For the first time since 2008, every team in the Final Four will be a 1-seed. On Saturday, 1-seed Auburn will square off against 1-seed Florida in the Final Four.

Auburn fell 90-81 when it met Florida earlier this season on Feb. 8. However, the Tigers have looked formidable in the NCAA Tournament. Auburn star Johni Broome has been particularly excellent. He’s leading the Tigers in points and rebounds this season.

Of course, Florida has no shortage of standouts, either. Senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. exploded for 30 points in the Gators’ comeback win over Texas Tech in the Elite Eight. With the performance, he became the first player in program history to have multiple 30-point NCAA Tournament games.

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Odds for Auburn vs. Florida

According to FanDuel, Florida is a 2.5-point favorite against Auburn. Additionally, the Gators boast -146 odds on the money line.

The over/under for the game is set at 163.5 points. For reference, Florida is averaging 85.4 points per game in comparison to Auburn’s 83.8 points per outing.

How to watch Auburn vs. Florida

Time: 6:09 p.m. ET, April 5
Channel: CBS
Location: Alamodome — San Antonio, TX

1-seeds Auburn and Florida will meet on Saturday, April 5, in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, for a rematch in the Final Four. The winner will advance to the National Championship.

It is only Auburn’s second Final Four appearance in program history. The Tigers last reached the Final Four in 2019 but lost. Florida fans are much more familiar with the scenery. This will be the Gators’ seventh appearance in the Final Four. Florida will have a chance to compete for its third national title in program history.

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Coming off an eight-week break, the Brad Cox-trained Tappan Street, with Luis Saez in the irons, took command of the Florida Derby in the last furlong and never let go. Breezing with dispatch around the speedy Neoequos and Madaket Road, who had been a pacesetters up the backstretch, Tappan Street took his almost electrically precise stride well outside the fading duelists to lay down his burst of power. He hit the wire going away by a length-and-a-quarter with a time of 1:49:27 over the mile-and-an-eighth. Coming off an eight-week break, he was fresh, to say the very least, and at 2-1, paid $6.80 on a $2 bet.

After he, too, rounded Neoequos and Madaket Road, the deep-closing top favorite Sovereignty, who went off at 8-5, made a game bid at Tappan Street but discovered that he’d left himself what the British trainers call “too much to do” to get by the victor. The line was upon him; he flashed through it in place.

Needless to say, trainer Cox was pleased with his newly-minted Derby prospect, but remained tightly focused on the mechanical realities of the run.

Noting the far-outside post position from the 9-hole, Cox told the press: “When you give ’em nearly, I guess, what, eight weeks between starts, there’s always a concern. ‘Does he know enough?’ But he’s a very smart horse, he’s intelligent. I felt he would break very, very well today, just the way he has been training. And he did. I think that put him in the race and really put him in a great position.”

As for Sovereignty’s deep closing style both in his prior win in the Fountain of Youth and in Saturday’s race, trainer Bill Mott, ever the open book, said this before the race: “I think we had a good draw the last time (in the Fountain of Youth) that helped him win. As narrow as the margin of victory was, the post helped him because he was able to save some ground around the first turn.”

With his outside post position, Sovereignty didn’t lose much ground in the longer Florida Derby, but neither did he do anything different than attempt his ordinary deep close. But his last week was four weeks back, as opposed to Tappan Street’s eight, and the trackside chatter was that he wasn’t as much on his game. When it came Sovereignty’s moment to pounce on the frontrunners, the pounce sufficed to put away Madaket Road and Neoequos, as his 8-5 odds would declare that he well should have. But the effort wasn’t nearly enough to get past Tappan Street’s vastly superior last-furlong kick.

The Florida Derby functioned entirely as it should have as a major Kentucky Derby prep, distilling and simultaneously refining the top talent. Noting the eight weeks of rest that Tappan Street had, Winstar Farm’s CEO Elliott Walden, who knows a thing or two about racehorses, said after the race: “I thought (Tappan Street was) traveling better. But Sovereignty’s a very good horse. He’s going to be a tough foe at a mile-and-a- quarter. (Tappan Street) had eight weeks, (Sovereignty) had four weeks. We’re on even ground now, (the Derby) will be a good race.”

Tappan Street’s jockey Luis Saez was more ebullient, having just finished riding his rocket minutes before. “I saw (Sovereignty) and I let my horse go a little bit more,” Saez said, “and he gave me a good turn of foot. When he came to the top of the stretch, I knew (we were) going to be tough to catch.”

Prerace favorite Sovereignty  appeared in position to produce another thrilling, victorious stretch run in the March 29 $1.02 million Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park.

