Greg Oden and the Buckeyes overcame a 20-point deficit to Tennessee in the Sweet 16. John Biever/SI

"Nobody -- nobody -- gave them a chance," he said of the Gators' BCS matchup against season-long No. 1 Ohio State.

Well, gee. Doesn't that sound familiar?

As Matta said, on paper it's hard to see how the Buckeyes can stop Florida -- mostly because no one's stopped the Gators for 11 straight tourney games now. But as the cliché goes, they don't play the games on paper. Sometimes, Villanova beats Georgetown. Sometimes George Mason beats Connecticut. And sometimes, a touchdown-underdog football team goes out and holds the Heisman Trophy winner to 35 yards.

When Florida and Ohio State take to the floor Monday night, they'll be taking on nearly the exact same roles as their football counterparts -- in reverse. In Arizona, the Buckeyes had the supposedly unstoppable offense. Sunday, Matta was asked how his defense can concentrate on Florida's vaunted big men without Lee Humphrey killing them from outside. "I wish I had an answer for you other than, 'Boy, I hope they miss,'" he replied.

In Arizona, the Gators were repeatedly asked whether all the controversy over their selection in the game over Michigan would serve as a motivating factor. On Sunday, Ohio State's players were asked, "The overwhelming sentiment is despite the fact you are the No. 1 ranked team in the country, Florida is going to win this game. Does it tick you off?"

"People thought we were going to lose last night's game [to Georgetown]," said Lewis. "It's nothing new for us."

In Arizona, the Buckeyes actually jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a Ted Ginn Jr. kick return in the game's first 15 seconds. As you may recall, the score from there was 44-7 Florida. At various points in this tournament, Ohio State has trailed an opponent by 20 points in the first half (Tennessee in the Sweet 16) and by nine with less than three minutes left (Xavier in the second round). As you may have noticed, they wound up winning both games.

Speaking of the Xavier game, Lewis said, "It gave us great confidence in ourselves and what we can do. It showed how we are tough team and we can come back from a deficit."

And with that, Lewis inadvertently stumbled onto the biggest key to the entire game Monday.

To a man, the Buckeyes all say the right things about how confident they are and how much they've grown and improved over the course of the season. But do they truly believe it? Because at some point Monday night -- actually, many, many times Monday night -- that confidence is going to be put to the ultimate test.

Florida is a great team -- Lewis' opinion notwithstanding -- but it is certainly not invincible. A little over a month ago, it endured consecutive 10-point losses to LSU and Tennessee. A little over a week ago, it was tied in the final three minutes with Butler.

And while the ultra-talented Gators will likely have three players selected in the first round of June's NBA draft, Ohio State has two future prospects, Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr., who may ultimately shine even brighter.

But when it comes to the intangibles department -- experience, confidence, mental toughness -- Florida holds a significant edge over not only the Buckeyes but everyone they play. Time and again, we've seen a purportedly formidable opponent wilt under the power of one of the Gators' inevitable, back-breaking runs. Like UCLA did Saturday night.

When Ohio State and Florida played in Gainesville last December, the score was actually tied 40-40 early in the second half. But then Noah and Al Horford got off a couple of dunks, the crowd started going wild, and in the blink of an eye, the Gators had rolled off a 33-9 run.

At some point Monday, Florida will again go on one of its runs. It might come right off the opening tip, kind of like Ginn's kick return off the opening kick.

Will the Buckeyes respond the way they did in Gainesville in December, or the way the Gators did in the desert in January?