Last year's March Madness ended with Florida beating Ohio State for the national championship. Maybe they can face off in the N.I.T. instead.
The mass exodus of Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer and Al Horford have turned the Gators and Buckeyes into viewers of the NCAA tournament instead of participants.
That hasn't happened since 1980 ... which was also due to an exodus of sorts. After meeting in the championship game in 1979, Michigan State and Indiana State failed to make the '80 tourney. Maybe that had something to do with ISU's Larry Bird winning the NBA's Rookie of the Year while MSU's Magic Johnson was winning the NBA championship for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Florida became the first defending champion to miss the tournament since Kansas in 1989. The Jayhawks were banned from postseason play that season and couldn't defend their title.
Read FanHouse previews for all teams actually in the NCAA Tournament.
Last Year's Finalists Florida and Ohio State Fail to Make Tournament originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:20:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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