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Florida Gators 2007 NCAA Title Game - College Basketball Champs
Written by Sal Primonta on 04/03/2007
I hope you recorded the NCAA Championship game last night, because chances are you will not see something like that again in your lifetime. Last night was the reward for five kids who sacrificed an opportunity to make big bucks fast, who put their team first and who committed to each other and their coach. The Florida Gators' victory last night made them the first starting five to ever successfully defend a national title. Last year the Gators shocked much of the college basketball world as they stormed on the scene in the Final Four, led by the charismatic Joakim Noah. The nation had hardly heard of Noah in February, but by the end of the title game, Noah had skyrocketed to a potential lottery pick. Nobody expected Noah to come back, or possibly Taurean Green or Corey Brewer. In an age where the NBA had to institute a rule to keep 18 year-olds from jumping to the pros, these young superstars went decidedly against the grain. For much of the 2006-2007 reporters and columnists doubted the Gators ability to repeat. They said the Gators looked too complacent, too bored, as if they thought they could just flip a switch and turn up the intensity. Turns out they were right about that last part. While others doubted the Gators drive and hunger, the five starters knew why they came back. The purpose was to make history, and the only way they could do that was to win it all again. "I remember when I was telling people, 'I'm going back to school,' and they're like, 'Huh? What? Are you crazy?'" Noah said. "But you know what? I feel like now all of a sudden people understand that it's more than money. It's more than that. Now you guys are going to write about history … one of the best teams ever. That's special. That's something that everybody in this locker room will never forget." There was no doubt in anyone's mind as Al Horford, Green and Noah jumped on the scorer's table and held two fingers aloft that the sacrifice and pressure had all been worth it. Brewer may have won the Most Outstanding player of the Final Four, but there is no questioning that this was a team effort, the likes of which has not been seen in years in college basketball. Faced with the daunting challenge of trying to shut down the colossal Greg Oden, the Gators sent a tag-team combination of senior center Chris Richard , Noah, Horford and Marreese Speights into the paint to shut down the potential #1 pick in the draft. "I think this team should go down as one of the best teams in college basketball history," coach Billy Donovan said. "Not as the most talented and not on style points, but because they encompassed what the word team means. They did it the first year with no expectations, then they did it again with all the expectations." Last year the Gators said that if one of them came back, they'd all come back. They were true to their word, and in doing so, they re-wrote the annals of college basketball and marked their place in history. Savor the flavor; it may not come again.
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