for a total of 64 seconds, including .
Trump recounted Alijah Martin making two free throws to put the Gators ahead to stay with 46.5 seconds left, and asked Martin if he was nervous.
鈥淟esser teams would have crumbled,鈥� the president said.
Florida secured the program鈥檚 third title in basketball, and Trump noted that it is the only school to have a trio of NCAA titles in that sport and in football. When the Gators basketball team won back-to-back NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007, they visited President George W. Bush at the White House.
Wednesday's East Room ceremony featured top Trump administration leaders from Florida, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Mentioning Rubio, Trump said there's 鈥渘o bigger Florida fan.鈥�
Also on hand were Florida Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, as well as assorted House members from the state and former Florida football standout Tim Tebow. Trump described Tebow 鈥渁s a college player, maybe the best ever鈥� and said he was a big fan despite Tebow having spent part of his professional career with the NFL's New York Jets.
The team gave Trump an autographed basketball and No. 47 jersey with his name on the back. The president also hailed the Gators' 39-year-old coach, Todd Golden, as 鈥済reat" and 鈥測oung鈥� while joking, 鈥淏oy, would I like to be his agent.鈥�
Last year, President held a honoring the 2024 NCAA men's and women's basketball winners, honoring South Carolina and Connecticut.
Since taking office in January, Trump has hosted a series of championship teams, . His April ceremony in the Rose Garden with the NCAA football champion Ohio State Buckeyes is best remembered for Vice President JD Vance 鈥� an Ohio State graduate and Buckeye fan 鈥� the team's championship trophy.
Will Weissert, The Associated Press
