NCAA Championship Game — Ohio State vs. Florida

Block O.bmpHere we are, mere hours from yet another OSU vs. UF matchup for all the marbles. Sounds vaguely familiar.

If Terwilliger tackles Conley Jr. after making a sweet reverse layup, I will probably breakdown in tears.

Okay, so let’s not dwell on the past. We’ll just forget how the last game ended up and look forward to being the underdog that no one thinks has a chance.

A few thoughts before the game starts:

If Oden is whistled for a ticky-tack foul in the first three minutes of the game, I’m punching someone in the face. There will be bloodshed. If the refs care about Zeke’s pretty face, they’ll swallow their whistles for a while.

If he survives the first few minutes without a foul, Oden is going to have a huge game. Mark it down.

I’m not opposed to assigning one of our bench players as a “pony-tail puller.” I’m just saying.

How are you guys feeling about the game? Nervous? Excited? Wishing this could be a rematch of the football teams?

Halftime
#1 Ohio State: 29
#1 Florida: 40

It’s all about the three right now — Florida can’t miss and OSU can’t seem to make. Frustrating as the 11-point deficit is, I’m confident. Oden has been devouring anyone they throw at him. Noah is a joke, Horford can’t stop him and Richard is just a human foul-out. How can Noah sit after three and a half minutes?

I was most worried about Humphrey killing us with his three, but it’s been Brewer. Stop his and his 12 foot arms and I think OSU will be in good shape.

Final
#1 Ohio State: 75
#1 Florida: 84

If there’s any consolation to be found in this loss, it’s that Joakim Noah had absolutely nothing to do with the Gators victory. That is consolation enough for me. I have no malice towards any Gator not numbered 13. They’re a great team and they played flawlessly. Brewer played huge in the first half and Horford played great in the second. They didn’t miss their shots, all the balls bounced their way and they made good on their opportunities. Missing almost 90% of our threes was our back-breaker.

Did you see that last shot of Oden at the end of the game? That was his “I’m coming back next year” face. Just watch. The country got to see what he can do when he’s not being hampered by foul trouble. He is nigh unstoppable. Throw in one perimeter player that was hitting their shots and this game was much closer.

We tip our hats to the Buckeye Basketball team. They took us for a thrill ride all season long, all the way to the top. We’ve enjoyed the great games, the heart-stopping comebacks, everything.

Thanks for the great season, OSU!

Comments

  1. Really? A rematch of football the teams?

    Not sure that’s the matchup i’d want after the first one.

  2. Regardless of whatever happened from this last January, I still am not clear on how that game ended up, I still wouldn’t mind it if Jim Tressel were there, keeping everything in line with Thad.

  3. Griff – I’m with Dave, I’m not clear how that last game ended. I want another shot.

  4. Yeah… Fla deservedly gets the props for a well-balanced game. OSU was too one-dimensional.

    Just to head off any ”Fla is soooooo much better” trolls, just keep this in mind: Both teams weren’t near their average for 3 pt % – if Fla had missed just two of its bajillion three pointers, and had OSU made just two more of its 30ish attempts, this game would have been won by OSU. This wasn’t Fla domination, this was the balls bouncing one team’s way and not the other.

    One more thing: Matta just took a few freshman and played one of the best senior dynasties in NCAA history down to the wire. No doubt who was the better coach on the floor tonight.

    Finally, would someone take Noah out to the trash compactor, please? The only bit of satisfaction I get out of the f-ball and b-ball losses is that Joakim and Chris Leak will be serving fries together at the local McD’s in two years.

  5. Wow! It must really suck to lose both the football and basketball national championship games to the same university! Well, at least you can fall back on your fine academics….wait, oh, that’s right, a retarded chimp with no testicles could get into THE Ohio State University with an SAT of 200. Go burn some couches and show how “classy” your university always is. Asses.

