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Repeating history (cont.)

Posted: Monday March 26, 2007 10:21AM; Updated: Wednesday March 28, 2007 3:21PM
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A matchup between Florida's Joakim Noah and OSU's Greg Oden would leave hoops fans salivating.
A matchup between Florida's Joakim Noah and OSU's Greg Oden would leave hoops fans salivating.
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Similarly, just as the football Gators ruined the last college game for OSU poster boy Smith, the basketball Buckeyes would be attempting to quash the feel-good story of the Florida juniors (Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green) who all returned to school for a shot at another title.

Would an OSU title-game victory over the Gators a week from now fully avenge its January beatdown in the desert? Probably not. While Buckeyes fans are presumably excited about the current run being made by Thad Matta's team, Ohio State is first and foremost a football school. While there will surely be a convoy of Buckeyes fans making the trip to Atlanta next weekend, there were would be even more if the Scarlet and Gray decided to hold a football scrimmage in the Georgia Dome parking lot.

That said, Buckeyes fans would not want to lose another game to the Gators. Talk about one school "owning" another. If I were an OSU fan, I'd never vacation in Florida again.

Meanwhile, I'm guessing most Florida fans are realistic enough to realize that it's by no means a given their team will pull off the repeat. Now that Donovan's squad has attained a second consecutive Final Four berth, anything beyond this point is pretty much gravy. That said, if you told those fans the Gators have to lose at some point this weekend, here's guessing they'd want it to come against anyone but Ohio State.

This has already been a historic year in the two major college sports, with Florida becoming the first school to hold both national titles concurrently and now attempting to become the first to win them in the same season. The possibility that the same two schools could wind up meeting for both titles is simply mind-boggling. In what promises to be one of the most anticipated Final Fours in years, my guess is Florida-Ohio State Part Deux -- especially with two recognizable stars like Noah and Oden -- would be the most watched championship game in more than a decade, perhaps even going back as far as Larry-Magic.

Which is why I regret to inform you that UCLA is going to beat Georgetown next Monday.

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