King Kaufman's Sports Daily

Florida wins NCAA title. The Gators, a team for the ages, are too much for a heroic Greg Oden and Ohio State.

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April 3, 2007 | Some advice for Ohio State: Stop playing Florida.

That's actually good advice for anybody these days. The Gators added the men's basketball championship to their BCS football championship Monday night in Atlanta, putting an 84-75 beating on the Buckeyes to go with the football team's 41-14 rout of Ohio State in January.

Greg Oden, Ohio State's freshman center, stayed out of foul trouble and turned in a heroic performance, playing 38 minutes, scoring 25 points on 10 of 15 shooting, grabbing 12 rebounds and blocking four shots. Fellow freshman Mike Conley Jr. added 20 points, six assists and four steals, and at one point in the second half he looked like he might just rally the Buckeyes single-handedly with his work in the full-court press, but it wasn't enough and wasn't to be.

Florida won with its quickness, its defense, its shooting and its depth. Coach Billy Donovan sent waves of big men at Oden, starting with Al Horford, who put a body on Oden on the defensive end and made him work on the offensive, pouring in 18 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. And then there was Joakim Noah and Chris Richard and even little-used Marreese Speights.

They combined to collect 15 fouls while Oden was whistled for four, the fourth not coming until the last minute, with the game decided. Donovan and his players complained mildly that the foul calls were all going one way, in favor of Oden. It did look as though a lot of ticky-tack fouls were going against the Gators frontcourt, as though the big wheel of fortune in the referees' dressing room had stopped on "touch fouls on Florida big men" in the pregame spin.

But Oden did a nice job of not reaching, not picking up the silly fouls that had been his downfall in earlier Tournament games. Coach Thad Matta helped Oden stay out of trouble by keeping him at home in the paint. He didn't flash out on screens or double-team. Matta was picking his poison, keeping Oden safe and betting Florida's shooters wouldn't bury the Buckeyes.

Florida's shooters buried the Buckeyes. They shot 49 percent, including 10-of-18, 56 percent, from beyond the arc. Lee Humphrey hit 4-of-7 threes, Taurean Green 3-of-3.

The Gators outplayed Ohio State early but couldn't build a big lead because their shots weren't yet falling. After Florida went on a run toward the middle of the first half for a 20-13 lead, the Buckeyes rallied, Ivan Harris nailing a 3-pointer to close the gap to 24-22 with about five and a half minutes left. Humphrey answered with a three, and the long-ball contest was on.

Next page: The long-ball contest was not a good idea for OSU. Plus: Pool o' Experts winner is you