07 Apr 3 - The Perfect Fit

Volume XI, No. 22 - 07 Apr 3

The Perfect Fit

GATORS REPEAT! Florida wrote itself into history by becoming the first team in 15 years to repeat as national champions, beating Ohio State 84-75 in the NCAA final. This year's title run was much more deliberate and determined than last year's free-wheeling romp. Last year, they were unheralded #3-seeds who had no pressure of expectations as they snuck up on the favored teams in the tournament. This year, the spotlight (and bullseye) was squarely on them from the very start. They weren't able to pull off an undefeated season -- they had five losses, three of which came late in the regular season after they had already clinched the SEC title -- but a second consecutive championship will do just fine, thank you.

The beauty of this team was always how well the individual pieces fit together. Unlike Duke '01's "Universal Replacements" team (in which the individual versatility of several players made them capable of stepping up and playing different roles as the situation dictated), this starting five had very specific skills/talents, each bringing something to the table that the others couldn't. A center who's agile enough to be the point on the full-court press; a power forward who can harass three-point shooters on the perimeter; a 'tweener who can shoot threes, drive the lane, get tough rebounds, and shut down the opposing team's best scorer; a point guard who can distribute and get his own shot when the need arises; and a designated shooter who defends well to boot. That's everything you want a team to be able to do with no wasted duplication. (Could they pull off the Three-Peat if the core actually decided to return next year? Maybe. Probably. But it wouldn't be nearly as easy without the back-breaking three-pointers they get from senior gLee Humphrey. He's Option #5, yet if you remove him from the equation, you can how imbalanced their attack becomes.)

Florida matched the feat of Duke '92 in repeating as champs. These Gators returned all five starters intact from the previous year whereas those Blue Devils technically didn't. (Duke lost starter fGreg Koubek and reserve gBilly McCaffrey from the '91 team, and reserve fBrian Davis stepped in to start in '92 to join cChristian Laettner, pBobby Hurley, tGrant Hill and fThomas Hill.) That Duke team went 34-2 and certainly had a more dominant run the second time around than this Florida team. And Duke crushed its final opponent, Michigan's "Fab Five" freshmen, 71-51. This Florida team (35-5) was much more of a measured squad that did what it had to do and only got in trouble when it let up its focus and tried to free-wheel and go for the knockout punch rather than slowly grind its way to victory. Despite its Big 10 title and tournament crown, this year's Ohio State "Thad Five" (which, by season's end, was really only the "Thad Two Plus Lew") isn't as good a team as that Michigan team was. How would these Gators do against those Blue Devils? Laettner would be the best player on the floor (but so was Oden), Hurley is a better point guard than Green (but it's close), Grant Hill-Corey Brewer is a glorious push, Humphrey trumps Thomas Hill, and ultimately the combo of Horford-Noah is better than Laettner-Davis. I'd take the Gators because they've got real threats at all five spots on the floor (plus two solid reserves in gWalter Hodge and fChris Richard).

In the final against OSU, it was certainly the Buckeyes' cGreg Oden(25p12p4b) who dominated the game, putting four Gator players in foul trouble. But UF won the battle of the boards 38-28 overall and their 10-for-18 three-point shooting and 22-for-25 free-throw shooting more than made up for Ohio State's edge in the paint. gMike Conley wound up with 20p6a, but his effectiveness was limited in the first half when Florida gained its advantage. Likewise, it was the defense of tCorey Brewer on gRon Lewis(12p) that took away a prime component of the opposing team's offense. The greatness of this Florida team is that no one player in particular has to be the one who has the big game. (Unlike UCLA, which was doomed if gArron Afflalo didn't have a big day -- he didn't in the semis, again thanks to tBrewer, the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four). Unlike Georgetown, who needed a big game from fJeff Green -- he didn't in the semis, thanks to the Buckeyes' zone defense.) No one in particular was the reason the Gators were able to break open the game in the finals. The biggest reason was their outstanding halfcourt defense, which made every possession tough on the Buckeyes. But it was three consecutive three-pointers, from tBrewer, gHumphrey and gGreen that stretched the score to 33-22 with four minutes left in the first half. That provided the margin that UF nursed the entire rest of the game. OSU was able to make one charge late with full-court pressure and got the lead down to 60-66 with five minutes left in the game; but another dagger three-pointer, this time from gGreen, staved off the rally.

