My favourite NCAA player ever...

Florida 67, UCLA 62…that’s my call…take it or leave it…Florida is too balanced and too adjustable, plus they actually have the guards to keep up with UCLA and Mbah a Moute or the new Josh Howard as I call him, won’t sneak up on anyone this time…

Someone asked me who my favourite all-time NCAA teams are…well here’s my top 5 in reverse order:

5…1989 Ilinois

Lou Henson's 1988-89 squad had Kenny Battle, Nick Anderson, Kendall Gill, Steve Bardo, and Lowell Hamilton, with Marcus Liberty first off the bench. They were the most interchangeable 6 players to ever be on the same team. They simply did not have positions. This team was a team of dunks and threes…Kenny “The Battle in Seattle” and Nick Anderson were the primary post up threats but basically this team was built to fly… Marcus Liberty and Kendal Gill dunked early and often on the break, with Steve Bardo as the passer…they were ranked number 1 for most of the year and lost in the final four to Michigan 83-81… Ended the year 31-5…

Favourite Player: Marcus Liberty who dunked on everyone…and was the 2nd leading scorer and rebounder yet was the 6th man…

Starters

Forward – Lowell Hamilton, 13.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG
Forward – Kenny Battle, Sr. 16.6 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 52.9 3PT%
Guard – Kendall Gill, Jr. 15.4 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 3.8 APG
Guard – Nick Anderson, Sr. 18.1 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 2.0 APG
Guard – Steve Bardo, Jr. 8.1 PPG, 4.1 APG

Key Reserves
Forward – Marcus Liberty, 17.8 PPG, 7.1 RPG

4…1993 Michigan Wolverines

Well, thanks to Chris Webber (and others) having his hand out all of Michigan's successes have been officially wiped out…however, this was year 2 of the Michigan Fab Five with the long shorts, black socks, shaved heads phenomenon in full swing…now sophomores, Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Ray Jackson and Jimmy King were absolutely dominant…the games they lost were out of boredom…they were ranked Michigan No. 1 in the preseason and the stayed in the top 10…ended the regular season 26-4…entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed in the West…lost the NCAA championship game to North Carolina 77-71… Webber was tremendous with 23 points and 11 rebounds but will forever be known for the timeout…

Favourite Player: Chris Webber, who’s one handed snatch rebounds out of mid-air I can still see in my minds eye…in fact, who has the best hands of any basketball player ever…who after did a turnaround dunk one handed in the post over Thomas Hill and then making that zombie face as he runs back down the floor…

Starters
Forward - Chris Webber, So. 19.2 ppg, 10.1 rpg
Forward - Juwan Howard, So. 14.6 ppg, 7.4 rpg
Guard - Jalen Rose, So. 15.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.9 apg
Guard - Ray Jackson, So. 9.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg
Guard - Jimmy King, So. 10.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg

Key Reserves
Centre - Eric Riley, Sr. 5.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg
Guard - Rob Pelinka, Sr. 4.3 ppg


3…1991 UNLV Runnin' Rebels

Ran the table to the NCAA final as the undefeated No. 1 team in the nation and then coughed up a furball in the final to Duke losing 79-77…34 straight wins as part of a 45-game winning streak over two seasons…scored over 100 points 14 times …led the nation in scoring margin at plus-26.7 …shot 53.5 percent from the field overall and 41.3 percent from beyond the 3-point line. Forward Larry Johnson was the most dominant undersized big since Charles Barkley and was named to the first team All-America squad for the second straight year….most teams were so intimidated that UNLV often had the game won before the opening tip…

Favourite Player: Stacey Augmon…plastikman who put down the most ridiculous, one-handed cocked behind the head dunks on the break…

Starters
Forward - Larry Johnson, Sr. 22.7 ppg, 10.9 rpg, 66.2 FG%
Forward - Stacey Augmon, Sr. 16.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg
Center - George Ackles, Sr. 8.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg
Guard - Greg Anthony, Sr. 11.6 ppg, 8.9 apg
Guard - Anderson Hunt, Jr. 17.2 ppg, 105 3-pt FGM

