Florida, Greg Oden

Now, let me first say I have the utmost respect for this Florida team. I have been slow to come around because I felt they had a pass at the tournament last year because they had a fairly easy draw and the 3 best teams in the country choked. I felt that this year they would be faced with a lot of pressure and a lot of scrutiny, and they wouldn't hold up, especially with the influx of players like Oden, Durant, Wright, Budinger, Thaddeus Young, etc. I was wrong. Florida was balanced, had great chemistry, and had enough weapons to make any team sweat it out. So there, I admitted it. I was wrong.

It's really quite remarkable how well their team came together given a few facts. First, the vaunted 04s came out of no where. Taurean Green was a 3 star recruit who wasn't even a top 100. Joakim Noah was ranked 18th in his position - somewhere in the 60s overall. Horford was ranked about the same. Brewer was, sort of expectedly, ranked pretty highly as a 5 star recruit. But they all improved, they all came together very well, and they play exceptionally well together. Whoever drafts Horford this year will come away with a real NBA Power Forward who should have a successful 10+ year career. I think Brewer will be pretty solid in the NBA too, but I can't help but expect Noah to underwhelm. I don't think he actually has any skills other than shooting ugly free throws and screaming a lot. At any rate, he now has 2 rings, so what do my criticisms mean?

Now, having won 2 in a row, Florida takes their place along with other great teams of all-time, but I don't think they measure up quite as well. First, while Florida is certainly a talented, they are not talented like some of the great college teams in the past were. The reality is that today's college game is so volatile that the best talents don't stay more than 1 or 2 years. Of course, the idea that they repeated in this environment makes it all the more impressive. Then again, it sort of makes the Gators look like the Patriots of college basketball. The 04 Pats were 14-2 and looked rather unstoppable in the playoffs, few believe that they could stand toe-to-toe with the best of the pre-salary cap era such as the mid-90s Cowboys or the late 80s Niners who simply had more talent.

The 1982 Tar Heels had 2 future Hall of Famers and the best player ever. The 1984 Hoyas had a Hall of Fame center and overwhelmed teams with fear. The 1990 Rebels had 3 very good future NBA players and won the title game by 30. The 91-92 Blue Devils had 2 future All-Stars and the NCAA's all-time leader in assists. The 1996 Kentucky Wildcats had 7 future NBA players. The 2001 Blue Devils started 5 guys who would eventually become NBA starters (Jay Williams was a starter his rookie season before the bike wreck). The point is, it IS much harder to keep talent, so it is very hard to win back-to-back titles, but the talent that you keep is not as great as it once was, because 20-21 year old players of that caliber are now in the NBA. Hell, even Laettner would have left after the 91 title had it occurred in 2006 instead of 1991.

So, in summation about Florida: they are a fantastic team, and deserve all the praise they get, unless that praise begins calling the the best team of this decade or one of the best of all-time. They aren't. They are, however, an excellent team.

Now, one last comment. Greg Oden will one day be in the Hall of Fame and will one day wear at least 1 NBA championship ring. The guy is an absolute stud, and if there was any doubt left, let his last performance be an indicator of things to come. The odd fact is that Ohio State did not utilize him as much as they should have, and he does still have to learn to control his foul situation. Either way, Oden nearly single handedly won the game for Ohio State. Had any other player on OSU's roster showed up to play even a half decent game (look, Florida played decent defense, but OSU had multiple players miss multiple open 3s throughout the game while Florida's players shot 10 for 18 from beyond the arc), then he'd probably be cutting down the nets now instead of ole Joakim. I think Oden is built for the NBA, because while he seemed pretty indifferent for much of the tournament, he really showed up when it mattered. He'll deal with the rigors of a long season well and deal with ups and downs well. He has a good work ethic, and he's incredibly physically gifted. As great as Durant will be in the NBA, I have no doubt now that I would pick Oden first if I was the GM with the first pick.