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It was the vaunted UCLA defense. You heard about it all week. No one can put up points on Ben Howland's Bruins; the ones who held three NCAA tourney opponents, including high-powered Memphis, to an earth-shattering 45 points or less.

Billy Donovan always knew how to score back in his playing days, so it's no surprise that the Florida coach found plenty of ways for his team to put points on the board against the so-called impenetrable UCLA defense.

In fact, Billy The Kid's Gators put 45 on the board with 16:04 left in the game and proved the real story just may have been a combination of their defense and UCLA's inept offense.

"We were so motivated because all the talk was about UCLA's defense," Florida sophomore swingman Corey Brewer said. "We proved who's the best defensive team and we're national champions."

Brewer was the best defensive player on the court ? and Joakim Noah was a close second. In fact, Brewer pulled the ultimate magic trick and made UCLA's top scorer, Arron Affalo, disappear. The only disappearing act that Noah will perform, after the block party he threw on Monday day, is the one that has him headed directly to the NBA for his next game.

There is no one like the Gators.

They have it all: Chemistry, passion, hunger, exuberance, talent, balance. Basically, everything you'd want if you were putting together a team.

"We may have won the national championship, but I'm not sure we're the best team," Donovan said.

Maybe finally Gainesville will become more than just a football town because Donovan & Co. have proven that basketball reigns ? at least for a while, anyway.

The scary thing is that, if Noah by some miracle decides to come back, the Gators will return basically the entire team next season.

Well, that's not fair, because fifth-year senior forward Adrian Moss made as significant a contribution as he has all season when he scored 9 points and grabbed 5 boards as Florida built an 11-point lead heading into the break.

UCLA was forced to go up-tempo when Ben Howland looked at the scoreboard with 15 minutes left and saw the Bruins down 18. It didn't work, as the Gators capitalized and it became a dunk fest ? with Noah and Horford each throwing a trio down in a 10-minute span in the second half.

"They did an outstanding job dealing with our pressure," Howland said. "They only had six turnovers for the game. That's a very, very important stat."

Without Jordan Farmar, UCLA may have been shut out in the first half. The Bruins point guard scored a dozen points and also created the few opportunities that his teammates had prior to the break.

However, UCLA should have been ecstatic that it went into halftime only trailing by 11. It could have been much worse.

Noah and Horford displayed their dominance by making sure any inside buckets were contested while seven players got into the scoring column before the break.

Afflalo was visibly flustered late in the first half after being called for a travel. He didn't score his first points until 11:28 left in the game. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute finally got on the board with 10:08 remaining.

UCLA's bid for a 12th national title was thwarted by a team featuring four sophomores and a junior in the starting lineup. A team that was not ranked in the preseason polls. A team that was virtually given no chance of getting to Indianapolis at the beginning of the year after senior David Lee graduated and Matt Walsh and Anthony Roberson opted to leave early.

"We're national champions," Brewer said. "Everyone said at the beginning of the season that we were going to the NIT. Well, I don't think this is the NIT."

When the team first got together, Donovan scribbled three words on the board: Poor, Hungry, Driven.

PHD.

These guys got their degree ? and they earned it the hard way.

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