Two already have traveled to college basketball's Promised Land.

Two are Final Four rookies.

One has sipped the champagne of an NCAA Tournament title. The other three can only wonder how delectable it tastes.

Billy Donovan reached the hard-court mountaintop last year, his driven and cohesive Florida Gators spurting away from Ben Howland's UCLA Bruins like a 400-meter sprinter separating himself from the pack coming down the stretch.

Howland, John Thompson III of Georgetown and Thad Matta of Ohio State are looking to capture that elusive feeling, experience that one shining moment.

They are smart, motivated, easy-to-get-to-know men, and their teams have taken on their aggressive, won't-back-down personalities. They coach as if their lives depend on it, and their teams play with zeal, toughness and passion reserved for the elite.

Donovan, Howland, Thompson and Matta participated in a Final Four media conference call Wednesday, shortly before shepherding their teams to Atlanta in preparation for the national semifinals Saturday under the big top of the Georgia Dome.

All are easy to root for, but only one will raise their sport's ultimate trophy Monday night.

Whoever does instantly becomes a figure forever recognized in American sports history.

A closer look at the men who would be NCAA basketball king.

Billy Donovan: Going for another

In this age of short timers on college basketball courts, maybe the single most impressive thing about Billy Donovan is he somehow cajoled a team full of young stars to put off the NBA's riches.

All but one of the players who played last year in the title-game victory against

UCLA in Indianapolis will grace the court Saturday for the Florida Gators when they play the Bruins in the Final Four at the Georgia Dome.

How did he keep this remarkable bunch together?

Personality. There's no denying the power of Donovan's personality. He's a fired- up, excitable Long Island, N.Y., native long on energy and passion.

But the 41-year-old coaching savant won't take credit for the return of a quartet of gifted players who liked college too much to leave.

"I think the main reason they came back was the enjoyment of each other, competing, trying to get better as players and the fun that they were having," Donovan said of Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green, who all appear ticketed for the pros.

"Then, during the course of the season, there were goals set, trying to get an SEC championship, regional championship, Final Four championship. I think every team in the Final Four right now had the same set of goals coming into the season."

But only one is a defending champion. And only one returned virtually intact from a season that won't be forgotten. Even if the repeat doesn't happen, Donovan knows this team will go down in college basketball history.

"They're really excited to get to this point because, to me, it's a great accomplishment right now," he said. "They did it last year without any expectations, and then this year, they had to do it with all the expectations. They're enjoying it. They're having fun playing with one another. They're having fun competing."

The 82-game grind of the NBA, they figured, could wait. Gator Nation, and college basketball in general, is the better for it. And for Billy Donovan.

Ben Howland: The legacy lives

Ben Howland grew up in Southern California a huge UCLA fan. He has a deep, abiding respect for the Bruins' overwhelming basketball legacy and isn't afraid to embrace it.

He makes sure legend John Wooden is involved with the program. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton are frequent visitors to games.

Howland would like nothing more than to attach his name further to that legacy, which he contributed to in a major way by taking the Bruins to the title game last year before losing to Florida.

Six current UCLA players were on that runner-up team, four playing significant roles. As if the motivation of the Final Four weren't enough, the Bruins feel they have unfinished business from the trip to Indianapolis.

"The motivation, as always, is to win," UCLA's dynamic defensive guru said as he prepared the Bruins for a rematch with Florida. "We were very, very proud of our team last year. We were disappointed in the last game last season, but overall, we had a great year.

"There are only four teams that get to make it to this every year, and it's a great honor to be in the Final Four."

The Bruins have done it again, with sticky, disruptive, in-your-space defense. Howland is credited for coaxing a group of athletes to buy into his defense- first mantra in a look-at-me basketball age.

To watch the Bruins play is to watch a team in every sense. Not unlike the teams coached by Howland's Hall of Fame predecessor, Wooden.

"I think we're a better team than we were last year because of our experience level," Howland said. "Just being a year older, a year more experienced. We have very good players. Obviously, they have great players. It's a thing where I think experience really matters, especially when you're having experience in a successful framework where you're winning."

UCLA has been all about winning since the Bruins stole Howland from Pittsburgh. He knows the legends are watching.

Thad Matta: A players' coach

He is not yet the face of Ohio State basketball. That would be Greg Oden, the Buckeyes' sensational man-child of a center.

That's OK with Thad Matta. He knows if he keeps winning, specifically this weekend, he'll get his due respect soon enough.

Matta, 39, is in his third year guiding the basketball fortunes of one of the largest, richest and most athletically dominant universities in the nation.

