The 2007 season was the year of the freshmen. Greg Oden and Kevin Durant grabbed headlines all year and both were first-team All-Americans.
It was the year of the return of the traditional powers. UCLA made back-to-back appearances in the Final Four. Georgetown returned to prominence under coach John Thompson III and looks poised to be atop the Big East in the coming years. UNC and Kansas were among the elite teams all season.
It was the year of the chalk. The biggest upsets in this year’s tournament were two No. 11 seeds ““ Winthrop and VCU ““ taking down bigger “name” teams in Notre Dame and Duke. All four top seeds reached the Elite Eight and the Final Four consisted of two No. 1 teams and two No. 2 teams.
But above all else, it was clearly the year of the Gator.
Florida entered the tournament as the top overall seed and backed that up by beating Ohio State 84-75 to win consecutive NCAA titles, becoming the first team since Duke in ’91-’92 to accomplish that feat.
Oden shined Monday night, scoring 25 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, but even he couldn’t stop Florida’s date with the history books.
As much as UCLA fans may dislike Florida for knocking the Bruins out in consecutive years, they should respect them for simply being one of the best teams in recent memory.
Corey Brewer was named Most Outstanding Player, but the award could really have been shared by all five starters. Florida was clearly the best and most complete team in the country all season.
Brewer was the long-armed swingman capable of shutting down any opposing player as he proved twice against Arron Afflalo.
Joakim Noah, Al Horford and sixth man Chris Richard were too big and too athletic for any roster in the country to handle.
The backcourt of Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey balanced the Gators perfectly by creating space for the big boys inside by hitting shot after shot from beyond the arc and punishing teams for doubling down low.
Many teams in the past have been more talented and had better potential NBA players, but this Florida team proved their worth by showing teamwork and chemistry can trump pure athletic ability (although they are more loaded than many would like to admit).
The Gators are 18-0 over the past two years in the postseason (including the SEC Tournament) and were 68-11 over that span. No other team in the modern era has won back-to-back titles with the same starting five like this team did.
This Florida team had shown chinks in their armor all season, looking lackadaisical in losses to Florida State, Vanderbilt, LSU and Tennessee. Motivation seemed to be an issue, and people wondered whether or not Billy Donovan could lead his team to make another championship run.
The Gators, however, were able to turn it on when it mattered, fueled by Noah’s us-against-everyone haters’ campaign to cement their place among the great teams of the modern era.
Of course, the future for Florida is uncertain. The rumors of Donovan going to Kentucky will not go away until he turns down the job or finally makes the jump to Lexington.
Green and Richard are graduating seniors.
Horford, Noah and Brewer will likely be lottery picks and may be joined by Green in the NBA Draft.
No matter what happens in the coming weeks, however, nothing can diminish the accomplishments of the Gators over their incredible two-year run.