By Carey Gillam
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Ohio State's Greg Oden was the most dominant player of the NCAA championship game on Monday, but despite his best efforts, the Buckeyes were unable to halt Florida's bid for a second straight title.
Florida ended Ohio State's 22-game winning streak with an 84-75 victory, although Oden's 25-point, 12-rebound performance left few people doubting his status as the nation's top college center.
"We pretty much got everything out of Greg tonight," Ohio State freshman guard Mike Conley told reporters.
"He played a great game. Helped us offensively and defensively.
"But, you know, our team needed to play as well as he was tonight by the way Florida was playing. That was the key."
Oden, a 19-year-old freshman likely to be the NBA's top overall draft choice should he leave school, hit 10 of 15 shots against a Florida team seemingly powerless to stop him.
"Greg really did a tremendous job," Ohio State coach Thad Matta added.
"They chose to go with the single coverage. When teams do that, we need to make a couple more shots from the outside. It just didn't happen for us."
Ohio State hit just four-of-23 shots from beyond the arc, which allowed Florida to put more pressure on Oden.
Despite his domination, Oden's slam dunks and at-times acrobatic offensive moves failed to lead the Buckeyes to their first national title since 1960.
Oden and his team mates were left sulking on the sidelines as Florida celebrated their second straight championship under coach Billy Donovan.
Matta said he had "no idea" if Oden would bolt for the NBA.
"My gut, I really don't know," he said.
"I think Gregory and I will sit down when we get back and kind of talk. The great thing about him, I know he hasn't thought about it.
"You know, everybody kind of stuck to what we said we were going to do, and that was going to be to compete for the national championship. We got here."
The Florida Gators became the NCAA Men's Basketball champions for the second straight year Monday night, defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes 84-75 for the title. Despite Greg Oden's 25 points and 12 rebounds, Ohio State couldn't top Joakim Noah and the Gators. Said Florida guard Corey Brewer of the victory, ""This is what we're all about at the University of Florida, winning championships." The Gators became the first back-to-back champions since the Duke Blue Devils won back-to-back in 1991 and 1992.

Winning the Men's Basketball championship gives the University of Florida wins in both of the NCAA's top sporting events, basketball and football. The Gators defeated Ohio State 41-14 in the football championship in January.

Ohio State's troubles many, going just 4 for 23 from three point range in the game, and 30 for 64 on field goals. Mike Conley, Jr. added 20 points to Oden's 25, but Florida's four players scoring in double-digits were too much for the Buckeyes to overcome. The Gators went 26 of 53 from field goal range and 10 of 18 on three point attempts.