No. 1 Florida doesn't possess aura of past title teams

	Trying to become the first back-to-back national champion since Duke in '91 and '92, Florida has rolled to a 23-2 record and No. 1 ranking. AP
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Remember the aura that surrounded those great UNLV teams of the early '90s? When Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony & Co. walked onto the court, you could see the flashbulbs going off around the arena like a rock band was entering the stage.

What about the Jason Williams-Mike Dunleavy-Carlos Boozer Duke teams a few years back? You couldn't watch college basketball for more than 20 minutes without seeing highlights of that team (or Dick Vitale's comments about them).

Question: Why aren't the 2006-07 Florida Gators receiving that same kind of treatment? You know, those guys who happen to be the defending national champions, returned all five starters and are once again the No. 1 team in the country? While the talking heads have spent much of the past few months falling all over themselves talking about Kevin Durant, Greg Oden, Alando Tucker and the baby Tar Heels, Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer & Co. have somehow managed to roll off 16 consecutive victories while largely avoiding the national spotlight. (Florida has appeared on national television just four times this season.)

That changed in a big way last Saturday night. With the ESPN hype machine at full throttle and Rupp Arena rocking, the Gators did what they do best: Ruin the party. Seemingly unfazed by the atmosphere, Billy Donovan's team jumped on Kentucky from the opening tip, running to first-half leads of 10-3, 24-11 and 30-14. The 'Cats threatened to come back on numerous occasions but could not get within three points until the final, turnover-filled seconds, with Ramel Bradley missing a potential game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer.

While even the best teams in the country have struggled to win on the road at times (most notably UCLA's losses at Oregon, Stanford and West Virginia, UNC's at N.C. State and Virginia Tech), Florida last week beat two RPI top 50 foes (the other: Georgia) away from home, and did so with relative ease. Not that it's surprising considering the Gators' starting lineup consists entirely of grizzled veterans (one senior and four juniors).

All of which begs the obvious question: Is Florida poised to become the first back-to-back NCAA champion since Duke in 1991-92? Donovan, understandably, is avoiding the subject.

"I'm not interested in making history right now," he said. "Duke has already carved out their niche in history. I was on the bench [as an assistant] at Kentucky when [Christian] Laettner hit that shot to make the Final Four. Do you realize what they had to do just to get to the Final Four? The margin of error is so small."

The Gators' current record of 23-2 is the same as that '92 Duke team's through the same number of games (though the Blue Devils didn't play their 25th game until March 1). So why doesn't this Florida team carry the same kind of aura? For one, it doesn't have the same kind of star power as Duke did with Laettner and Hurley. That Noah is a household name is due more to his personality than his game. Horford, Brewer, Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey remain largely unheralded despite all ranking among the best in the country at their positions. Perhaps it's the fact that no Gator average more than 13.6 points per game (though all average in double figures).

But for whatever reason -- be it the lack of TV time, star power or what not -- the Gators have failed to become this season's overriding storyline the way you might have expected when the four then-sophomores announced last spring they were all coming back. That label has fallen to Durant and Oden, much like it did the scoring battle between J.J. Redick and Adam Morrison last season or Illinois' run at perfection a year earlier.