Key Reserves
Evric Gray, So. (6.8 ppg, 3.7 rpg)8*
Elmore Spencer, So. (6.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg)

2…1990 UNLV Runnin' Rebels

UNLV beat Duke in the NCAA championship game 103-73…Duke guard Bobby Hurley was so nervous in the week leading up to the game that he was having nightmare’s about sharks and was seeing a sports psychologist…than in the actual game, Hurley got the “shits” and had to leave the game 3 times so he didn’t soil himself…this team won 21 of its last 22 games…scored at least 100 points 16 times, averaged 95 points in the NCAA Tournament and 102 in the three games it took to win the Big West Tournament…Larry Johnson was a first-team All-American. Anderson Hunt was the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player, while Johnson and Stacey Augmon also were on the all-tournament team….during an 18-0 run in the 2nd half of the championship game the UNLV players were laughing and the Duke bench…it was great… featured the skinniest whitest backup shooting guard in the world in Travis Bice, who Al McGuire nicknamed the “Human Dipstick” on national TV…

Favourite Player: Larry Johnson…who dunked so hard in a game against Fresno State that the refs had to stop the game and have maintenance personnel replace the rim because it was bent inwards…read that again…

Starters

Forward - Larry Johnson, Jr. 20.6 ppg, 11.4 rpg
Forward - Stacey Augmon, Jr. 14.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg
Center - David Butler, Sr. 15.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg
Center - Greg Anthony, Jr. 11.2 ppg, 7.4 apg
Guard - Anderson Hunt, Jr. 15.9 ppg, 4.1 apg

Key Reserves
Forward - Moses Scurry, Sr. 7.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg
Guard - Travis Bice, 4.3 PPG
Guard - Barry Young, Sr. 4.2 ppg

1…1989 Michigan Wolverines

All about Glen Rice who was simply the best player in the NCAA at the time…Steve Fisher was promoted to interim head coach replacing Bill Frieder who left to coach Arizona State two days before the tournament began…Wolverines defeated Seton Hall 80-79, in overtime to win the NCAA basketball title on 2 magical free throws from Rumeal Robinson… Rice, who was somehow only a second-team All-American, scored an NCAA Tournament-record 184 points (30.7 average in 6 games) and earned Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors scoring 31 points and 11 rebounds in final…Michigan, which scored at least 100 points 10 times, averaged 91.7 and had an average margin of 16.9 points. The Wolverines led the nation in field-goal percentage, hitting 56.6 percent of their attempts. They shot 46.8 percent from three-point range…

Favourite Player: Glen Rice…the best shooter in the world…averaged 57.7% from the field and 51% from three that year…at 6’8” was basically un-guardable…scored 184 on 75 field goals over 6 games in the 1989 tournament both of which are the all-time record…he is Michigan’s and the Big Ten’ Conference’s all-time leading scorer (2,442 points)…

Starters
Forward - Loy Vaught, Jr. 12.6 ppg, 8.0 rpg
Forward - Glen Rice, Sr. 25.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg
Forward - Terry Mills, Jr. 11.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg
Guard - Mike Griffin, Jr. 2.7 ppg
Guard - Rumeal Robinson, Jr. 14.9 ppg, 6.3 apg

Key Reserves
Sean Higgins, Jr. 12.4 ppg
Mark Hughes, Sr. 6.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg
Kirk Taylor, So. 4.5 ppg


1) Pat Forde of ESPN.com thinks Florida has it:

20 reasons why Florida will beat UCLA

INDIANAPOLIS -- For a guy who just stumbled out of spring training and discovered the college basketball season three weeks ago, Gene Wojciechowski sure thinks he knows some things. I'm here to set him straight -- and tell him why Florida will beat the powder-blue pants off UCLA Monday night:

1. Find the weakness in Florida. Go ahead. I'll wait - The NCAA ranks all 326 full Division I teams in 15 statistical categories, and the Gators rank in triple digits in only one (they're 160th in turnovers at 14.6 per game). They're in the top 25 in eight categories, and lead the nation in field goal percentage. The Gators have size, athleticism, shooters, slashers, a post-up game, a commitment to defense and a willingness to share the ball.
UCLA, in contrast, ranks 100th or lower in eight statistical categories. Most are related to offense, where the Bruins occasionally can be uglier than Bob Knight in a bikini.

