GATORS

Final Flourish

By ANDY STAPLES

Published: Mar 4, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS - Even though his friends told him to avoid the job in 1996, Billy Donovan saw a glimmer of hope in the University of Florida basketball program.

Even though his previous recruiting classes garnered higher rankings, Donovan and his staff loved the passion of the four players they signed to form the Class of 2004.

And even though few believed a team led by sophomores would pass the first weekend of this year's NCAA Tournament, those four players and their teammates insisted they were bound for immortality.

They were all correct.

Monday night at the RCA Dome, the Gators claimed their first national basketball championship with a 73-57 rout of UCLA. Three of the sophomores - center Al Horford, forward Joakim Noah and forward Corey Brewer - locked arms as the fourth, point guard Taurean Green, stepped to the line in the final minute.

Only they had predicted this team would go so far so fast. They had always believed.

"The Gator boys got the W," Noah screamed into a CBS Radio microphone as Green wrapped a championship belt around his waist on the awards platform.

Six years to the day after Florida lost the national title game in this building, the Gators reached their sport's pinnacle. And they made it look easy.

Early, UCLA's typically stingy defense broke down whenever Florida dumped the ball into the paint. The Bruins' post players couldn't match the speed of Florida's combination of Noah and Horford, who combined to score 30 points. Florida's first basket was a prime example. UCLA defenders collapsed on Horford, who zipped a pass to Noah for a layup.

Despite making only two of nine first-half 3-point attempts and being outrebounded 21-14 for the half, the Gators had little trouble building a lead. Center Adrian Moss' 18-foot jumper gave Florida a 13-point lead with 7:19 remaining in the half, and Florida would go into the break ahead 36-25 against a team that allowed only 45 points Saturday in a national semifinal win against LSU.

The Gators opened Monday's second half the same way they opened Saturday's - with two consecutive Lee Humphrey 3-pointers. Brewer added a third at the 16:05 mark to give Florida a 47-29 lead. UCLA point guard Jordan Farmar, who turned down Florida to become a Bruin, tried in vain to keep his team close by scoring a game-high 18 points.

Coming out of a timeout with 16:03 remaining, Noah looked into the Florida section and pounded his fist into his palm four times. His message: The Gators may be up big, but they wouldn't quit until they could feel the championship rings on their fingers.

And they didn't quit. They barely even cracked a smile before Humphrey fed Noah for a two-handed dunk to put the Gators ahead by 17 with 1:07 remaining.

Rings weren't even a consideration when Florida's season began.

The graduation of forward David Lee and the early departures of guards Anthony Roberson and Matt Walsh took away 60 percent of Florida's 2004-05 offense. The Gators entered this season with virtually no expectations - except that they might be the ones who snapped the program's streak of seven consecutive NCAA Tournaments.

Less than two weeks into the season, it became obvious Florida wouldn't miss the tournament this season, either. The Gators reeled off impressive, nationally televised wins against Wake Forest and Syracuse at New York's Madison Square Garden on Nov. 17-18. In the process, the nation got its first look at the running, pressing, anybody-can-be-the-leading-scorer style the Gators began honing in their personal pick-up games as far back as June 2004.

Florida roared to a 17-0 start, climbing as high as No.2 in the nation before suffering its first loss at Tennessee on Jan. 21. All six of the Gators' losses would come during an 11-game stretch of the SEC schedule, capped by consecutive losses to Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama in late February.

When the team returned from Tuscaloosa, players and coaches met to correct the problems dogging the Gators. After the meeting, Florida wouldn't lose again.

They blew through the NCAA Tournament, trailing only for about 22 of 240 minutes of tournament play.

And after the final minute ticked away, they celebrated.

Noah bodysurfed through the crowd until he landed in his parents' arms. Center Chris Richard reached across the railing and squeezed his mother. Walk-on forward Garrett Tyler, a Palm Harbor University High graduate who spent his freshman year as a fan, raised his arms to the sky.

Later, fifth-year senior Moss, a player so old his nickname is "Uncle," stood among his teammates and held the NCAA title trophy aloft.

Rick Pitino, the mentor who 10 years ago told Donovan to decline the Florida job, came to the court to salute his protégé.

"It's a fairy-tale thing," Pitino said.