Deja Vu

The defending champion Florida Gators came back with all five starters from last year. They won college basketball's final game convincingly for the second straight year. Ohio State's Greg Oden played fantastically, 25 points and 12 rebounds. Corey Brewer, the MOP of the Final Four, and Taurean Green paced the Gators in the first half, each scoring 11. Florida's lead was 11 at the half. In the second half, Lee Humphry, the NCAA Tournament's most prolific three point shooter, led the Gator attack. His ugliness, Joakim Noah, struggled this game. He looked like a little boy, an ugly little boy, in Oden's presence. And has anyone heard Noah talk, does he think he's a thug? His ugly father was a tennis player and his hot mother was Miss Sweden. Joakim Noah's a fraud. Fortunately for Noah, Al Horford is on his team. Conley didn't play nearly as well as the Buckeyes needed. Florida won 84-75 to capture their second straight basketball championship and the football-basketball sweep this season.

The officiating was inconsistent in this final game. In the beginning, the refs called ticky-tack fouls and by the end, you could steal a player's shorts and not pick up a foul. I'd like to ask Billy Packer where the "u" is in Billy Donovan? We know that he doesn't watch any mid-major teams play, but who would have thought he had no clue about Ohio State also. It's true that Oden has been in a lot of foul trouble throughout the tournament so he hasn't played much, but Packer kept talking about how tired Oden was. Then they decided to look it up and it turns out the 7 footer, who missed 6 games at the start of the year, played over 35 minutes in 7 games this year. That's a lot for a big guy. I enjoy the history of the game, but the way Packer presents it, you would think that a game from 1962 actually has some bearing on tonight's outcome. And I thought an announcer was supposed to describe what they are observing, not repeat the same suggestion again and again. Usually it's a stupid suggestion unless it's obvious like "Jeff Green needs to play better." At least Jim Nantz called him out on some of his bullshit this time. I appreciated that.

Overall, a rather frustrating way to end a great men's basketball season.