2. Billy Donovan has been here before. Ben Howland has not - Don't underestimate the importance of having experience in this little rodeo. In the past 40 seasons, only eight coaches won the national title in their first Final Four trip. No first-time Final Four coach has won the championship since Jim Calhoun in 1999. This is Donovan's second trip to the title game, the other coming in 2000. What he learned that first time can help guide his team from the giddiness of a Saturday victory through a Sunday of game prep and a Monday of nerves. "You realize how long of a time it is from last night's game all the way to Monday night," Donovan said. "It's a long time. Feels like a week. ... The big thing right now is just to try to make sure our guys get rest, narrow their focus, try to give them some things they can take into the game and get prepared to play."

3. Banners don't win championships, players do - Tradition is a valuable thing to have on your side in the banter between fans. But UCLA's 11 national championships won't help the Bruins one iota come tipoff Monday. Forget John Wooden's gazillion titles; most of the guys playing in this game have dim-at-best memories of the title UCLA won under Jim Harrick 11 years ago. Florida's players were careful Sunday to avoid repeating "Big Baby" Davis' complete dismissal of UCLA's tradition. But it was also clear that the boys from the football school are not in awe of what they see as ancient history. "Right now, it's not about tradition," Joakim Noah said. "It's about playing basketball."

4. Florida has had the stronger tournament run - In numbers guru Ken Pomeroy's power ratings, he has a separate ranking for how teams have performed over their past five games. Coincidentally, that's the number of NCAA Tournament games Florida and UCLA have played. The Gators are No. 1. The Bruins are No. 3. In between? NIT champion South Carolina. Score two for the SEC. Florida has won 10 straight games, has rolled four of its five NCAA opponents by at least 13 points and has played teams with a higher average RPI in the tourney than UCLA. The Gators' five opponents have averaged a 36 RPI, the Bruins' have averaged 40.

5. UCLA used up all its good karma escaping Gonzaga - The Bruins' desperate scramble to score the final 11 points of the game and extricate themselves from near-certain defeat was the Rally of the Year. That's nice. But falling behind by 17 points against the champions of the West Coast Conference in a Sweet 16 game isn't the mark of a champion. Should UCLA get into a sizeable hole against Florida, don't expect a second miracle in the same tournament. This is the Pac-10's year to be the bridesmaid. Ask the USC football team about that.

6. Balance - Florida has five players averaging double figures for the season. And for the postseason. And for the NCAA Tournament. You can't afford to slack off on any Gators starter defensively, or he'll bury you -- which is one of the reasons Florida ranks among the nation's leaders in assists. Every guy catching a pass is capable of putting it in the basket. Lee Humphrey, forgotten man, proved that Saturday night. The Florida fifth wheel stepped up and drilled six 3-pointers against George Mason.

7. Layups, dunks and Lee Humphrey - That's been Donovan's offensive mantra this NCAA Tournament. The Gators are pounding it inside, driving hard to the basket, getting high-percentage shots ... or kicking it to Humphrey to handle the perimeter shooting. UCLA's help defense is the best in the country and an amazing thing to watch -- but the Bruins better be careful not to help much off of No. 12. "If they double down [in the low post], that would be very exciting to me," Humphrey said. "If I have a shot of choice, that's the one I like to take."

8. Corey Brewer: matchup trouble - The 6-foot-8 Brewer has had a great Tournament, averaging 14.4 points and making 50 percent of his 3-point shots. He killed George Mason Saturday night, and he'll be a handful for UCLA as well. Brewer figures to have a quickness advantage over Cedric Bozeman and a three-inch height advantage on Arron Afflalo, so either matchup should be difficult for the Bruins. Unlike Memphis wing man Rodney Carney, Brewer won't check out mentally if the game gets physical.

