An unstoppable force vs. immovable object

Good morning! It’s going to be a long day waiting for tonight’s national title game to tipoff.

So let’s preview the game a bit and go over the rest of Sunday’s news.

1. Battle of the boards may decide the title

Guard play will be at a premium in tonight’s NCAA Tournament Championship game. Walter Clayton Jr. is on a tourney heater not seen since Kemba Walker. Aljiah Martin’s busy defying gravity. LJ Cryer’s chasing history.

Yet Florida coach Todd Golden might be most focused what’s going on inside the paint when the Gators play Houston tonight (8:50 pm ET on CBS).

“Big-picture goal is going to be make them take tough twos, fight like hell to get the rebound,” he said Sunday. “Every rebound we get is going to feel like we won the game,

“If we can do a good job of keeping them off the boards, we'll give ourselves a chance.”

Houston’s been an elite offensive rebounding team under coach Kelvin Sampson for the last six seasons, ranking 11th or higher every year. It’s not one guy swallowing up boards, it’s big men J’Wan Roberts and JoJo Tugler either grabbing the ball, or tipping it back to the guards for second-chance shots, which seemingly are always 3-pointers by Cryer or Emanuel Sharp.

It’s the aspect of Houston’s approach that concerns Golden, but if he’s being honest, everything about the nation’s most efficient defense is a cause for concern.

"I mean, their defense worries me a lot, absolutely," he said. "They have incredible length and athleticism and physicality inside the paint. They wear you down, make it really hard on you. Yeah, it definitely concerns me. I think we're going to have a couple different ideas, a couple different pitches, for lack of a better term, to throw at them late in the game. I think there's going to be some issues for us out there. If we don't troubleshoot well, we'll be in trouble."

Not that Florida’s without frontcourt muscle of its own.

The Gators actually grab a higher percentage of their misses than Houston (38.8% offensive rebounding rate; Houston is 37%) thanks to their fleet of big men — Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh, Reuben Chinyelu, Micah Handlogten — who are all 6-9 or taller. They’ll need to be physical, and willing to scrap for boards.

Because as as anyone who watched Houston’s rally Saturday night against Duke, the Cougars are a relentless team that never stops.

2. The most intriguing dynamic to watch tonight

What’s the most compelling aspect for tonight? The guards? The frontcourt? How the game will be officiated?

The Field of 68’s analysts — John Henson, Terrence Oglesby, Jerel McNeal, Mike LaTulip and Matt McCall — all detailed the specific thing they’ll be most intrigued by tonight.

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