FLORIDA 73
G. MASON 58
INDIANAPOLIS – The players who have given us the most heart-warming story in college basketball history had to file past the rowdy Florida student section as they made their way from their dressing room to the RCA Dome court.
“It’s all over, Cinderella!” screamed tuba players and drummers. “The clock strikes midnight tonight.”
Cinderella smiled – one George Mason player after another.
They already had beaten Michigan State, North Carolina and Connecticut, so why not take down the SEC champs? Because Cinderella met what Florida Billy Donovan calls the great equalizer in college basketball – the 3-point shot.
With guard Lee Humphrey stroking 3s and center Joakim Noah of New York guarding the paint like a crossing guard at a New York private school, Florida used a 20-6 run to start the second half and shattered George Mason’s glass slipper, 73-58.
“To see their kids enjoy something a lot of kids don’t get to enjoy was very rewarding to me,” said Florida coach Billy Donovan. “But our kids were feeling the same things George Mason’s kids were feeling.”
And the Gators will feel good about themselves for another 48 hours before tomorrow night’s national championship bout with UCLA. For Donovan, once known as “Billy the Kid from Long Island,” this is his fourth trip to the Final Four and he could be living the fairy tale.
“He’s had a quiet confidence all week,” Donovan said. “There was a sense of serenity.”
Donovan could be serene because all of Humphrey’s baskets (6-of-12) were from behind the arc. The Gators, who won the Minneapolis Region in the Metrodome, were hotter than the Florida sun, hitting 10-of-20 treys when they opened a 51-32 lead.
“Both gyms are really similar,” Humphrey aid of the Metrodome and RCA Dome. “It couldn’t have hurt.”
The Patriots (27-8), who won the Washington Region in the MCI Arena, couldn’t buy a 3 in the dome, missing their first eight. After hitting 26-of-62 (41.9 percent) in arenas, George Mason was 2-of-11 from behind the arc.
Cinderella had met its match. The 3.
But its story will live on.
“When people talk about this Final Four, you have to mention us,” guard Lamar Butler said. “We’ve changed the face of college basketball.”
But they couldn’t change the rims. The Gators finished 12-of-25 on 3s and outrebounded George Mason, 40-27.
“We came into the game feeling very, very good about ourselves and our chance to win,” said George Mason coach Jim Larranaga of The Bronx. “But we were never able to get our rhythm either offensively or defensively.”
Florida (32-6) lost to Michigan State on this court in the 2000 championship game. But Donovan, who has been to the Final Four as a player for Providence, an assistant coach at Kentucky and now twice as Florida’s head coach, believes in the 3 like Victoria’s Secret believes in underwear.
When Tony Skinn finally drained Mason’s first 3 (after eight misses) with just over six minutes left to cut what was a 19-point deficit to 61-50, Humphrey answered with his sixth 3.
“I think the 3-point line in college basketball changes the whole complexion of it,” Donovan said recently. “You have to understand how to take the 3, and I think you have also got to understand how to guard the 3.”
Humphrey sandwiched 3s around Noah’s fourth blocked shot and Florida had quickly opened a 37-26 lead. Larranaga called timeout. Midnight was fast approaching.
Florida was at a disadvantage from before the opening tip. The RCA Dome was transformed into a Patriots’ Day celebration, with fans, adorned with green-and-gold Mardi Gras beads waving pompoms.
But Florida brought its shooting touch.
“Everybody wants us to lose,” Florida forward Corey Brewer said Friday. “But that doesn’t mean much. I kind of want to be the bad guy. Everybody wants them to win. They’re going to have the crowd behind them. It’s time to kiss Cinderella and send her home.”