Florida basking in first national championship

Gators prevent Bruins from winning a school-record 12th national title.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- First came the rejection, then the dejection for UCLA.
Florida out-shot, out-swatted and most notably out-defended the Bruins to win its first national basketball championship, 73-57 Monday night.
The Bruins (32-7) had their 12-game winning streak snapped one short of claiming what would have been the school's record 12th national championship.
Now, they'll have to be content with staring up at the 11 blue-and-gold banners already hanging in Pauley Pavilion, where nothing less than a national championship is even noted.
Another downer for the Bruins faithful occurred before the tip-off when word came that John Wooden had been hospitalized for undisclosed reasons in Los Angeles. The 95-year-old Hall of Fame coach, who guided UCLA to 10 of those titles, planned to watch the game and was expected to be released from the hospital in a couple of days.
Tenacious defense
Florida did to UCLA what the Bruins had done to each of their previous opponents in the NCAA tournament. The Gators played tenacious defense, forcing eight of UCLA's 12 turnovers in the first half, and intimidated the Bruins inside with their bigger front line of Corey Brewer, Joakim Noah and Al Horford.
Noah especially had his way. He tore through the lane and dunked at will, swatted away shots and ripped rebounds out of the Bruins' hands. The son of former French Open tennis champion Yannick Noah set a championship-game record for blocks with six. He also had 16 points and nine rebounds.
All the swagger that usually defines the tradition-heavy Bruins belonged to Florida. The Gators dunked with abandon, leaving humiliated UCLA defenders in their wake.
The gritty defense adopted by the Bruins under third-year coach Ben Howland was nowhere to be seen.
Playing catch-up most of the way, the Bruins didn't try a full-court press until the closing minutes. It had no effect.
Noah has his way
Ryan Hollins, so stellar in the post during UCLA's season-ending run, was powerless to stop the shorter, lighter and more energized Noah.
Of their two main offensive threats, only Jordan Farmar scored in the first half, leading the Bruins with 12 points. Arron Afflalo missed all three shots he took in the half, and didn't score until he hit two free throws with 11 1/2 minutes left in the game.
Farmar finished with 18 points. Hollins, Afflalo and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had 10 points each. Hollins and Mbah a Moute had 10 rebounds each.