No Doubt...prove me wrong..

The lack of Floridas big wins in this tournament has kept this line lower than it should be. The Gators defeated Jackson St. by 43 points but the win over UCLA was the first in the last four that has been by double digits. This doesnt necessarily mean that Florida is not playing well or doesnt have that killer instinct. The Gators are outshooting foes by 11.2 percent in the tournament including 8.6 percent from behind the arc. They are also winning the rebounding battle by 16 per game.
Ohio St. has been playing better in its last two games after nearly being eliminated in back-to-back games by Xavier and Tennessee. The Buckeyes are lacking the one big thing that Florida has and that is experience. It hasnt hurt them yet but this is obviously the most experienced team in the tournament and that they have faced this season. They have actually already faced the Gators once this season and that resulted in a 26-point loss. Greg Oden was not a factor then as he was just coming back but it wont matter.
When Oden went out with foul trouble, Roy Hibbert had his way with the Buckeyes frontcourt and Florida has more weapons to exploit that than what Georgetown did. Oden is showing that he is prone to foul issues and he was fortunate that Hibbert bailed him out by doing the same thing. As mentioned earlier, he was a non-factor in the first meeting and with Corey Brewer, Al Horford and Joakim Noah, the Gators have a huge advantage down low. Looking up top, Florida and Ohio St. are evenly matched with the Gators having the ability to shoot lights out.
Its impossible to ignore the fact that Ohio St. has won 22 consecutive games and hats off to the Buckeyes for that. However, the Gators could very well have been in the same territory. The Gators suffered a late February skid, losing three out of four games with all of those being road losses. This was right after clinching their SEC division and could simply be blamed on boredom and playing with no focus at the time. Times have changed and teams just dont have answers for Florida as there are weapons everywhere.
Big games bring out the best in players and it is no secret that having a more experienced team is beneficial especially in the biggest of games. Florida has just that and with it comes a very solid championship game situation. Play on any team in any tournament championship game with 4 or more starters returning from last year than opponent. This situation is 22-4 ATS (84.6 percent) over the last 5 seasons with the average point differential being +8.9 ppg.
The Gators are better outside shooters (they're the #1 team in the nation in terms of two-point field goal percentage, and #13 from three; the Buckeyes are #39 from two and #84 from three). They've got a much more experienced point guard, and I know Conley's been great, but in this situation I'll take Taurean Green. They've got more significant depth than Ohio St., as they're able to use Chris Richard and Walter Hodge, two guys who'd be starting most anywhere else in the nation. And most importantly, they have three big men, Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Richard, to throw at Oden over and over again. Noah, Horford and Richard are 22, 20 and 22, and Oden is 19. They'll take it at the big fella again and again, and Noah is only an inch shorter than Oden, Horford two inches, and Richard three inches. Add Corey Brewer's defense on some combination of Ron Lewis and Jamar Butler (he's five and seven inches taller than they are, respectively), and this looks to me like a long night for the Buckeyes. The best Ohio St. can hope for is an extremely cold shooting night from three-point specialist Lee Humphrey, because Humphrey will keep taking them even if he's 0-for-15. But outside of that doomsday scenario, I think the Gators repeat, and do it relatively easily.
GL

i too think gators will win, but am originally from ohio so my money is on the bucks!!!!

wish i could prove ya wrong, but down by 11 at half, its lookin gloom