2007 NCAA Tournament: National Championship

Ohio State Buckeyes (35-3) vs.
Florida Gators (34-5)
National Championship Game
Georgia Dome - Atlanta, GA

I’m going to keep this short because I feel I’ve said everything that could possibly be said about these two teams over the past month. Plus, since UCLA – my champion pick – was ousted, I find it hard to care about either of these teams winning it all. Ohio State is a team full of one or two year mercenaries who may or may not be going to class and who may or may not be making more than the average NBA player. Florida is coached by a slime ball who allows his “premiere” player to act like a spastic retarded monkey on the court while at the same time deflecting attention from the two or three other Gators who are worth paying attention to. So excuse me if I don’t seem to care who wins this game. No matter who wins, I think everyone, especially college basketball, loses.

With the exception of the mysterious D.J. Strawberry charge, I thought this tournament had been well officiated until the other night. In the first game, it was clear that the refs had no idea how to officiate inside play. Greg Oden and Roy Hibbert were called for every little foul in the first half. Then - as if the NCAA suddenly made a call during halftime to the referees’ locker room - in the second half, Oden was allowed to kick a guy into the basket support during a dunk attempt and had the foul called on the player who ended up in the first row of seats. Let’s not forget the hundreds of traveling calls that went unnoticed every time either Hibbert or Jeff Green touched the ball.

I thought the poor officiating in that game would be hard to top, but it took the NCAA only two hours to accomplish the feat. Florida got away with everything. From start to finish. Mbah-a-Moute was getting raped inside. Josh Shipp, who was incredible, was getting bumped every time he took a shot. Collison was getting hacked every time he tried to drive. No calls. On the other end, Arron Afflalo would breathe on a guy and be whistled for an infraction. It was an absolute joke. It was like watching UCLA play Duke. Every borderline call went the Gators way, including several calls that shouldn’t have. There is no doubt in my mind that the NCAA made sure precious Florida would advance to the championship game. No doubt at all. When was the last time you saw a guard pick up three fouls in the first half in any game? The NCAA did a great job of taking away UCLA’s best player early and making sure that Florida’s big men were protected throughout.

Now for this game. Florida did a number on the Buckeyes when they played in December. While the final score indicates a blowout, OSU did keep it close for about 25-30 minutes, even holding several leads. Oden had just come back from his hand injury and was clearly not in game shape. The rest of the Buckeye freshmen were not quite ready for a primetime December game on the road. Now that Oden is relatively healthy, the freshmen have grown up and the game will take place on a neutral court, it’s hard to imagine Florida winning by double-digits again.

The biggest question about this game is how it will be called. If the refs allow Oden to bang around inside, then Ohio State has a good chance of winning. If the refs go into their “protect Horford and Noah” mode, then OSU has no chance of winning. For right now, we’ll assume this game will be 5 vs. 5 and not 8 vs. 5. Even if Oden is able to be physical inside, Ohio State will need a big day from sixth man Othello Hunter. Oden will not be able to stop both Horford and Corey Brewer’s dribble drive abilities without getting in foul trouble. Thad Matta will have to use Hunter a lot in this game to help Oden out inside. Without Hunter playing a significant role, there is no way that Ohio State will be able to stop Brewer.

On the perimeter, the Buckeyes matchup well with any team, even one with the shooting capabilities of the Gators. The difference will be defense. Florida isn’t a great defensive team. But they seem to be able to get key defensive stops here and there. Ohio State’s guards are undersized and play undisciplined team defense. I foresee a lot of open shots for either Taurean Green or Lee Humphrey. If either one of them are hitting open shots, and Oden is sitting with three fouls in the first half, it will be a long night for the Buckeyes

I just have a gut feeling that the Gators are due for a loss. I don’t consider Billy Donovan to be a great coach. He’s half-decent at best. He has gone the past year and a half without screwing up, but his overall track record at Florida suggests that he’s due for choke job shortly. If he were to get two national championships, it would be hard to argue against him being right up there with Jim Calhoun and Tom Izzo (either though both would out coach him any day of the week…and in fact, both have in the tournament before). That idea doesn’t sit well with me. So I’m going to pick Ohio State.

The first reason is free throw shooting. Noah can’t make them. Horford struggles. Even the dependable Brewer has struggled in the tournament. I believe the refs are going to Florida at the line plenty of times in this game and I think missed free throws will be the difference. The second reason is that I just don’t like Florida. Now you can call me jealous or a hater or whatever. But truth is I didn’t like Florida before last year’s tournament. Or the year before that. I disliked Florida well before they won the championship last season. I just don’t like Donovan. And I especially don’t like Noah, who should be put in a straight jacket instead of a basketball jersey. Here’s hoping that Oden and company can take them out.
Pick: Ohio State 77, Florida 74