If you ever wanted proof that an ugly man can buy the love of a beautiful woman, look no further than this beautiful woman with this hideous man (also known as Joakim Noah). It’s hard to imagine this girl has a great time when the lights go off. Sure, she doesn’t have to look at that awful facial hair anymore, but if his moves in bed are like his moves after winning an SEC Title, it might be a little awkward.

[The Big Lead]

You can view it here. And though I haven’t looked into next year’s rosters, and really have no clue who’s going to be good and who isn’t, I find it odd that they put UNC as the No. 3 team under the assumption that Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson return. If that’s the case, Danny Green and Tyler Hansboro will be the only players gone, Marcus Ginyard will be back, and Ed Davis will take over for Tyler Hansboro, and he showed in this tournament that he can definitely handle the load.

Anyway, enjoy the preseason, way too early top 25. It is what I thought it was.

[Rivals]

What happens to a coach when his team wins two titles in a row and then fails to make the tournament the following season? Well, he may go a little overboard, and may forget how to handle things when he, uh, actually doesn’t win.

Coach Billy Donovan, feeling like his players had settled into a state of complacency and entitlement, banned them from Florida’s $12 million facility. He also told them they couldn’t wear any Florida attire.

“Probably in some respects the confetti is still falling down around them,” Donovan said Monday. “When you have great success like we’ve had, I think it’s very, very easy to become complacent and to lose sight of how good things are around here and to have an attitude of, ‘I’m at Florida. This is just what’s going to happen.’”

I’m not saying the man’s gone completely overboard, but he’s sure close; his team is loaded with freshman and sophomores, and they lost three players last year to the NBA Lotto. Note to players considering jumping to Florida: Don’t do so if the team has just won a title; you’ll be stripped of your clothes privlidges, and those facilities that may have been a factor in choosing where to go. . . well, you won’t practice on those, either.

With the UT/Florida game coming up, and with UT trying their best to secure a One Seed, I’ve dedicated the Random Video of the Day to Chris Lofton, the best three point shooter in the history of Tennessee and, in my opinion, the history of basketball. Yes, I’m biased.

I hate to sound bored about an event I generally pump up, but the NCAA tournament kinda fell short for me this year. I’m not saying that because Georgia Tech was knocked out in the first round — making my Final Four prediction a bad one — but rather because there just wasn’t that moment that really defined the tournament as a great one.

And the Final Four this year — though not nearly as bad as last year — was hardly anything that made you hold your breath. The UCLA/Florida game was less than exciting, and, even though it was fairly close, the same can be said of the Ohio State/Georgetown game. In the end, we’re left with the same champion we had last year, after winning a game that wasn’t very suspenseful. There were times when you thought The Ohio State University would make a run, but there was never really a time where you felt they would win (that was my feeling, at least).

As sad as it sounds, the most entertaining part of this entire Final Four was after the game, when Joakim Noah was yelling into the microphone that Florida’s going to do it hard, all day, all night. . . that “y’all don’t know what I’m talkin’ about, but we’re gonna do it hard.” I’m yet to figure out what exactly Joakim means — I think CBS is in the same boat as me — but will have his comments up as soon possible; I’m hoping Youtube comes through for me on this one.

Anyway, there you have it: Florida beats down Ohio State. Again. If you think Buckeye fans hate Michigan more than any other school, then you haven’t been paying too much attention the last four months.

Congrats, Gators. Hope it was nice winning three national titles in a year. While your football team is still in tact, there’s a very good chance your basketball team will be without its starting five or its head coach. Though I’d enjoy seeing a team like this all come back — minus Lee Humphrey, of course — I think I’d rather see a fan-base gone spoiled come back to reality. It’s nothing against Florida — I just hate that it never seems to be my team that turns into a dynasty; though I’m guessing a big part of that is that I root for Georgia Tech.

Well, it’s official: There will be a Florida/Ohio State rematch, one that everyone’s hoping will be a little more suspenseful than what we watched back in January. I hope it is, because the Final Four hasn’t been very exciting thus far, making it the second year in a row that it’s falling short of tradition.

Ohio State beat a Georgetown team that looked lackadaisical at best, and Florida won a game I’m not sure anyone really thought they’d lose (I mean, think about: UCLA’s team is no better than it was last year, and Florida’s certainly isn’t worse). Which brings us to this: On one hand, you’ve got a team with a 7-foot 30 year old, an incredible freshman point guard, and a coach who continues chewing gum that lands on the basketball court. On the other hand, you’ve got a team that won the national title last year, beat your football team’s brains in (which, I might add, also was for a national title), and has a 7-foot girl who says and does really strange things.

