As Florida makes its way back to the Final Four, having dismissed of a pesky but ultimately overmatched Oregon team in the Midwest Regional final, 85-77, yesterday, you get the feeling this Gator group has an answer for everything.
Teams that defend the perimeter, a la Butler in the Sweet 16, must make do with Al Horford and Joakim Noah. Those who choose to front the big men, as the Ducks opted, are left to watch Humphrey and Taurean Green stroke it from outside, Humphrey swishing with such authority that he sliced the net in the first half, forcing NCAA officials into a blue-vested scramble as they tried to find an Edward Jones Dome union employee to repair the net.
It is a menacing combination of talent and selflessness, one that first showed itself last year, when defying the trend and denying the cash, the team full of talented sophomores announced at their national-championship celebration that they would put the NBA on hold, return to college and aim to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since Duke in 1992.
Saying it is one thing. Doing it is another. Not since Michigan State brought its 2000 hardware to Minneapolis for the 2001 Final Four had a defending champion gone back to the national semifinals.
The Florida team that no one saw coming last year arrived in every gym this season with horns blaring and crowds thumping. The goofy kids of last year became the hated favorites.
"We know basically every game we play now is going to be an away game because nobody will be rooting for us," said Green, named the regional's Most Outstanding Player. "We just use that."
