2006 NCAA Tournament: Championship Game

#3 Florida Gators (32-6) vs.
#2 UCLA Bruins (29-6)
National Championship Game
RCA Dome – Indianapolis, IN

Enough with all the people saying this is one of the best tournaments of all time. ENOUGH. When you looked at all the possible options at the beginning of the season, or even the beginning of the tournament, there were tons of intriguing championship matchups to choose from. UConn-Duke, UConn-Texas, Villanova-Gonzaga, Memphis-Boston College, etc… Way down near the bottom of the list was UCLA-Florida. I’m sorry to be a killjoy, but with all the potential games to pick from, this would be something like number 293 on my chart.

One could make the argument that this was one of the worst tournaments of all time. Sure it was unpredictable, and that’s always good for some early excitement. But does anyone really want to see a Final Four with UCLA, Florida, Mason and LSU? I know I didn’t. Heck, it almost makes me wish Duke was still around so I’d have someone to really root against. Almost…

Off the top of my head I could name six or seven tournaments in the last decade that were just as unpredictable and much more entertaining than this one. Let’s look at last year for example. You had your shocking upsets (Vermont over Syracuse, West Virginia over Wake), your overtime thrillers (WVU-Wake again, Illinois beating Arizona) and terrific Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games (UNC getting challenged by Wisconsin and Villanova, Illinois escaping past Arizona, Louisville nipping WVU). What 2005 had over 2006 was a Final Four that was actually compelling. It comprised of the two odds-on-favorites (UNC and Illinois) and the two hottest teams playing their best basketball (Louisville and Michigan State). Big time players, big time coaches and captivating story lines.

In 2006, after you get past the whole George Mason story line, the rest of the tournament is kind of blah. Sure there were plenty of close games. But there are close games every single year. With the exception of the UConn regional games, and the UCLA-Gonzaga game, most of these other close games were ugly, defensive and dull (Villanova-BC, Florida-G’town, Memphis-UCLA, etc…). Unlike 2005, when four great and nearly perfect teams made the Final Four, 2006 had four good, but severely flawed teams make the Final Four. In 2005, it was a case of good teams being beaten by great teams, who were in turn beaten by even better teams. In 2006, the tournament became a war of attrition. Whichever team managed not to stink the joint up more than their opponent moved on.

So why should the average fan watch on Monday? To see UCLA go for their 12th national title? Boring. To see Billy Greaseball try to shed his label of tournament choking dog (that story line has been played out, see Jim Calhoun 1999, Gary Williams 2001-02, Roy Williams 2002-05)? To see Jordan Farmar battle Joakim Noah for most revolting Division 1 player of the year (I smell another Scarlett Johansson picture coming up to cancel out all the ugly)? To see if either team can break 65 points? This contest isn’t going to be interesting enough for me to watch, and I’m a college basketball fanatic. If I may not watch, do you think the Average Joe Blow is going to watch? For some reason, I see low ratings in CBS’ future.

Florida will enter itself into one of my favorite trivia questions if they can win. The question being name the schools that have won a D-1 championship in both football and men’s basketball. Currently there are six: California, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Syracuse. UCLA could also make an argument to be included in that group. They won a share of the mythical football title in 1954 (Remember those mythical titles? Before you complain about the BCS, realize that it is about 100 times better than the old system). The Bruins were given the final number one ranking in the UPI poll (the older version of the coaches poll). However, the NCAA, which doesn’t recognize any official national champions in football before 1998, tends to accept the AP poll number one as the champion. Ohio State was the top ranked team in the AP poll that year. So the total stands at six. Florida, which won it’s football title in 1996, will try to become number seven with a win.

As for the game itself, it will probably be a low-scoring affair that will combine high-intensity defense with plenty of unforced turnovers to create one of the most unwatchable championship games since the monstrosity that Duke and Arizona played in 2001. Noah will probably dominate the paint for the 25 minutes he plays (other than Glen Davis, no player in the tournament is in worse shape than Noah). Although Noah may have some trouble. One of the tournament’s most pleasant surprises is the play of Luc-Richard Mbah a Moute. He and Ryan Hollins aren’t pushovers, but they shouldn’t be able to outplay Noah and Al Horford.

The backcourt probably favors UCLA. Arron Afflalo will be hard to guard, especially when he creates off the dribble. Noah, Horford and Adrian Moss looked completely helpless when Tony Skinn and Lamar Butler tried to drive to the hoop. Does Donovan teach help defense? I also wouldn’t expect Lee Humphrey and Corey Brewer to each score 19 against UCLA’s defense. Especially Humphrey, who has scored in double-digits only twice in the last eight games for Florida.

Like I expected last night, Ben Howland used a zone for the majority of the game (although I assumed he would use a 2-3, but he used a matchup zone instead). Look for more of that. A matchup zone would create some problems for Noah, and would also allow UCLA to defend the perimeter much better than Mason did. Donovan will probably come out with his traditional NBA man-to-man defense. You know, the one where his players have the option of playing defense or not…it will be up to them. The lineups for both teams are pretty even, but the coaching matchup should favor UCLA.

So, what should you, the average fan do during this game. Since I’m assuming most of you are Maryland fans, go find your tape of 2002 championship game and plug it in the tape deck around 8:30. Watch that instead. And for the few of you who don’t care about Maryland, I’m sure you have a tape of your favorite team winning some big game. By the time you fast-forward through commercials and the halftime show, you should be able to catch the last 10 minutes or so of this game. And hey, if you squint really hard at that Maryland-Indiana game, you may actually believe that you are watching it all unfold live. Even though you’d be watching a repeat, it’s still better than what the 2006 tournament final has to offer.
Pick: UCLA 67, Florida 59