ATLANTA (AP) - With the confetti still falling, some fans in the Florida section were already thinking ahead.

"One more year," they chanted. "One more year."

Nothing wrong with dreaming, right? In a way, though, the Gators lived out their dream this season.

They took a chomp out of NCAA history last night, defeating Ohio State 84-75 for the second straight national championship that was their goal from the time they decided to put off the NBA and come back to college.

It was the first repeat since Duke in 1991-92 and the first ever with the same starting five. It was a difficult task on several different levels - a success that will clearly put these Gators on the list of the best teams ever.

"People can say what they want, but at the end of the day, the Gator boys have two championships in a row - back to back," forward Joakim Noah said.

Al Horford had 18 points and 12 rebounds, and Taurean Green added 16 points. Greg Oden’s 25 points and 12 rebounds weren’t enough for Ohio State (35-4) to stop the Gators (35-5) from completing their rare repeat.

"These guys turned their backs on millions, and they came back for a reason," Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley said. "This is the reason. They played all season with a target on their back. It was hard to do. This is quite an exclamation point."

Another one.

This win completes a 2007 championship-game sweep of the Buckeyes in the two biggest college sports - men’s hoops and football. Florida, a 41-14 winner in the football title game in January, remains the only program in history to hold both championships at the same time.

The future is more unsettled.

It’s doubtful Noah, Horford or Corey Brewer, all juniors, will return next year.

Meanwhile, Billy Donovan did nothing to quash speculation that he might leave Florida for a possible job offer from Kentucky.

"I haven’t given any thought to anything at all," Donovan said this morning. "I understand everybody’s got a job to do and everybody’s got responsibilities to take care of. I feel bad to a certain extent. I really have nothing to say because I haven’t given any thought to it, nor have I had any discussions with anybody, so it’s hard for me to comment about anything."

Donovan spent five years as an assistant at Kentucky under Coach Rick Pitino and was an obvious candidate when Tubby Smith left to take the head job at Minnesota last month.

"There’s a feeling in my heart that’s very strong about Kentucky because I had my first opportunity to coach there through Coach Pitino and my time there was very, very enjoyable," Donovan said. "But that was a while ago - being removed 13 years. It’s not like I’m removed two years."

He earned every bit of his $1.7 million this year, and that number figures to go up next year no matter where he works. He had to keep everyone motivated and focused - at first when things seemed too easy then later when the Gators lost three of four toward the end of the regular season.

"We went out not only as champions, but we did it twice," senior Chris Richard said. "We rewrote history again."

All season - including in the 86-60 victory over Ohio State in December - the Gators have morphed into whatever kind of team they needed to be to win, and this one was no different.

Stopping Oden figured to be the key, but really it was more complex than that. The 7-foot freshman stayed out of foul trouble and played 38 minutes - just what the Buckeyes figured they needed to have a chance.

But he couldn’t do this on his own. Donovan stuck Horford, Richard, Noah and 6-10 freshman Marreese Speights on the big fella.

"They had four bodies running in at me," Oden said. "Chris Richard, I swear he plays on the football team."

Meanwhile, Ivan Harris was the only Buckeye to make a 3-pointer over the first 39-plus minutes of the game, and he finished 2 for 8. Mike Conley Jr. had 20 points, but lots of them came late after the Buckeyes were playing big-time catch-up.

That led to a lot of 3-for-2 tradeoffs, with Florida getting the better end of the deal. The Gators went 10 for 18 from 3-point range.

How frustrating it must have been for the Buckeyes to watch Oden block shot after shot - four in all - only to see the Gators grab the rebound and feed it back out to Lee Humphrey for a 3. That happened twice in the second half.

"I thought we fought about as hard as we could," Buckeyes Coach Thad Matta said. "We just couldn’t turn the corner on them, which is what teams like that do to you."

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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