  6. ( Note: I’m not a UF Fan My gf’s a buckeye, so I watch all games )

    Sorry sportsMonkey, it was clear who was the better all around team tonight. UF didn’t shoot ungodly from 3pt range. They shot 56%, which is good, but managable. The problem was that Motta was way, way, WAY out coached:

    1 ) He remained dedicated to the outside game when it was clear it wasn’t working. He never once realized that Billy was pulling the old Shaq defense of refusing to NOT double team Oden, lettting the other guys beat them.
    2 ) He refused to pound the ball to Oden when it was clear that no one could stop him. Seriously, even if you discount the fact that Oden got every little call, he still was WAY too much for anyone on UF.
    3 ) He played bascially 6 men the entire 2nd half. It was clear that OSU simply had nothing left. They were young guys who needed a rest, and motta kept the balls to the wall. Nothing was more telling of how the game was going than looking at the OSU bench during the TO at the 2:00-ish mark. Not one player on the OSU bench was sweating, yet the entire OSU team on the court was gassed.

    To say that Motta was the better coach is ludicrous.

  7. Archie Friffin says

    ohio state is rapidly becoming the Buffalo Bills of the college ranks…. a very mediocre second that fails to make the games entertaining.

    Obviously, this is college sports and generally those involved should be given some latitude, but…. seeing how this is a semi-pro organization and that your jorts wearin’, hideously rude, inane fans treat any other fans at your stinkin’ shoe like crap, then… actually calling you the Buffalo Bills is an insult… to the Bills….

    congratulate yourself on choking again…

  8. Crud.

  9. Griffin:

    >>he remained dedicated to the outside game when it was clear it wasn’t working<< That's exactly what he should have done. Averages exist for a reason, and if you're way below average in a statistical area, you keep plugging away and it almost always works out later. Bad coaches see a bad run and stop, good coaches see a bad run and keep trying, knowing that over time it averages out. OSU did exactly what they were supposed to do... it's just that the balls didn't fall. Only two more might have done it. >>He refused to pound the ball to Oden<< Uh, seriously? Oden got the ball more often than any other game this year. Every offensive possession either went through him or used him for clean-up. If anything, they depended on him too much. A few more minutes on the bench might have motivated the players to step it up a notch. >>They shot 56%, which is good, but managable. << And 56% from 3-pt range, while “manageable,” is way above Fla’s average and is precisely what doomed the Bucks. No, Fla didn’t win because of coaching, they won because the players had an unusual string of successful three-pointers, especially in the first half. Had the players not dropped as many threes, people would be saying how terrible Donovan’s coaching was. Matta’s coaching was just as effective, but the Buckeye players couldn’t hit any threes (for the first time this season). My “better coach” comment referred to the fact that Matta was only about four bad shots from beating one of the best upperclassmen dynasties with a bunch of freshmen.

  10. sportsMonkey:

    Those are fair points, but you look past the fact that despite all you mention about how good they shot in the first half, the fact remains that OSU was within 6 points very late in the game.

    The OSU players simply had nothing left to break through. That’s not the players, that’s bad coaching.

    Anyone can take a bunch of freshman and lose to a good team. How is losing impressive?

  11. Bad coaching? Greg Oden dominated Florida, but when you are trading Oden dunks for Gator 3-pointers, you can’t win. Odds are you are going to shoot for your average, and unfortunately the Buckeyes weren’t able to make a couple more 3s (and the Gators hit their clutch 3s). Honestly, I don’t see where Thad Matta got outcoached. Bottom line: Florida hit there 3s, and Ohio State did not.

  12. Joakim Noah is a waste of space, but great teams find a way to pick up the slack when it’s crunch time. Ohio State did almost all it could to win, but Florida did what championship teams do: they made shots when they needed them. As a Buckeye fan, I’m not at all displeased with this team, they played hard and with a lot of heart. I agree with Tom, Florida made their 3s and OSU didn’t, it’s that simple.

  13. mts – thanks for bringing thoughtful insight and intelligent discussion. You make blogging worth it!

    I don’t know what’s wrong with the rest of you people, completely ignoring the problem at hand — OSU fans are the devil!

