Florida Basketball Player Goes Viral For Wide-Eyed Interview With Female Reporter: “Young Man Fell In Love”

March Madness hasn’t had all that much madness this year.

Have you noticed? College basketball fans typically love a good Cinderella story this time of year, but the tournament so far has seen the teams that are supposed to win… win. That being said, the NCAA tournament has had its fair share of exciting finishes.

Just last night, the No. 1 seed Houston Cougars were put on the ropes by the Purdue Boilermakers. That is until Houston coach Kelvin Sampson drew up a masterclass inbounds play to send his Cougars team to the Elite 8:

UNBELIEVABLE PLAY CALL TO WIN THE GAME FOR HOUSTON

(via @MarchMadnessMBB)pic.twitter.com/wkAsvmhep4

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 29, 2025

Still can’t get over how good of a play call that was.

So now, the Elite 8 features every single No. 1 seed from every single region. The Auburn Tigers, Duke Blue Devils, Houston Cougars and Florida Gators are all still alive, and speaking of Florida, we’ve got to talk about this interview that’s going viral with Gators player Bennett “Buckets” Anderson. It’s hilarious.

ESPN reporter Talia Baia was in the locker room with the Florida Gators after they punched their ticket to the Elite 8 with a win over No. 4 seed Maryland. She had plenty to ask the team from Gainesville, and one of the clips she posted has gotten a lot of attention online.

Only because it seems like Florida guard Bennett Anderson was mesmerized by her presence.

Talia first asked how the team’s trip has been so far (pretty generic question but whatever), and the wide-eyed Anderson managed to pull himself together to answer that inquiry:

“The trip has been awesome. Energy was good. We were excited. We didn’t play as well as we wanted to the last couple of rounds, so I think the whole team is ready to get out there and show who we’ve been all season.”

But as the questions go on, it’s clear that Bennett “Buckets” Anderson had some other things on his mind as Talia Baia kept the questions coming:

Caught up with Bennett “Buckets” Anderson after the game on what he looks forward to in the Elite 8!

“Hopefully these guys take care of business so I can play again, hopefully I can get another bucket” pic.twitter.com/bo31tHqabg

— Talia Baia (@talia_baia) March 28, 2025

Poor guy is going to get turned into a meme.

Actually, right now the internet is just joking (or are they) that Bennett “Buckets” Anderson fell in love with ESPN reporter Talia Baia during their short, minute-long interaction:

I think a young man fell in love

— RaceSheetsDFS – DubClub | Phill Bennetzen (@RaceSheetsDFS) March 28, 2025

Bros better than me, I would’ve folded

— Carlos Torres (@ligmapeen) March 28, 2025

Bennie buckets about to risk it all and go for 50 pts

— Dennis (@DGNISG13) March 29, 2025

Bros speechless (I’d be too)

— Brick (@marlbororedddss) March 28, 2025

That man is in love lol

— 𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐑𝐎 (@nitrosznnn) March 28, 2025

And so forth and so forth…this may be the worst interview. They’re both star struck. Never seen someone grip a mic with 2 hands and keep it 5 ft from their mouth while they talk

— Michael (@StormRider912) March 29, 2025

I endorse that last message… not necessarily a good showing from either party.