Talent wise, UConn doesn’t hold a candle to that Ohio State team we beat. Clingan isn’t Oden, and no one there could create like Conley. We had the bigs to throw at them in waves. Their hard hedge defense would have given our guards fits, though. And Brewer is the only on the team who could handle the length and skill of Newton and Castle.
Maybe I'm getting old....But overall, the schemes in 2007 were more effective and harder to play against than current schemes. Much more to worry about in 2007. UCONN is legit and deserves credit, but if we played 10 times, I think we win 7. Anyways, this is the way the game would have gone, IMO. Florida 76-66 UCLA (Mar 31, 2007) Box Score - ESPN UCLA had a swarming defense, but Brewer and Humpty went 8-13 from 3 that game. And here is the box score from the Finals vs OSU, if you think that's a better comparison. Florida 84-75 Ohio State (Apr 2, 2007) Box Score - ESPN PS - I was at that Final Four!
Chris Richard's having 16-4 against UCLA and 8-8 against tOSU is still such an underrated dude off the bench. Those florida teams just had some unbelievable size and individual performances that get forgotten by non Gator fans.
Richard’s was Florida Mr Basketball in HS as I recall. Billy did a nice job keeping the Teddy Dupay and Chris Richard’s types in State.
I won't take away from UCONN's run (yes, I will)....But just realized their top 2 players are 5th year SR's due to covid exception. Both transfers. Can't possibly compare our run to theirs. In my eyes, their run will always have an *, when comparing them to our run. 04's remain the best team and best run of the last several decades.
