Osu Fulfills Coach's Talk About a Final ; the Buckeyes Overcome Oden's Foul Trouble and Georgetown to Gain Their First Trip to the Ncaa Title Game in 45 Years. They'll Play Florida.

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ATLANTA -- This was Thad Matta's plan all along. When he recruited Greg Oden and Mike Conley from Indianapolis Lawrence North, he talked about a national title game. "This is crazy," Oden said Saturday night at the Georgia Dome. "Because this is our dream and, to be honest with you, when coach Matta recruited us, this is what he said. Like this was his dream. He was so confident about it." The Buckeyes made it come true. Although Oden was in foul trouble -- again -- Ohio State held off Georgetown, 67-60, in a NCAA national semifinal. Riding a 22-game streak, Ohio State (35-3) faces Florida (34-5) at 9:21 p.m. Monday for the national title -- a rematch of the BCS football championship game. The basketball Buckeyes won the NCAA title in 1960 and had secondplace finishes in '61 and '62. "It brings a smile to my face, just like right now," said forward David Lighty. "We are a pretty talented team, but have a team. Everybody comes in and contributes to our win."

Oden played just three minutes before halftime due to two fouls, enabling Georgetown's 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert (19 points, six rebounds) to get going.

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Osu Fulfills Coach's Talk About a Final ; the Buckeyes Overcome Oden's Foul Trouble and Georgetown to Gain Their First Trip to the Ncaa Title Game in 45 Years. They'll Play Florida.

Despite that, OSU led 27-23 at the half as Lighty, Ivan Harris, ...

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