  14. If we could shoot, we might have given the Gators a game. But we didn’t and they did. Monkey’s math is impressive, if they had missed two 3’s and we had made two 3’s. . . if we had scored more points and they had scored less…. We are pathetic! I am embarrassed to read this rubbish. We are losers. They own us. We better get over it or try to do something else. They graduate a higher percentage of players than we do, they haven’t been on suspension. Nobody wants our coach. The whole world wants their coach. We had better wake up and see the world as it is and not as we think it should be. Our problem is that we want to be like them, but we can’t because we make too many excuses. It is not the 1960’s anymore. I have hope for Griffin. For the rest of you losers, there is no hope. I’m out.

  15. 56% is manageable from the 3 point line?

    ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

    56% IS GOOD FOR A CENTER SHOOTING LAYUPS…

    However, big time teams step it up, it’s more than one team getting a lucky break over another team.

    I agree, if ONE player (see Jamar Butler or Ron Lewis) had stepped it up from the outside…just one…

    this game could have been different.

    They didn’t.

    Brewer, Humphery (the dagger) and Green all came out and played.

    That’s not about coaching, that’s about a team that has been through the wars.

    Oh, and to the Florida fans that are talking smack about tOSU fans, I’ve been to the swamp, probably more than the people talking smack about OSU fans…

    so before you hypocrites start rollin’ about OSU fans, look in the mirror.

    It amazes me, this Rodney Dangerfield bull$&%t I’ve been listening too from CERTAIN Florida fans…spare me.

  16. Win or lose, we should be proud of the Buckeyes. They gave us a lot to cheer for this year.

    And I think it’s worth keeping the Gainesville police officer who was injured in the post-game celebration in our thoughts. Godspeed.

    Great job writers of MotSaG. Nice to see Buckeye fans with such estimable qualities as rationalization, logic, and a clear concept of reality.

  17. Lots of Fla fans masquerading as OSU fans in this comments thread…

    >>How is losing impressive?

    >>We are losers.

    >>Nobody wants our coach.

    >>We are pathetic!

    Donovan’s a great coach, but he shares company with Matta, who does have everyone’s respect. And no, if a couple of players miss a couple of three-pointers, it’s not the coach’s fault.

    Boy, you sure see the bandwagon fans come out when people actually start expecting championships each year, or nothing else. THAT’S what’s pathetic to me.

    It’s pathetic to expect a bunch of 18-year olds to win a championship or otherwise risk being branded “losers.”

    I think it’s pretty sad that a team can come in second from among a tourney of 65 of the nation’s best and be considered a “loser” by some. Or the f-ball team, totally dominating highly ranked competition for an entire season, then losing the championship game and being called “losers.”

    Last night, at a local restaurant, my three-year-old walked past a video monitor where the women’s b-ball championship was showing, and said, “Cool! Issat the Buckeyes?” Several strangers overheard her and laughed, someone clapped, another said “O-H!!”

    The point is that she saw the game and got excited, and that’s what’s important. The players had fun, the fans had fun watching them, and we all shared it together. That’s what it’s all about.

    As for the coaches, you’ll always see the Florida players snapping their jerseys, thumping their chests, pointing at the camera, but you sure don’t see any of Matta’s players doing anything like that.

    “Losers.” Not in my book.

Trackbacks

  1. […] I wanted to post this Monday after the season finale of Prison Break, but the Ohio State/Florida game was on (and didn’t end well) so I never got around to commenting on the last episode of my (currently) favorite show. (Spoiler Warning) […]

  2. […] Chris Ruddick wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptIf Oden is whistled for a ticky-tack foul in the first three minutes of the game, I’m punching someone in the face. There will be bloodshed. If the refs care about Zeke’s pretty face, they’ll swallow their whistles for a while. … […]

  3. […] Chris Ruddick wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptIf Oden is whistled for a ticky-tack foul in the first three minutes of the game, I’m punching someone in the face. There will be bloodshed. If the refs care about Zeke’s pretty face, they’ll swallow their whistles for a while. … […]

  4. […] (should have been at least 1 more), 3 trips to the National Championship game, a Final Four and an NCAA Finals (including that amazing comeback in the Sweet 16), a major scandal, and the most amazing run of a […]

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