The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Tuesday, April 3, 2007 - 9

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, April 3, 2007 - 9

FLORIDA 84, OHIO STATE 75
Gators bite again

Forgettable
dance finally over

Junior-
laden
Gators
repeat
ATLANTA (AP) - A long,
tough season ended with a Gator
chomp again.
Mission accomplished for Flori-
da.
The Gators were too much to han-
dle once again Monday night, keep-
ing their stranglehold on the college
basketball world with an 84-75 vic-
tory over Ohio State for their second
straight national championship.
Al Horford had 18 points and 12
rebounds, Taurean Green had 16
and Greg Oden's 25 points and 12
rebounds weren't enough for Ohio
State (35-4) to stop the Gators (35-5)
from completing the quest they set
upon when all the starters delayed
their NBA plans for a try at another
title.
"It feels great. This is what we
came back to school for," Florida
guard Corey Brewer said. "This is
what we're all about at the Univer-
sity of Florida, winning champion-
ships. We're No. 1 again, two in a
row, back-to-back. That's what we
do."
They celebrated with the usual
Gator chomps and took a chomp out
of NCAA history, too _ becoming
the first team to repeat since Duke
in 1991-92, the first ever to go back-
to-back with the same starting five
and adding their name to the debate
about the best teams of all time.
Best athletic programs of all
time, too.
This win completes a 2007 cham-
pionship-game sweep of the Buck-
eyes in the two biggest college sports
_ men's hoops and football. Florida,
a 41-14 winner in the football title
game in January, remains the only
program in history to hold both
championships at the same time.
The celebration looked much the
same as last year. Lots of jersey
tugging, jumping onto press row
and Joakim Noah running into the
stands to hug it out with loved ones.
Billy Donovan added anothergold
star to his resume, which figures to
command more than his current
$1.7 million next season, whether he
returns to Florida or bolts for a pos-
sible job offer at Kentucky.
"I'm so proud of these guys,"
Donovan said. "We've had to win
different ways and with the expecta-
tions, and I think you really have to
look at this team, and I'm not say-
ing they are the best team, but you
have to look at them and say they
are one of the best teams to play this
game."
It was hardly just a matter of

Last night was the swan
song of this year's dance,
and just like the last songs
of our junior
high dances,
this one was
worth forget- 4
ting.
Ohio State
must feel like
that kid who
finally gets to
slow dance
with the head H. JOSE
cheerleader, BOSCH
only for the - -
DJ to play one
of those awkward slow/not slow
songs. The Buckeyes got to the
last game, but everything went
wrong. Their 3-point shooting
was the awkward slow/not slow
song that ruined everything.
What hurts most is that Ohio
State had to go through this expe-
rience twice. Whatcould be worse
in sports? Even Buffalo Bills fans
can't be this unhappy. At least
they had a full year between each
Super Bowl embarrassment.
Ohio State gets punched in the
gut in January and knocked out in
April, by the same school no less.
But as the Buckeyes are forced
to stand by the punch bowl for
a second consecutive National
Championship game, Florida
reaps the benefits of being the first
back-to-back National Champion
since the 1991-92 Duke teams.
Just to give you an idea of how
excited the Gators are, check out
Joakim Noah's postgame com-
ments to CBS Sports' Jim Nantz.
"We're going to do it big, all day
and all night," Noah said.
Somewhere, Pacman Jones's
ears just perked up.
But before Florida goes out and
"makes mistakes" (think Gilbert
Arenas's birthday bash), we all
should realize everything we've
learned over the past month.
We've learned that it's still a
little too early to declare a mid-
major revolution in the NCAA
Tournament.
With the exception of Virginia
Commonwealth and UNLV (come
on: you all picked Winthrop to
win), there weren't any major
upsets.
And speaking of Virginia Com-
monwealth, we've learned that
Duke couldn't just flip a switch in

March and make a deep run. Now
it may not be so easy to pencil the
Blue Devils past the second round
anymore.
We've also learned to love the
announcing genius that is Gus
Johnson. Previous generations
have had great calls like "The
Giants win the pennant! The
Giants win the pennant!" and "Do
you believe in miracles? ... Yes!"
We have "Bautista with the
caaaaaaaaaaaaatch!" from last
year's UCLA-Gonzaga game and
"Lewis has been awesome, lets it
go ... hitkahshahjkhaaaah!" from
the climatic ending of the Ohio
State-Xavier game.
And finally, we've learned that
schools can't be good at just one
major revenue sport anymore.
Not with Ohio State and Florida
meeting in the National Champi-
onship game for both the football
and basketball. (Good luck in Ann
Arbor, Mr. Beilein!)
But not everything was a learn-
ing experience.
Selection Sunday and the four
days preceding it are just as natu-
ral as a bird's yearly migration to
the South every winter.
Billy Packer, who probably crit-
icized the birth of his own child,
is still around at the ripe old age
of 67 and reminds us of just how
old the Tournament really is.
"One Shining Moment" still
plays in the background as the
winning team cuts down the nets,
making even the most predictable
and dull Tournament (like this
year) look like the most thrilling.
Jim Nantz uses a cheesy play-
on-words. (This year's was some-
thing to the effect of, "He found
his mother. And the Gators. find
their dream in Atlanta.")
And a pretentious sports writer
who couldn't drive through the
paint if he had an SUV critiques
world-class athletes during the
month's action in a weekly col-
umn.
So as the lights dim and the
janitors sweep away the confetti
in Atlanta, the rest of America
will hide their dancing shoes in
a place where they can find them
for next year.
As for me, I'll pick up my broom
and sweep off this Dance Floor.
Because every March, a new
dance begins and it deserves a
shiny new floor.

