Buckeyes and Gators take care of business
| 6
|
by user Tylersalt
It will be the Buckeyes from The Ohio State University taking on the defending champion Florida Gators in Atlanta on Monday for the 2007 NCAA National Championship.
First-team All-American Greg Oden and OSU won a hard fought game against Georgetown in the early contest, 67-60. The key sequence in the game came midway through the second half when Georgetown's Roy Hibbert picked up a cheap foul, his fourth. He came out of the game and OSU went on a quick 7-0 run, which ended up being the difference in the game. Freshman point guard Mike Conley Jr. had a great game, scoring 15 points to go along with 6 assists and only 1 turnover. Hibbert won the much anticipated showdown with Oden, scoring 19 to Oden's 13. Oden out-rebounded Hibbert 9-6. GU forward Jeff Green was a complete non-factor, taking only 5 shots from the field, scoring only 9 points -- his poor play in the face of OSU's defense was a big reason Georgetown was unable to win this game.
Despite an abysmal start shooting from the floor (they didn't make a field goal until there was 12:55 left in the first half), Florida eventually got it going and won their second straight tournament game against UCLA, 76-66. Corey Brewer led all players with 19 points, and Chris Richard added a very strong 18 from the bench. UCLA star Aaron Affalo got into serious foul trouble very early, picking up three fouls before the end of the first half; he would eventually foul out with17 points and 3 rebounds. Joakim Noah added 8 points and 11 rebounds, and Al Horford scored 9 with 17 rebounds. Florida held UCLA to 39.1% shooting from the field, while overcoming their early struggles to shoot 53.3% themselves.
Both teams looked extremely solid, and it should be a fantastic title game Monday night. As of right now, I have to give the edge to the Gators. Conley Jr.'s play will be key for Ohio State, as will the matchup between Oden and the Horford/Noah combination down low. In the end, I think the shooting of Brewer, the defense of Noah and Horford in the paint, and the overall tournament experience will add up to a 2nd straight national title for Florida. Win or lose, I think you have to consider the past year in Gainesville as one of the most dominant stretches of college sports in history by one team. If they win on Monday, they will be the first team to repeat since Duke in the early 90's, and they remain the only school to ever hold the men's basketball and football titles at the same time.
At any rate, this should be a lot of fun to watch, even though Georgetown's loss would have lost me a lot of money if gambling on sports were legal.