Before coming to Columbus, he took Xavier, down the road in Cincinnati, to three consecutive 26-win seasons.

Matta is more than simply the guy who successfully recruited Oden, a 7-foot freshman prodigy almost certainly headed for the NBA after this weekend.

The ever-positive coach has cobbled together a deep and talented team, one with toughness, heart and verve.

He is not the Buckeyes' face, but he is their grinning guiding light.

"I try to be a coach that I'd like to play for," Matta said. "I know when our guys' minds are right, they play their best basketball. That sort of has been my approach from Day 1."

Matta's job at Ohio State has had its down moments. Less than two years ago, NCAA sanctions from events that occurred during former coach Jim O'Brien's tenure were announced, and the Buckeyes were prohibited from competing in the 2005 NCAA Tournament.

After the one-year ban was lifted, Matta took Ohio State to a 26-6 record and the second round of the tournament. Now a Final Four, in his third season.

"The players and the coaches in our program had faith, and I can't put into words how important that is," he said. "One of the hardest things I've ever had to do was walk in and tell guys they couldn't go to postseason play for a crime they didn't commit, then motivate them on a daily basis. Those guys took a heck of a chance on us, and I'll be ever grateful to those kids for doing that."

Ohio State fans are forever grateful Thad Matta emerged smiling through the tough times.

John Thompson III: Learning from legends

John Thompson III learned his basketball lessons from Princeton legend Pete Carril.

He learned his life lessons from another college basketball legend, who happened to be his father.

The grins on the faces of John Jr. and John III when they're together say it all. There's the mutual respect shared by men of dignity and accomplishment.

There's a bond, thick from the get-go by blood, made thicker by a man in the prime of his life taking on the life's work of his dad.

For 27 years at Georgetown, the elder John Thompson was a mammoth fixture on the Georgetown sideline, towel slung over his shoulder, scowling and smiling, coaxing his Hoyas to three Final Four appearances in a four-year span.

The Patrick Ewing-led 1984 team beat Houston for the NCAA title.

Twenty-three years later, here comes John Thompson III, at the same school, thirsting for that same indescribable feeling.

They are the first father/son duo to take teams to the Final Four.

Thompson Jr., who works NCAA radio broadcasts, is the epitome of the proud father, basking in the spotlight shining on his 41-year-old son. JT3, as he's known at Georgetown, is a bit too busy to revel in the moment.

He has got a championship to win.

"It's meant a lot to him to have him around for this," the namesake said of his hero and mentor. "And it's been special for me to have him enjoy it. Everyone, rightfully so, has this image of John Thompson, former coach of Georgetown. That's my dad. To have your parents, both my mom and dad, be a part of this is extremely special."

Thompson paused, chuckled.

"He's walking around like the proud father," he said. "I'm glad to see that. But I'm sitting here terrified of Ohio State."

On Saturday, JT3 will know what it's like to win or lose a Final Four game. Good or bad, father and son proudly will share the moment.

Exclusive club

If Florida wins the national championship, Billy Donovan would become the seventh coach to lead a school to consecutive NCAA titles. Since the dynasty at UCLA under John Wooden in the 1960s and 1970s, Mike Krzyzewski of Duke is the only coach to accomplish the feat (1991 and 1992).

Years School Coach Beat in title games

1945-46 *Oklahoma State Hank Iba New York U., North Carolina

1948-49 Kentucky Adolph Rupp Baylor, *Oklahoma State

1955-56 San Francisco Phil Woolpert La Salle, Iowa

1961-62 Cincinnati Ed Jucker Ohio State, Ohio State

1964-65 UCLA John Wooden Duke, Michigan

1967-73 UCLA John Wooden Dayton, North Carolina, Purdue, Jacksonville, Villanova, Florida State, Memphis State

1991-92 Duke Mike Krzyzewski Kansas, Michigan

*Known as Oklahoma A&M

Like father, like son

The coaching careers of John Thompson Jr. and John Thompson III, the first father-son duo to reach the Final Four:

Thompson Jr. Thompson III

College attended Providence Princeton

Played for Joe Maloney Pete Carril

Years coach 1972-73 to 1998-99 2000-01 to present

Schools coached Georgetown Princeton, Georgetown

Career record 596-239 140-71

Winning percentage .714 .664

NCAA appearances 20 4

NCAA record 34-19 6-3

NCAA record percentage .642 .667

NCAA championships 1 (1984) 0

Final Fours 3 (1982, 1984, 1985) 1 (2007)

Ewings coached 1 1Source: The Associated Press

holtzr@RockyMountainNews.com

Back to Top