Two courts: NCAA's present (Gators!) and future play out 1700 miles apart on the same day

SAN ANTONIO — The final buzzer in San Antonio closed a drama that ended with confetti and Gator chomps — a thrill-a-minute NCAA title for the Florida Gators that reminded us all of what's so good about the games these college athletes play.

In another court — a few hours earlier and 1,700 miles away — lawyers, a few athletes and a judge debated issues that will impact the future of games like these and what comes next for a multibillion-dollar college-sports industry that is struggling with change.

Those two scenes Monday illustrated all that's at stake, and maybe even whether March Madness, which Florida wrapped up with a 65-63 title-clinching victory over Houston, will look the same in coming years.

So while Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr.'s clutch stop in the final seconds might have produced the day's biggest headline, federal Judge Claudia Wilken's decision about the multibillion-dollar college-sports lawsuit settlement — which could come within days, weeks, months, who knows? — will carry more weight.

''Basically I think it is a good settlement, don't quote me, and I think it's worth pursuing,'' Wilken said near the close of the daylong hearing she held in Oakland, California, that finished about an hour before tipoff in the Alamodome. ''I think some of these things could be fixed if people tried to fix them and that it would be worth their while to try to fix them.''

Judge seeks solutions for roster limits, future college players

Among Wilken's top-line items is figuring a way to gradually implement roster limits prescribed by the lawsuit. A solution could prevent an immediate wholesale phase-out of hundreds of football players, swimmers, sprinters and other college athletes across the country.

She also wants tweaks to how athletes who haven't yet reached college might be treated per terms of an agreement that's supposed to last 10 years.

"We're taking your feedback. We'll take it to our clients,'' NCAA attorney Rakesh Kilaru told Wilken.

The clock is ticking.

As currently structured, terms of the settlement are due to take effect on July 1, when the biggest change will be schools' ability to pay athletes directly. Also at stake is $2.78 billion in back pay to former players who weren't eligible for those payments.

Putting settlement's terms in play will impact all sports

That's where it comes back to the Gators, along with the thousands of varsity teams and players participating in college sports — from swimmers to pitchers to quarterbacks and everyone in between.

Like every other coach, Florida's Todd Golden is learning to work with a payroll. It's funded both from third-party booster groups that can funnel money to the players, and then, if Wilken gives the OK, from a pool of $20.5 million that schools like his will distribute among all its athletes — but mostly to football and a little less to basketball.

Those financial decisions, in turn, will dictate roster decisions and determine whether the Gators can afford another player like Clayton.

He's the senior who left a small Northeastern school, Iona, to come back to his home state and join Golden and the Gators. He scored 134 points in six tournament games that culminated with Monday's final. He will be playing in the NBA next year.

Houston frustrated him and held him to 11 points in his final game as a collegian. But Clayton got the last laugh when he charged toward Cougars guard Emanuel Sharp, who was lining up for what could have been the game-winning 3-pointer with the clock ticking down in a tense, rugged, defense-focused game that left everyone on edge.

Clayton's defense forced Sharp to let the ball go without shooting. It bounced once, then twice, then a third time — Sharp couldn't grab it, lest he be called for traveling — before Clayton's Florida teammate Alex Condon pounced on it and the buzzer sounded.

''I do think what separates us and has separated us all season long is our team talent, how our guys have played together and for each other all year,'' Golden said. ''Because of that, we can call each other national champions for the rest of our lives.''

While the Gators got ready to cut down the nets, the well-worn favorite ''One Shining Moment" — a treacly highlight reel from America's three-week hoops extravaganza — played on the big screen above.

Florida sprinted and Houston trudged through the tunnel, into their locker rooms, and basketball — and college sports, in general — began the long wait to see what comes next.

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