1:20 am —
When was the last time a NCAA tournament just made sense? Well, this year it does. Good teams advance, great teams advance further.
A Final Four of UCLA, Florida, Ohio State and Georgetown: two No. 1s and two No. 2s. The two finalists from last years tournament, who among them lost only one key contributor, one team with unrivaled freshman talent and one with a pedigree of college basketball greatness. It just makes sense.
Naturally, the better team won each of the semifinal games, setting up one the most intriguing championship matchups in recent memory. Here’s why:
Florida played UCLA in the NCAA final last year.
And beat them. Bad.
They played nearly the same UCLA team again this year in the semis and manhandled them. The Gators’ starting five, it has been well documented, are some of the best kids you’ll ever meet, evidence by the fact that they all decided to come back to Gainesville and give this whole winning back-to-back titles thing the ol’ college try. With the exception of Jordan Farmar, the Bruins pretty much did the same thing. However losing Farmar allowed Darren Collison to step up. And this kid is one of the two best point guards in the tournament, the other being Mike Conley Jr. Basically both teams are a year older in the rematch. No contest. Florida shifts into another gear in the second half and puts the game out of reach.
Florida’s win over UCLA last year of course means they will be going into Monday’s game with plans to repeat. The last repeat title winner was Duke in 1991 and 1992, those teams of course featuring the Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Christian Laettner 1-2-3 punch. No returning five starters have ever won a second championship, not even under Wooden. History in the making. I think CBS is the real winner here.
Florida played Ohio State in the football national championship.
And beat them. Bad.
But remember, Ohio State was the overwhelming favorite. Critics were arguing Florida should not even be in the game. Herein lies the best argument supporting an Ohio State victory. Yes, Florida is the better team and yes, this year’s tournament trend would suggest that they should win, but there may be a greater trend in the sports world at work. Consider this line of reasoning. In the Fiesta Bowl Ted Ginn Jr. runs back the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Ballgame. Ohio State is thinking it, Florida is thinking it. And its not like Ginn puts on a show, juking Gators left and right. The Ohio State University’s impending domination is illustrated in the effectiveness of its wedge. Four or five Buckeyes link arms and just pummel the Gators on special teams, clearing a lane for Ginn to waltz through. Despite looking beaten on the first play, Florida comes back and pounds Ohio State.
A month later I’m watching the Super Bowl and getting the same feeling. Devin Hester takes Vinatieri’s kickoff to the house. Bears 7, Colts 0. Its looking good. Its feeling good. Then I remember, “I hope this doesn’t turn out like the college national championship game.” It does. The Colts dismantle the Bears.
Now I’m not saying the Buckeyes have a shot because their the underdog, in my analogy the Colts were not the underdog. It’s because Florida will strike first, that’s why Ohio State has a chance. It’s the way of the sports world right now. You’ve heard about weathering the storm. Like my colleague Steve said in the Illinois-Penn State Big Ten Tournament matchup, the opening run in basketball is the worst run in sports.
Florida is the better team and it will look like it early on, but then Ohio State’s freshman will get comfortable and Ron Lewis and Ivan Harris will realize they’re playing their last basketball game with Ohio State.
Florida played Ohio State in basketball earlier this year.
And beat them. Bad.
Final score: 86-60
Greg Oden was playing with a splint on his right wrist, but Florida’s Al Horford came back that game after nursing an ankle injury. Florida dominated, again putting away their opponent in the second half. Still, its hard to beat a good team twice in the same year.
The sensible pick is Florida. They have the athletes, the shooters, the size and the experience.
And the moral of this tournament’s story seems to be that the better team wins. Still, I chose Ohio State over Florida in my bracket. I’m sticking with them. I have a lot invested personally and financially.
A few thoughts:
Sure Greg Oden is good, but just think if he could stay on the court. He had 13 points and nine rebounds in 20 minutes of play. Arithmetically speaking, that’s a 20 and 14 night if stays in for a respectable portion of the game.
By the way, fellow freshman Mike Conley Jr. lasted for 39 minutes. Can you imagine Calvin Brock playing 39 minutes against Louisville in the 2005 Final Four? Can you imagine 5 minutes? He would have been eaten alive.
How lame were the refs in the Ohio State game? A second-foul nickel-dimer sends Oden to the bench in the first five minutes of play, which snowballs into a game-within-a-game in which the officials try to tack on additional, equalizing fouls to big men Oden and Roy Hibbert. The biggest draw in this game was the hope to see a couple of nimble giants battle it out in the post. The refs effectively turned a potentially great game into just a good game.
If Oden would have finished on his dunk attempt over Jeff Green, it would have easily been the greatest moment in NCAA tournament history, maybe even college basketball. You can have your Christian Laettner buzzer-beater or Bryce Drew’s shot to put Valparaiso in the Sweet 16, I have never seen a 7-footer posterize another guy, one handed, jumping from midway to the free-throw line. It was almost amazing.
Was there ever a solid post player on a great team as outmatched as Lorenzo Mata in the Florida-UCLA game? Especially in the second half. My friends and I tried to focus our attention on Mata after halftime, I mean the guy looks as crazy and out of place as Joakim Noah, just in a different way. It seemed like every time down the court he was on the wrong side of a Florida big man’s put-back dunk. This happened at least three or four Florida possessions in a row.
Even though I’ve seen prototypes on the Internet, I have not seen Florida wear the new uniforms Nike issued them this tournament. These of course are the tight tops and big shorts, similar to Ohio State’s, but much uglier, with some kind of gator skin print. I did however, see the jersey on Al Horford’s dad, who was wearing it in the stands…without an undershirt.
If your Florida, find a way to work Tim Tebow into the championship game…it worked last time.