9. The Bruins don't want to run with Florida - No matter what Ben Howland was saying Sunday about how his team likes to push the ball, it's not true. Certainly not in this game, against this team. Back to the Pomeroy numbers: UCLA is No. 306 in his tempo ratings out of 326 teams. If Florida succeeds in heating up the pace with full-court pressure, UCLA will quickly be out of its comfort zone.

10. Florida doesn't mind grinding with the Bruins - The flip side would not be a disaster for the Gators. They've won a couple of key slogball games this postseason, outlasting South Carolina 49-47 in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game and beating Georgetown 57-53 in the Sweet 16. So a game played at a ponderous pace would not spell doom for Florida.

11. This is not a dance team mismatch - Yes, UCLA's dance team is a No. 1 seed -- one of the strongest No. 1s in recent memory. Wow. But it's not like Florida's dance team and cheerleaders would be better off wearing burkas. They were the class of the Minneapolis Regional and have represented the Sunshine State well in Indy. The blue garters the cheerleaders wear is a nice touch -- although it's tough to beat the powder-blue knee socks of the Bruins dancers.

12. Scratching the 10-year title itch - It's been a decade since Florida won the national title it most cares about, in football. It's also been a decade since Donovan's mentor, Rick Pitino, won his national championship at Kentucky. That symmetry beats anything UCLA has going for it.

13. The inside edge goes to the Gators - In the power-forward battle for Cameroon supremacy, Joakim Noah has height and length on Luc Richard Mbah a Moute -- and as athletic as Mbah a Moute is, he's not much more explosive than Noah. Center Ryan Hollins has emerged in this tournament for UCLA, but Al Horford is the better player. The Gators' interior backups are as good as the Bruins' as well.

14. Florida will actually run an offense - UCLA's suffocating defense has caused panic in most of its NCAA opponents, most notably Memphis and LSU. Those poise-poor teams couldn't quit their patterned stuff fast enough in the rush to freelance, which proved suicidal. The Gators are hardly Pete Carrill-era Princeton with their execution, but they'll stick with their offensive gameplan in the face of defensive pressure. Point guard Taurean Green is disciplined enough to handle this game, and the rest of the starters all handle and pass well enough for Florida to run plays when the going gets tough.

15. Keep an eye on the arc - Florida's last three opponents have shot a combined 11 of 55 from 3-point range (20 percent). UCLA, meanwhile, has made just 26 of 85 3s in this Tournament (31 percent). In UCLA's past three games that has dipped to 13 of 47 (28 percent). Bottom line: The guard-centric Bruins are going to have to win this game inside the arc -- against an opponent that will not be held to 45 points. Do they have the scoring punch to do it? No.

16. Mascot superiority - Albert the Alligator is a more impressive sideline figure than that teddy bear UCLA trots out.

17. Bad losses - Florida has none. Of its six defeats, four were to NCAA Tournament teams and two were to NIT champion South Carolina. UCLA lost to USC, which finished No. 117 in the RPI. Rival or not, that's bad.

18. Bad wins - Florida has none. It treated every weak sister on the schedule with the proper disdain, pounding through its nonconference schedule and handily dispatching the SEC's lighter weights. UCLA has several. Any team that was life-and-death to beat Drexel (by one) and Wagner (by two) cannot win the national title. The Bruins also needed every second to beat hideously bad Washington State (RPI 166) at Pauley.

19. It's Donovan's time - He's one of just 12 active coaches to reach multiple Final Fours. He and Roy Williams are the only two coaches to reach the title game twice in this century. He built Florida quickly with star-studded recruiting, then tinkered with his formula to build the foundation more firmly around less-hyped recruits. He's ready to win a title. Ben Howland's time could be only a year away.

