The Sandspur

Issue date: 4/7/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Mark Cornelison THE FARMAR STANDS ALONE: UCLA's Jordan Farmer goes up for two as Florida's Lee Humphrey guards.

Before the season, the Florida Gators were picked to finish fourth in the SEC East. The Gators had lost their three top scorers, David Lee, Matt Walsh and Anthony Roberson, two of who are in the NBA right now. Now, the Gators are national champions, after defeating George Mason and UCLA in the Final Four.

The Gators were on tap for the first of Saturday's two semifinal games on Saturday. The Gators were dominant from wire to wire, and George Mason had only one lead in the entire game, 2-0. The story of the game was from the three point line. Lee Humphrey, who was 5 for 7 from the three point line in the 2nd half and finished with 19 points. George Mason shot two for 11 from the line and did not make the three until five minutes left in the game. Joakim Noah who was the MVP of the Final Four also paced the Gators with 12 points, 8 rebounds and four blocks. Florida won 73-58. They would face UCLA, who was in making their 13th appearance in a national championship game.

UCLA, who was the champion of the Oakland region played LSU, winner of the Atlanta region, in the other semifinal. The game was an ugly defensive battle, with the Bruins holding their third opponent in this tournament to 45 points or less. The held LSU standout forwards Glen "Big Baby" Davis and Tyrus Thomas to 7-21 and the Tigers shot 32% from the floor. UCLA was not that much better offensively, shooting 42% from the field. However, they outrebounded the Tigers 39-32 and got 10 assists to LSU's four. The Bruins coasted to a 59-45 victory in a game in which the score did not really signify the outset as UCLA held a comfortable 20 point advantage throughout the second half. UCLA was led by forward Luc Richard Mbah A Moute who had 17 points and nine rebounds.

Monday night it was the UCLA Bruins and the Florida Gators for the national title. They picked a good time to play their most flawless game of the season. Florida raced out to an 11-6 lead and would lead by as many as 11 in the first half. In the second half it was more of the same was more from Florida, as the Bruins could not display the defensive prowess that had put them in the national championship. They could not get going on the offensive end, shooting 36.1% from the field. Florida scored any way they wanted to in the second half breaking UCLA's full court presses and traps. They would lead by as many as 20 and go on to win 73-57.

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