Florida juniors Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer all could have declared for the NBA draft after the Gators won their first ever national championship last year.
They all would have been first-round picks. But they opted to come back for one last hurrah and wound up dancing on the podium here Monday after defeating Ohio State, 84-75, at the Georgia Dome to become the first team since Duke in 1992 to repeat. Maybe that is why they are destined to be labeled one of the great teams in modern history.
"You can argue it,'' Brewer said, "but you got to put us up there. Some guy was talking on TV, a little motivation, saying we're not even in the top five teams to play the game if we win the national championship. He might want to do his research. The numbers don't lie, you know, back to back.''
Brewer will always have a soft spot in the hearts of Gator fans. Unlike Noah, whose father played pro tennis; or Horford, whose father played in the NBA, Brewer's 62-year old father Pee Wee worked on a Tobacco farm in Portland, Tenn. before he suffered heart problems in 1999 and then contracted diabetes. Doctors had to amputate his left leg below the knee in November, so there were serious financial considerations since his mother has to pay all the bills on her teacher's salary.
But his father helped him make his decision when he called and told him he didn't have to go to the NBA for his family. "My mom and dad both said it was about being happy and what's best for you,'' Brewer said. "Don't let other people push you out the door or try to make you stay. If you're happy with your teammates and where you're at, then come back. If you want to go, go.
"I'm confident I made the right decision. Me and my teammates are all like family. Joakim and I have been together from Day 1. He's like my brother.''
Florida really has been a band of brothers, a close-knit group that reflects the genuine friendship of their coach Billy Donovan.
Brewer was the deserving recipient of the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award after scoring 19 points and shutting down UCLA's All American guard Aaron Afflalo in the semis, then scoring 13 points, grabbing eight rebounds and holding Ohio State's best perimeter shooter Ron Lewis without a three-point field goal in the final.
Brewer was on fire at the start of the game, making three of five 3s and scoring 11 points as the Gators raced to a 40-29 lead at the end of the first half.
"I felt we had to go out and be aggressive because if we just let them play with us, hang around, let them play with us, we may have a chance to get beat," Brewer said. "So we all went out there and we were really aggressive. My teammates were finding me in open spots and I had to knock them down.''
The Gators came up with a workable game plan, opting to single cover Ohio State's 7-foot freshman Greg Oden in the post and guard the 3-point line. Oden went off for 25 points and 12 rebounds in what is probably his last college game, but the Buckeyes shot just 4-for-23 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Oden will most likely declare for the NBA draft, where he should be the first player selected. But Brewer had this piece of advice for him:
"I'd tell him, 'Once you leave college, you can't be a kid anymore,''' Brewer said. "You're going into big business and it's all business. You're having fun right now, so enjoy college.''
Brewer certainly looked like he was enjoying the celebration as streamers fell from the rafters at the end of the game and CBS cued up "One Shining Moment.'' If this was the swan song for he, Noah and Horford, they wanted to embrace it.
"It's unreal,'' Brewer said. "One shining moment. It almost makes you want to cry. Second time I got to watch it, our team got to watch it, just to see what goes into people playing in the NCAA Tournament. That's why (you've got to) love college basketball, all the guys diving on the floor, everybody playing hard as they can play just to be in this moment where we are right now.''
The question now is: Does the trio of Gator juniors love college basketball enough to try for a three-peat?
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