20. It's Florida's time - Arguably the state richest with athletic talent in America, it has never won a college basketball championship. There are scads of football titles strewn about the place, but nothing in hoops. It's time for the worshipers of the pointed ball to realize what can happen with the round one. Florida 65, UCLA 59.

2) While Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com thinks UCLA is going to win it:

Need a reason UCLA will win? Here's 20

INDIANAPOLIS -- Nothing against my colleague Pat Forde, who wears really cool Tommy Hilfiger shirts and, unlike me, has a reason to purchase a comb, but the man is drinking way too much Swamp Kool-Aid these days. At Sunday's news conferences at the RCA Dome, Forde was attired in Florida Gator blue and orange and often swayed in his chair, all the time humming, "We Are The Boys From Old Florida." When I mentioned I was picking UCLA to win Monday night's championship game, Mr. Two-Bits leaned close and said, "Nuh-nuh." "Nuh-nuh?" I asked. "Theme song from 'Jaws,' " said Forde. Then he did the Gator Chomp and made a beeline toward the Florida locker room, presumably to check whether Joakim Noah was having a bad ponytail day. Look, I think the Gators are a wonderful team, too. You don't win the SEC title, win 32 games, and reach the final line of the final Final Four bracket by accident. South Alabama, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Georgetown, Villanova and now George Mason can all provide testimonials. But I'm waving baby blue UCLA pom-poms because, well, they make me feel pretty, and because I think the Bruins are just thismuch better than the Gators. Let me count the reasons why:

1. Symmetry - Monday marks the three-year anniversary of coach Ben Howland's hiring at UCLA. What better way to celebrate than with a postgame net-cutting ceremony?

2. Press Breakers - Florida is going to press UCLA. Florida presses everybody, and it uses as many as four different presses to create chaos, turnovers and quick scoring opportunities. The Bruins haven't faced anything exactly like the Billy Donovan Blitz, but they have seen presses -- good ones, too. Arizona liked to press at times and UCLA beat the Wildcats three different times this season. Washington was good enough to employ full-court pressure and, yeah, I know, the Huskies swept their season series against the Bruins. But I'm all about turning negatives into positives. UCLA has at least three players who can handle the ball -- Jordan Farmar, Darren Collison and Cedric Bozeman. Those experiences against the press -- and those three Bruin ballhandlers -- should minimize the damage of Florida's pressure.

3. Final Four History - The last three NCAA tournament champions have at least one thing in common: Each one defeated teams from the same conference to win the title. In the 2003 Final Four, Syracuse beat the Big 12's Texas and then Kansas. In the 2004 Final Four, Connecticut beat the ACC's Duke and then Georgia Tech. And last year, North Carolina beat the Big Ten's Michigan State and then Illinois to earn the championship. UCLA already has beaten the SEC's LSU in the national semifinal game. That leaves ... Coincidence or fate?


4. The Lee Humphrey Factor - Anybody who thinks 6-foot-2 Gator guard Lee Humphrey is going to hit six 3-pointers against UCLA (as he did against George Mason in Saturday night's game) needs a CAT scan. The Gators made 12 of 25 treys against the Patriots (six of 10 in the second half), but there's no way that happens against a UCLA team that can guard the perimeter. In all, 36 of Florida's 73 points against GMU came from beyond the arc. If I noticed that, I guarantee you Howland's staff did too. Look for the Bruins to pay particular attention to Mr. Humphrey, who has a school-record 109 treys for the season.

5. Experience - UCLA has just enough to make a difference. The Bruins' starting lineup includes two seniors, two sophomores and a freshman. Florida's lineup features four sophomores and one junior. "It's such an advantage to be older than your opponent, both mentally and physically," said Howland.

6. Slow or Fast - The Bruins have a reputation for being sort of a half-court team that doesn't make a move without first getting instructions from Howland on the sideline. That's true, up to a point. On occasion, UCLA does look as though it's tethered to Howland's every word. But did you notice what the Bruins did against LSU, supposedly the most athletic team in the Final Four, maybe even the entire tournament? They outran them. UCLA coaches said Glen "Big Baby" Davis had to call two timeouts just to catch his breath. "We were at 39 [points] in the first half, right?" said Howland. "We're going to have to do that [Monday night] because Florida wants to get up and down. They're going to try to press us, they're going to try to create a tempo that's up and down. That's great. We scored 86 points against Arizona at home. We can play any way you want to play."

