Ohio State, Florida reach NCAA title game
Last Updated: Saturday, March 31, 2007 | 11:42 PM ET
The Associated Press
Ohio State can win without Greg Oden. Georgetown is simply lost without Roy Hibbert.
With Hibbert and Oden both hampered by foul trouble, it was Mike Conley Jr. and the rest of the Buckeyes who carried Ohio State to its first national title game since 1962 with a 67-60 victory over Georgetown on Saturday night in Atlanta.
Ohio State's Greg Oden, centre, celebrates with teammates Ron Lewis, right, and David Lighty during their Final Four win over Georgetown on Saturday.
(Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Ohio State will meet defending champion Florida in the NCAA title game Monday night at the Georgia Dome. The Gators defeated UCLA in Saturday night's other semifinal.
Conley finished with 15 points, six assists and five rebounds for Ohio State. Oden added 13 points and eight rebounds.
Hibbert scored 19 and had six rebounds, and clearly got the best of his much-anticipated matchup with Oden. Problem was, he spent too much time as a spectator.
So did the rest of the Hoyas.
Jeff Green, the Big East player of the year who had been scoring a team-best 15.8 points in the NCAA tournament, had just nine points, and took only five shots the entire game. He did have 12 rebounds, but it wasn't enough — not with Hibbert out.
The Georgetown bench was held scoreless.
Florida 76, UCLA 66
Billyball lives on for at least one more game at Florida. After what felt like a Final Four instant replay, UCLA has certainly had its fill.
The Gators and their in-demand coach, Billy Donovan, moved to within a win of a second straight NCAA championship Saturday night, defeating the Bruins 76-66 behind 19 points from Corey Brewer, 16 points from Chris Richard and 14 points from Lee Humphrey.
Donovan got the best of Ben Howland and Florida got the best of UCLA for the second straight year at the Final Four, adding this semifinal win to a 73-57 rout in last year's title game.
This victory for the Gators set up another sort of rematch: They'll play Ohio State on Monday in the final, hoping for the same kind of result as their 27-point victory in the championship football game earlier this year.
The football coaches, OSU's Jim Tressel and Florida's Urban Meyer, were on the sidelines for this one, too, but only as spectators.
The real stars were Brewer, Humphrey (three three-pointers in the second half), Joakim Noah and, of course, Donovan, who the Gator faithful hope will rebuff a possible offer from Kentucky come season's end to keep building on the small dynasty he's created in Gainesville.
That drama will have to wait at least a couple more days, thanks to a wear-'em-down kind of effort that looked pretty much like what the Gators did to the Bruins last year.
The entire starting lineup came back for a repeat and with one more win, Florida will become the first team to go back-to-back since Duke in 1992 and the first to ever do it with the same starting five.