The two semifinal games weren't much to look at. All four teams started struggled to score at the beginning of both games. Georgetown was lucky to even be still in the game having scored only 7 point through the first ten minutes against Ohio State, but it was just 14-7 OSU. Foul trouble for cGreg Oden(13p9r) restricted his minutes and it was the Hoyas' cRoy Hibbert(19p6r) who was more effective head-to-head. Despite getting 19p from gJohn Wallace, the main problem for GU was that Big East Player of the Year fJeff Green only had 9 points. OSU played mostly zone, so fGreen just didn't want the ball enough and his teammates didn't look for him. Both Oden and Hibbert battled fouls; Ohio State was more effective when only one of the two big men were on the floor: Oden dominated the non-centers better than Hibbert did. Also, OSU-minus-Oden was better offensively than Gtown-minus-Hibbert. OSU 67 Gtown 60.

On paper, gArron Afflalo scored 17 points in the semifinal against Florida; but in reality, he was stuck on 0p (thanks to tCorey Brewer) until six minutes were left in the game and the outcome was already decided. It was gJosh Shipp(18p) who kept the Bruins close until two big threes from gLee Humphrey opened up a 39-28 lead just after halftime that broke things open for the Gators. In fact, they almost opened things up too soon, leading 49-32 but still with 12 minutes left to go. That's a long time to have to grind your way home to a win you've already earned, but UF did what it had to, eventually winning 76-67.

In the NIT, West Virginia made a furious comeback and gDarris Nichols hit the game-winning three-pointer as they knocked off Mississippi State 63-62 in the semifinals. Clemson was too physical for Air Force and held on to preserve its own 68-67 win. In the final, the Mountaineers were just too tall and effective for the Tigers to handle, winning the title, 78-73. (This for a team that was picked to finish dead last in the Big East after losing four starters from the year before.)

The opening theme for this season, "Ghosts Of '92", did play out all the way through until the end. We had a final scenario that was almost a carbon copy of the one 15 years ago: a repeat champ defeating a team powered by superstar freshmen. The overall Year of the Freshman was the other theme that was consistent all year. Thanks to the NBA rule prohibiting high school seniors from jumping to the pros, we were blessed with a huge influx of young talent that would have almost certainly passed the college scene by otherwise. A freshman was the consensus Player of the Year (Texas' tKevin Durant), but he wasn't able to lead his own fabulous young squad deep into the NCAA tournament. North Carolina was never far from the top spot in the rankings all year, thanks to its own infusion of freshmen stars (but the Tar Heels showed their youth, blowing what seemed like a winning lead in the Regional Final against mature Georgetown).

The return of the first-rate talent to the college scene was supposed to spell the immediate doom of the mid-majors as all of those young stars poured into the BCS leagues. Upstart Butler from the Horizon League gave us two great bookend performances to refute that in the short run: a stirring run to take the NIT SEASON TIP-OFF (with wins over Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee and Gonzaga) and then a prove-that-it-was-no-fluke run to the Sweet 16 (taking out fellow mid-major Old Dominion of the Colonial and BCS Maryland before giving Florida a good run). In fact, one of the best games all season didn't involve BCS teams at all: fellow Sweet 16 Southern Illinois of the MVC and Butler played a brutally beautiful game in the marquee matchup of BRACKETBUSTERS in February.

The season finished on a high note with one of the strongest overall NCAA tournaments in recent memory. (With the exception of Wisconsin and Texas), the top teams all performed to their potential and packed the Elite Eight with seven of its eight top seeds. The second-tier teams were right behind and gave the Big Boys a solid run for their money and bowed out only when they were supposed to. Even the first rounds didn't feature the glut of upsets that we're used to. Drama and surprises gave way to excellence and expectations. That's not a bad thing.

Remember these Florida Gators. (They've written themselves into the history books so that you'll have to, anyway.) A beautiful team to watch. A nice story in how their commitment to each other led them to return, how the sacrifice of the one most in need of the NBA dollars led to a greater reward than he could ever have received just from a checkbook. But the story of that team is in no way the story of any one player. It's the story of five guys whose individual specialized talents fit together so perfectly that they were able to come through as pressure-free underclassmen as well as with the full knowledge of all the pressure to repeat as upperclassmen. Nothing they accomplish in the NBA will ever be better than what they pulled off here.

Thanks for reading the hoops column this year. This was a good one. I enjoyed it a lot. Hope you did, too.

-- Ron