7. The Wizard - How about this for a safety net: If Howland gets stuck in his preparation for the Gators, then the great John Wooden, who won 10 Final Fours as UCLA's coach, is only a phone call away.

8. Distinguished Guests - Maybe it will mean something, maybe not, but UCLA basketball royalty will be well represented here Monday. Bruins alums scheduled to attend the championship: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (by the way, big guy, you might want to think about ditching that goober hat you wore to Saturday evening's semi), Reggie Miller, Michael Warren, Ed O'Bannon, Bill Walton, Brad Holland, Ralph Jackson, Curtis Knight. Jim Harrick, who led the Bruins to their last hoops national title in 1995, will also be here, as will Troy Aikman.

9. The Streak - The Bruins own the nation's longest winning streak at 12 games. The last time UCLA had one of those kind of streaks, it won the national championship.

10. Adversity - Few teams, if any, have had to deal with more injuries than the Bruins. But they've gotten healthy, or relatively so, when it counts most: in time for the postseason. "What I think it's done, it's made us better," said Howland, adding later, "It's allowed a lot of the players that may not have played as much of a role early in the season to get a lot of playing time, a lot of opportunity."

11. Defense - If defense wins championships -- and it almost always does -- then the Bruins are in wonderful shape. Just ask LSU, whose players looked as though they had a physical affliction while trying to shoot against UCLA in the semifinals. In their five NCAA tournament wins, the Bruins have given up 44, 59, 71, 45 and 45 points. Scoreboard operators suffer finger atrophy when working UCLA games. During the Tournament, opponents are averaging just 52.8 points and are shooting only 36.8 percent from the field and 17.5 percent from the 3-point line. Is that any good?

12. I'm Due - I haven't picked the Final Four winner since Gene Keady was combing his hair back, not sideways.

13. UCLA Understands - Florida outrebounded George Mason, 40-27. The Gators thrive on getting second and third chances. I'm guessing UCLA will do a much better job of limiting Florida to more one-shot possessions. Blockouts are going to be a huge factor, and the Bruins have the size and quickness to make that happen.

14. Joakim Noah - Noah had four blocks against an undersized George Mason team. His linescore was impressive enough (12 points, eight rebounds, two assists, one steal), but he also made his share of mistakes. I think he'll struggle against a UCLA tag-team frontline that includes 6-foot-7 Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, 7-1 Ryan Hollins, 6-8 Lorenzo Mata and even 6-8 Alfred Aboya.

15. Unis - What can I say? I'm a sucker for those classic UCLA jerseys. Florida's, not so much.

16. Tradition - Several of Florida's players said tradition doesn't mean a thing once the game begins. It does at UCLA. "Absolutely it means something," said Howland. "We're playing for ourselves. These kids are playing for one another. We're also playing for the program and for UCLA. There's no program that has more tradition or rich history of winning than UCLA. These kids know that and embrace that. They represent those four letters."

17. The Cedric Bozeman Factor - The 6-6 senior swingman is the inspirational centerpiece of UCLA. Bozeman missed last year because of a torn ACL. His teammates have made little secret of their desire to win a championship for him.

18. Ben Howland - I'm not saying Howland is a better coach than Donovan. But I am saying Howland is a good enough coach to make in-game changes that matter. And no way will his team be outprepared for the title game. In short, a toss-up.

19. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute - Gawd, I love typing that. He might be a freshman, but the kid is fearless. Better yet, he delivers night in, night out.
"With Luc, you get consistency," said Bozeman. "He's only a freshman. The sky's the limit." "Whatever's asked of him, he can do," said Jordan Farmar.

20. The Bank - As in take it there with this prediction: UCLA 75, Florida 74.