Gators Get Another Backer
Clark Kellogg says his alma mater, Ohio State, will lose its Final Four tilt with Georgetown Saturday, with Georgetown in turn being upended by Florida in the final on Monday.
The Gators would become the first team since Duke in 1992 to repeat as college basketball national champs.
On The Early Show Friday, co-anchor Hannah Storm noted that no one lower than a No. 2 seed made it to the Final Four, and all had to fight to get there.
"They certainly did," agreed Kellogg, an All-American forward for the Buckeyes in the 1980s who's in his 15th season as a college basketball analyst for CBS Sports. "There's always a game or two when you get to this point to get here that tests you. Ohio State had a couple of them against Xavier and Tennessee. Georgetown had a couple of close calls, as well, (including) an overtime win against North Carolina."
"I picked Georgetown when the brackets first came out," Kellogg continued. "I just think they're a real tough match-up. My heart, obviously, is scarlet and gray. But my head is saying the Hoyas are gonna be really hard to handle.
"I wouldn't mind being wrong though," he chuckled.
In the other bracket, Florida and UCLA is a rematch last year's title game, in which the Gators clobbered the Bruins.
Kellogg says he "certainly" thinks Florida will beat UCLA again, "and I think they can win it all. I think they're the most complete team in the field. I felt that way all year. And I thought they did a great job handling the expectations and the distractions of (being) the defending champs. … I think they're playing good basketball. And they've got the complete team, I think."
Florida has several players who passed up a chance to leave school early and go to the NBA, so they could shoot for that second straight national championship.
That didn't surprise Kellogg, "not when you hear about these guys and what they're like and how much they enjoy each other and how much they enjoy playing for Billy Donovan and that stuff. They wanted a chance to do something unique and special. It's exciting for them, obviously, and it's been good for college basketball."