ncaa college basketball

They knew the way up the ladder. They did not need MapQuest to find their destination. It was a path the Florida Gators had traveled before. Six games through the NCAA Tournament, eight steps to the top to chop down the nets--just like last time, though the journey was far more perilous and their arrival was both pleasure and relief.
What were they doing here, winning another championship? They were asked this many times by people who considered only the financial security they were delaying for a year. Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer were considered NBA first-round picks after the Gators beat UCLA for the national title last April, but they returned to take their chance at accomplishing what only six other programs had managed in the history of the NCAA Tournament--to win consecutive championships.
It was such a gamble. Not because it was likely any one of them would be injured and damage his standing in the draft, but because the capricious nature of the tournament made it possible that even if they again were a great team--and certainly they were--they very well could stumble.
Their brilliance prevented that from happening. "The story that happened this year is so right for college basketball and so right for young players," says Florida coach Billy Donovan. "I'm not saying every single player should come back to school. But I feel bad for kids that are pushed out, given bad advice or wrong information.
"If there's another kid out there, if Greg Oden is out there and he really wants to come back and compete, he should do that."
Donovan likely earned his place in basketball's Hall of Fame with this championship--a solid 84-75 win over Ohio State wrapped it up--and he certainly will receive a huge new contract from the Gators (or Kentucky, whose vacancy was an issue throughout the Final Four weekend).
Many college basketball coaches view these Gators with a sense of reverence. They have seen marginal prospects lured into the draft by clueless or unscrupulous agents. They have seen excellent teams unravel after players saw their names prominently featured on draft projection websites. Now, they have seen something almost none believed possible: A team stayed intact and joined the list of the greatest in college basketball's long history.
"Kids bond together for some things that don't make any sense sometimes," Clemson coach Oliver Purnell says. "In this case, they bonded together for something that was good. It's about team. It's about family."

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All this began with Brewer. His family faced legitimate financial need with his father beset by heart problems and diabetes that led to the amputation of his lower left leg, but Brewer determined he was not ready to succeed in the NBA. His parents supported his staying at Florida. "My decision was to be happy or go sit on the bench for someone, be the 12th man," he says.
Horford said directly after last season's title game he was leaning toward another run with the Gators. He and Noah were convinced by Brewer's commitment to give it another go as well. They became a much more resourceful team, frequently rescuing themselves from deficits and fighting through surprisingly tight NCAA games against Purdue, Butler and Oregon.
In the title game, the Gators demonstrated how far they were willing to travel to get a second title: 19 feet, 9 inches. Unable to transact business in the lane because of the overwhelming presence of Oden, the Gators transferred their pursuits to the perimeter.
Seemingly any time there was a scramble for a loose ball at Florida's end, shooting guard Lee Humphrey found an open spot and a teammate located him with a pass that was converted into a 3-pointer. Gators junior Taurean Green ended 3-of-3 from behind the arc, the last of those jumpers crushing an Ohio State rally that had cut the lead to six after Oden's two free throws with 5:03 remaining. As the Ohio State defense set up in the lane to stop Florida in transition, Green sneaked to the top of the key and found himself alone. Not for long. Soon, he had the ball for company, and his basket all but ended the game.
"Our guards made some huge shots at key moments," Noah says. "Humpty hit some really big 3s. Taurean hit a big 3. Everybody contributed. Our team is special, and nobody can take that away."
Florida joined Oklahoma State (1945, '46), Kentucky (1948, '49), San Francisco (1955, '56), Cincinnati (1961, '62), UCLA (1964, '65, 1967-73) and Duke (1991, '92). That is the entire list of teams that repeated as champions in the NCAA Tournament.
Although the Gators talked many times about leaving a legacy, it's quite possible they don't comprehend how rare their achievement was. Hundreds of thousands of players have competed in Division I basketball since the NCAA Tournament began in 1939, but of the nearly 2,400 who have reached the Final Four, only 61 played on championship teams in consecutive years.
So the club is not quite as exclusive as, say, the group of men who have served as president of the United States. But it's close. And forever it will include the names of Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Taurean Green, Corey Brewer, Lee Humphrey, Walter Hodge and Chris Richard.

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It never hurts to have a wealthy, successful father, but sometimes it helps more than others. When Noah decided to play for a second title, former French Open champion Yannick Noah was able to explain how heightened expectations would affect his son.
"With expectations," he said, "the only ones that really matter are the ones you put on yourself."
Florida tried hard to manage its situation, its expectations, particularly with Noah.
"Before the season," Noah says, "everybody had expectations on me that were so crazy. Like, if I wasn't the player of the year, or if we didn't win the national championship, it was a bad season."
His astonishing 2006 tournament performance and gregarious personality made him a natural glamour guy for the college game, and national publications including Sporting News were eager to feature him in cover stories. The Gators said no.
"He was just not comfortable doing something without his teammates," Fred Demarest, Florida's basketball sports information director says. "I think he's a guy who has an understanding, an appreciation for the bigger story being the team."
When Magic Johnson and Larry Bird passed through the 1980s as icons of the game, there was a belief their gifts for sharing the basketball would trickle down to the next generation of players.
Through no particular fault of his own, however, Michael Jordan interrupted that revolution and presented young players with a more appealing definition of greatness: the singular star surrounded by what became known as his "supporting cast."
This whole Florida team is a supporting cast. Each regular is capable of star-quality performances, but none fixated on big scoring numbers. The team scoring lead changed during Final Four weekend, with Green ending up in front at 13.28 points to Brewer's 13.24 and Horford's 13.21.
"This is a coach's dream," college hoops analyst Fran Fraschilla says. "Any one of these guys, in the right circumstance, could be the most outstanding player at the Final Four."
Now, two of them have been: Noah last season, Brewer this time around.
After draft night this June, when Brewer, Horford and Noah likely will enter the league as lottery picks, college coaches will be able to proclaim that team success can be as influential in where players are chosen as individual scoring statistics.
The Gators have not fought the belief that this would be their final season together. Humphrey is a senior. Some or all of the four junior starters will, at last, leave for the draft. There's no guarantee Donovan will be back at Florida. For one year, though, one extra year, all of them affirmed selflessness and sacrifice are not extinct in college basketball. Endangered, but not extinct.