Tuesday April 4, 2006 sports. michigandaily. com sports@michigandaily.com eRTicSigan Iaiig 10 - - - ------ ---- Florida rises above madness INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Game, set, match - and a championship, too - for Joa- kim Noah and the Florida Gators. Noah dominated UCLA with 16 points, nine rebounds and a record six blocks Monday night to key a 73-57 blowout that gave Florida its first national title in basketball and officially wiped away its reputation as only a football school. Many thought it couldn't be done when Billy Donovan took over a basketball program that was almost an afterthought 12 years ago. "Our faculty rep said to me before the game that when you start with something from scratch and you build it up to win a championship, that's some- thing special," Donovan said. For 40 lopsided minutes, the Gators (33-6) were too big, too long and too quick for UCLA, which came up one win short of its 12th national title on a night when legendary coach John Wooden watched from a hospital bed in Los Angeles after being admitted for an undisclosed illness that was said not to be serious. The Gators and Noah, voted most outstanding player in the Final Four, won by putting on a thor- ough display of versatility and unselfishness, this team's trademark all season. The Bruins (32-7) were on a defensive tear com- ing into the championship game, shutting down Louisiana State's Glen Davis in the semifinals and allowing a total of 90 points in the last two games. Florida, though, was just too much to handle. Noah capped it off with a monster dunk with 1:09 left. When the buzzer sounded, he lay flat on his back at halfcourt and let the confetti rain on him. His teammates were in a pile a few feet away, and Donovan was sharing hugs with his longtime assistant Anthony Grant. "We're going shine all day, all night," Noah said. "Please don't be mad at us if we don't do a little homework the next couple of weeks." The Gators won this by taking it right to UCLA early, looking down low to Noah, Corey Brewer, Al Horford and senior Adrian Moss, making the extra pass in the key and finishing with 21 assists, 10 of them from their frontcourt. "They made it very difficult for us to get pre- pared," Donovan said. "Just trying to space the floor. And you have to extra pass against them." It couldn't have been what UCLA coach Ben Howland expected had he scouted Florida's 73- Michigan Daily Challenge winner Nate Mosher won the Michigan Daily's bracket challenge. Mosher's bracket totaled 87 points. The winner had UCLA losing to Connecticut in the championship game. 58 win over George Mason in the semis, a game the Gators won from outside and that guard Lee Humphrey ended early in the second with three straight 3-pointers. The scrappy Humphrey, the only non-sopho- more in the Gators' starting five, did the hon- ors again in this one, spotting up for open looks against a collapsing defense early in the second half. His first 3-pointer, 80 seconds into the half, gave Florida a 39-25 lead and forced Howland to call timeout. A sloppy offensive possession ensued, then Humphrey came back with another three. See GATORS, page 11 al More than one shining moment i ts funny how things work out sometimes. In the early stages of the season, if a game that pitted UCLA against Florida - the nation's 18th- and 39th-ranked teams, respectively to begin the season - was on television, I'd probably opt to see if poker was on ESPN2. The two teams seemed to be the essence of mediocrity. The Bruins had a promising backcourt but had way tooD many injuries and inexperience to deal with. i The Gators, too, had many more questions than answers. " So, in decreasing order, here are the Big Dance's top-five shining moments: 5. BIRTH OF BIG BABY: No, Glen Davis wasn't just born. If that were the case, I'm sure women who have given childbirth before would currently be sending care packages to the mother of this behemoth of a man. Lii~ -i W w w Floor icott Bell Instead, March Madness gave birth to Davis's stardom. Not only did the draft stock of this 300-pound center rise as Louisiana State advanced in the Big Dance, but so did his They had no go-to player and also had to deal with critics who claimed they were too young. But strong finishes to the regular season and solid play throughout the first two and a half weeks of the Tournament can change people's minds pretty quickly. Last night, Florida claimed its first National Championship and was crowned hottest of the hot teams. Are the Gators the best team in the nation? Highly debatable. But the fact is, they did what no other team could do: run the table on the game's biggest stage. As CBS's "One Shining Moment" montage scrolled across the screens of millions of television sets, it was hard for me to concede that there was just one single shining moment that resulted from this Tournament. This year brought some of the Big Dance's greatest games in recent memory. So narrowing all of the great games and plays down to one single moment would fail to do this tournament justice. media visibility. Whether it was talking about the tapeworms in his belly or dressing up in a feather boa and acting like a stripper, there was never a dull moment with Big Baby. 4. CINDERELLA, PART ONE: Before George Mason's miracle run, the North- western State Demons were America's darling. They knocked off a senior- laden third-seeded Iowa Hawkeye squad in the first round thanks to the Tournament's most memorable shot. Jermaine Wallace's fallaway 3-pointer from the left corner sent the Demons into the second round and into March Madness bracket-buster lore forever. 3. No mo' No. 1: Many thought all four of the No. 1 seeds could make the Final Four for just the second time in Tournament history. Instead, Con- necticut looked disinterested, Duke could only go as far as J.J. Redick (3-for- 18 against Louisiana State) could take it, and Memphis and Villanova were overmatched against the two teams which made last night's final game. See MOMENTS, page 11 0 AP PHOTO Florida's Joakim Noah scored 16 points and pulled down nine rebounds In the Gators' 73-57 victory over UCLA last night. The win marked Florida's first national championship in men's basketball. Coach Billy Donovan also won his first championship in his second Final Four appearance as a coach. 1 6 We congratulate the exceptional University of Michigan graduates who have chosen to pursue a rewarding career with UBS. 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