Mar 12, 2007 - 2:24 AM
0 shoutsBy PA SportsTicker
Who's No. 1? All but one of the five teams that won conference championships on Sunday.
Defending national champion Florida, behind 17 points from Joakim Noah, rolled over Arkansas, 77-56, in the Southeastern Conference championship game.
The sixth-ranked Gators (29-5) captured their third consecutive SEC title and locked up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament as they seek to follow up their championship run from last season.
Al Horford had 18 points and 12 rebounds and Taurean Green scored 10 points for the Gators, which held a 36-28 lead at intermission before using a 28-14 run to begin the second half and open a 64-42 advantage with 8:33 remaining.
Noah, the Most Outstanding Player of last year's Final Four, scored 11 points after intermission.
"It doesn't matter," Noah said before learning of Florida's seeding. "We knew what we were capable of doing. We're going to do whatever we need to do to get W's and rings."
Conference champions were also crowned in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten and Big 12 - and all three landed No. 1 seeds in the NCAAs.
The final bid went to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which defeated Northwestern State, 81-78, in the Southland Conference championship game.
In the Big Ten, 7-foot freshman center Greg Oden had 12 points and 10 rebounds to lead top-ranked Ohio State to a 66-49 victory over No. 4 Wisconsin.
All of Oden's points came in the second half as the Buckeyes (30-3) extended their winning streak to 17 games and beat the Badgers for the second time in three meetings this season.
"To be sitting at 30-3 and have won 17 straight games and two of our losses are to No. 1 (teams) that were ahead of us, one was without Greg Oden, the other he had been playing for three weeks, the other one was at Wisconsin, I'm pretty excited with where we are today," Ohio State coach Thad Matta.
The Buckeyes claimed a No. 1 seed in the NCAAs as Oden shook off foul trouble to register his 11th double-double of the season.
In the ACC, No. 8 North Carolina fought off a late challenge to post an 89-80 victory over intrastate rival North Carolina State to win its first conference title since 1998.
The Tar Heels (28-6) earned its 11th No. 1 seed - the most in NCAA Tournament history - behind the play of ACC Rookie of the Year Brandan Wright and sophomore Tyler Hansbrough, who won the award last season.
Wright and classmate Wayne Ellington each scored 16 points and Hansbrough added 15 for North Carolina, which is seeking its second championship in three years.
"As always, we're excited about being a part of the NCAA Tournament," coach Roy Williams said. "We should have some confidence from winning the ACC tournament, but as I've always said, you build your momentum in the NCAA Tournament."
Kansas had to overcome a huge performance by a freshman in outlasting Texas, 88-84, in overtime in the Big 12 Conference championship game.
Phenom Kevin Durant had 37 points, 10 rebounds, six blocked shots and two steals for the Longhorns, who jumped out to a 32-10 lead but couldn't hold off the second-ranked Jayhawks (30-4).
Freshman guard Sherron Collins scored 20 points to lead a balanced attack for Kansas, which also received 19 points apiece from Brandon Rush and Julian Wright in winning its fifth Big 12 crown.
Since no top seed has ever lost to a No. 16 seed in the NCAAs, the Jayhawks may be able to avoid another shocking first-round ouster - they lost to Bradley and Bucknell the previous two seasons.
"To be honest with you, I'm pretty worn out right now, so it wasn't ... I wasn't ecstatic," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "I thought we would get one seed if we won today."
In the Southland Conference, Chris Daniels scored 19 points as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi earned its first NCAA Tournament berth.
Josh Washington had 16 points and Josh Ervin 14 points and 12 rebounds as the Islanders denied Northwestern State a return trip to the "Big Dance."
Sunday's five winners rounded out the 31 automatic bids that go to conference champions. The NCAA Selection Committee awarded the remaining 34 at-large bids to fill out the 65-team field earlier Sunday.