WinStar Farm, CHC, and Cold Press Racing’s Tappan Street , however, was not to be overtaken.

Tappan Street, a bay son of Into Mischief  , made his move under Luis Saez heading into the far turn and took the lead entering the stretch before charging to a 1 1/4-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds.

The Florida Derby awarded Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis to the top five finisher.

Tappan Street, bred in Kentucky by Blue Heaven Farm, started for the first time since finishing second in the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Feb. 1.

“When you give ’em nearly, I guess, what, eight weeks between starts, there’s always a concern. ‘Does he know enough?’” said trainer Brad Cox, whose colt broke from post 9. “But he’s a very smart horse, he’s intelligent. I felt he would break very, very well today, just the way he has been training. And he did. I think that put him in the race and really put him in a great position.”

Sovereignty, meanwhile, ran four weeks after capturing the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream. Winner of last year’s two-turn Street Sense Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs, the Godolphin homebred, another son of Into Mischief, was carrying Manny Franco because regular rider Junior Alvarado had been sidelined with a shoulder injury suffered last weekend.

Sovereignty captured both of his two wins by storming in the stretch to overtake the leader and cross the line first.

Nevertheless, WinStar Farm’s Elliott Walden said he was not overly concerned at seeing Bill Mott-trained Sovereignty appearing behind Tappan Street in the lane.

“I thought we were traveling better,” Walden said. “But Sovereignty’s a very good horse. He’s going to be a tough foe at a mile and a quarter. We had eight weeks, he had four weeks. We’re on even ground now, it’ll be a good race (in the Kentucky Derby).”

Saez said he noticed who was trailing his colt.

“I saw (Sovereignty) and I let my horse go a little bit more, and he gave me a good turn of foot,” the jockey said. “When he came to the top of the stretch, I knew it was going to be tough to catch (us).”

Madaket Road  and Neoequos  ran to the lead out of the gate and into the first turn. Madaket Road, ridden by Mike Smith and trained by Bob Baffert, set fractions of :23.37, :47.22, and 1:11.61.

Smith had replaced Tyler Gaffalione, who suffered a broken ankle March 26.

Neoquos and rider Edgard Zayas edged ahead of Madaket Road entering the stretch, before Tappan Street overtook the leaders and ran to victory in a winning time of 1:49.27.

Tappan Street paid $6.80 to win, followed by Sovereignty, Neoequos, Madaket Road, and Disruptor .

“Everything went to plan. He broke from there pretty well. He was in good position. The whole way I had a lot of horse,” Saez said. “We knew the speed was inside and we followed the speed. Everything came out perfect.”

Smith sounded impressed by the colts who finished ahead of Madaket Road.

“Let me tell you something, those two or three horses in front of us are serious, man, because I was running,” Smith said. “I could hear him and I could feel him, and it was getting to him a little bit, but it’s not because of a lack of try. He still kicked.”

Mott, whose colt broke from the outside post in the 10-horse field, was not discouraged by the outcome.

“The winner ran good. It was a good race,” Mott said. “This doesn’t have to be his (Sovereignty’s) best race. Sometimes you can look at it and say, ‘Maybe that’s a good thing.’ You don’t want their best race before the big event.

“This is a very important race, but I think the fact that he ran very big last time and ran very well this time, maybe he’ll continue to improve. I don’t think the fact that he didn’t win doesn’t mean he didn’t run a good race.”

Tappan Street was purchased as a yearling for $1 million at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton’s The Saratoga Sale by CHC, Siena Farm, and Maverick Racing. 

Walden said he wanted to name the colt after Siena Farm’s owner Anthony Manganaro, who died in August 2023, just two weeks the colt was purchased. Because the name had been taken, though, the connections chose to name the colt after the street on which Manganaro grew up.

“Into Mischief’s been really good to us,” Walden said. “He’s a big, strong colt, great physique. The kind of horse that we envisioned being able to win races like this.”

With the victory, Tappan Street now sits third on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 110 points, with Sovereignty fourth, also with 110 points. No Kentucky Derby (G1) prep has produced more winners of the Run for the Roses than the Florida Derby, from which 25 horses have gone on to win the first leg of the Triple Crown. Florida Derby runner-up Mage   was the last to triumph in the Kentucky Derby in 2023.

From 1995-2017, the seven Florida Derby participants who were victorious in the Run for the Roses also captured the Florida Derby.

Tappan Street is the 23rd grade 1 winner for six-time leading sire Into Mischief, who stands at Spendthrift Farm near Lexington for an advertised fee of $250,000. In addition to Tappan Street and Sovereignty, Into Mischief is also represented on the Road to the Kentucky Derby by Citizen Bull  and Barnes .