My prediction is Florida, but I just hope it’s close. There weren’t very many upsets this year — VCU over Duke was the closest thing, and a lot of people picked that — so I’m hoping for a good final game that can cancel out the otherwise dull recent events. When it’s all said and done, I hope Greg Oden’s last collegiate game runs a little smoother than Troy Smith’s.

Joakim Noah, who we’ve seen act strange during celebration before, is at it again:

It was Joakim Noah — who else? — who had the wildest celebration. He went to the Florida section in the stands and did the Gator Chomp with his arms. He hugged teammate Al Horford and said, as close as I can print, ”We eat off this [deleted]. Feel me, [deleted]?”

He yelled ”Let them hate us!” to no one in particular. And ”The Gator Boys are back in the Final Four.”

He was in the stands hugging fans, on the court hugging teammates, and spouting off. When he ran out of stuff to say, he said this:

”When we win, everybody eats. That’s our motto. Everybody eats.”

This is where I’d like to come up with some sort of joke, but I’ve run dry. And to be perfectly honest, I’ve got no idea what it is Noah’s talking about. Maybe this is metaphor that the Gators are feeding. Or maybe it’s Joakim Noah being completely insane. All I know is I wouldn’t want to be one of the fans that got hugged by that man.

I haven’t ventured into betting on March Madness yet because, well, it’s incredibly unpredictable. But with only the best of the best around, it becomes a little easier to sift through the lines and make a solid bet.

-Georgetown/Ohio State (Pick ‘Em): I haven’t liked Georgetown this whole time, only because I think they’re too big and too clumsy. I figured North Carolina would run them out of the gym, but not playing defense in the final six minutes proved to be more prevailing. On the other hand, I feel Ohio State’s been lucky — I thought both Xavier and UT should’ve walked off a winner, but both choked in the final couple of minutes. I think Georgetown’s size is good, but Oden is better. And Georgetown doesn’t have a guard that can hang with Mike Conley, Jr. Take the Buckeyes.

-UCLA/Florida (-3): The only thing you know about the Gators is that they’re going to start slow and finish fast. A lot of people like UCLA to upset, but I have to ask: Is this UCLA team better than the one that made it to the finals last year? And is this Florida team worse? I think the answer to both is a resounding ‘No.’ Which gives me no reason at all to not think the Gators cover the field goal.

If you wanted another reason to hate Joakim Noah, here it is. And if you wanted another reason for not rooting for Florida to repeat — if winning in basketball and football wasn’t already enough — well, you’ve got that, too. I used to think I was a really horrible dancer. Now I just feel moderately bad.

Boston College 60, Georgia Tech 74: Outside of their game with UNC, this was GT’s most complete game of the year (and, like the UNC game, I was there — maybe I’m some sort of good luck charm). Javaris Crittenton played well enough to probably assure his early entry to the NBA, and the rest of the team was right in stride. Thaddeus Young had 10, Jeremis Smith 13 (with two nice alley-oops), Anthony Morrow 11, and our lone senior, Mario West, had 7. Tech fans are probably the only people out there who believe GT can be dangerous in the tournament, and you can count me in that group. They have the right mix of youth and maturity, and if they can get over this fixation they have with playing sloppy on the road, they can make some noise a week-and-a-half from now.

Clemson 75, Virginia Tech 74: This suddenly makes the ACC “teams that were in” list interesting. Zabian Dowdell had 25, but missed a jumper with 19 seconds left that would have given VT the lead. I know they’ve kinda sucked recently, but now Clemson has to be considered as a team to play in March.

Duke 72, UNC 86: The biggest rivalry in all of sports wasn’t much of a rivalry this year. And other than Tyler Hansbrough getting beaten up and bloodied, it really wasn’t that great of a game to watch.

Kentucky 72, Florida 85: I don’t know if this win means Florida’s back on track, but it helps. Kentucky kept it close at moments, but it seemed every time the Gators needed a basket they got one. It was Senior Day in Florida, which only means it was the last game their juniors will ever play there.

Creighton 67, Southern Illinois 61: I hate to sound like the guy who whines and moans about the small teams being ranked so high, but I think this justifies my bitching about the Salukies. And this win by Creighton is going to have a dramatic effect on my bracket: One way or another, the Bluejays always manage a win in March.

Seton Hall 71, Louisville 86: I remember when Louisville was being talked about as a team that had no chance of making the tournament. A month later, they’re in the top 25, and are probably a 5 seed.