I
i
i
I
I
3 3
3
i S u
APPHO'
Florida juniors Joakim Noah and Corey ¢rewer celebrate after defeating Ohio State, 84-75, giving the Gators their second-
consecutive National Championship. Florida is the first team to achieve this feat since Duke did it in 1991 and 1992.

Donovan rolling the ball out there.
All season including in the 86-60
victory over Ohio State in Decem-
ber _ the Gators have morphed into
whatever kind of team they needed
to be to win.
In this one, stopping Oden fig-
ured to be the key, but really it was
more complex than that. The 7-foot
freshman, who may be one-year-
and-done with the NBA beckoning,
stayed out of foul trouble and played
38 minutes - just what the Buck-
eyes figured they needed to have a
chance.
Florida's focus, however, was
more on stopping the rest of the
team. Oden drew mostly single cov-

erage when the ball went into the
post. Donovan played a lot of zone
and mixed his big men in and out,
adding 6-10 Marreese Speights to
the mix to give him five more fouls
to play with.
That strategy worked well enough
- well enough to win at least. Ohio
State couldn't take advantage of
any other matchups, especially on
the perimeter. Ivan Harris was the
only Buckeye to make a 3-pointer
over the first 39-plus minutes of the
game, and he finished 2-for-8. Mike
Conley Jr. finished with 20 points
for Ohio State, but lots of them came
late after the Buckeyes were playing
big-time catch-up.

SWAMPED
Florida's 84-75 win over Ohio State
last night not only gave the Gators
another national championship, but
also cemented their place in the his-
tory books
*Florida is just the seventh team, and
first since 1992,to win back-back National
Championships
!This is the first time in 33 yearssthat a
school haswon a national title in football
and basketball in the sameyear.
*Florida forward Corey Brewerwas
named Most Outstanding Playerof the
NCAA Tournament

Frosh fullback fired up for fall

Baseball's conference
home-opening game
moved to 3 p.m. today
The Michigan baseball team's in the two wins over the Wildcats,
game against Central Michigan has catcher/outfielder Doug Pickens was
been rescheduled from Wednesday named Big Ten Player of the Week.
to today at The Fish. The junior had two home runs, two
The Wolverines and Chippewas doubles and a triple in the four games
will face off at 3 p.m. as originally with Northwestern.
planned. The time shift for baseball pits the
Michigan will look to continue game at The Fish up directly against
its winning ways after last week- the softball team's doubleheader.
end's impressive sweep over North- At Varsity Field, the softball team's
western. originally schedule doubleheader is
Because of his strongperformance still set to begin at 3 p.m.
Daily Sports' blog, The Game, has
everything you could ask for, including"
An awesome top 10 list ...
up-to-the-minute John Beilein updates
and by tonight, we'll have results from our
NCAA tournament Bracket Challenge.

By KEVIN WRIGHT
Daily Sports Editor
He grew up in Saline, just out-
side of Ann Arbor.
He played high school football
a mere eight miles from the Big
House.
1 You would think the next logical
step for fullback Vince Helmuth
would be to come to Michigan.
But it wasn't that easy for the
early-entry freshman.
Helmuth grew up in a Michi-
gan State household, because his
brother, Chris Baker, played there
as a tight end.
Baker was originally recruited
by the Wolverines, but was never
offered a scholarship.
Helmuth and Baker talked
about the recruiting process, but

not so much about the Michigan-
Michigan State rivalry.
"He never really urged meto go
to State," Helmuth said. "He just
told me he wouldn't root for Mich-
igan. He would just root for me."
With Helmuth, Michigan origi-
nally recruited him as a defensive
lineman. The 6-foot-1 fullback was
impressed by the constancy of the
program and committed to the
Wolverines last January.
"It's easy to fall in love with
Michigan, with all of the tradi-
tion and all the great athletes,"
Helmuth said.
The Wolverines are glad to
have him now - especially with
their lack of depth at the fullback
position. Last season's starter, Obi
Oluigbo, graduated, and backup
Will Paul left the team. That left

Andre Criswell as the front-run-
ner for the job this season, but he
switched to tight end.
With the loss of Oluigbo and
Paul, Helmuth knew his presence
on campus this winter would be
beneficial to the team's develop-
ment in the spring as well as his
individual adjustment.
"It's not the opportunity to
play," Helmuth said. "It's the
opportunity to add depth to the
fullback position. ... I felt I needed
to come in to help add depth to
that position, and the possibility
of me playing at all has, of course,
gone up."
Rated as a three-star recruit by
Rivals.com, Helmuth starred at
Saline High School as the Hornets'
primary running back. As a senior,
he rushed for over 1,000 yards and

22 touchdowns, while also playing
defensive end.
After the move from Saline to
Ann Arbor, Helmuth didn't have
to worry as much about the tran-
sition from high school to college.
He still has the option to go home
and visit with friends and family
whenever he wants. During the
end of the high school basketball
season, Helmuth went back to
watch his younger brother play.
But, the harder transition came
duringteam workouts this winter.
"The workouts, it's different,"
Helmuth said. "I mean, being
light-headed and nauseous, it's
happened quite a bit with the run-
ning and lifting. I'm kind of get-
ting the hang of things now."
For Helmuth, the fall can't come
soon enough.

i

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