The Gators hadn’t lost an NCAA game since falling to Villanova, 76-65, in Nashville in a 2005 second-round game. Eddie Sutton was still coaching at Oklahoma State; Kelvin Sampson was still at Oklahoma. Kevin Durant was a high school senior at Montrose Christian. So in basketball terms, that’s a long time ago.

At the height of that streak Florida had won a second straight NCAA title and seemed on the verge of joining college basketball’s bluebloods. Some of those bluebloods can lose three NBA lottery picks and still make the tournament.  But North Carolina’s struggles this year in the post-Tyler Hansbrough era are a reminder of how tough it is to stay on top. Not that Billy Donovan needed one. The Gators have now gone three seasons without a tournament win, and what seems to have also been lost is the Gator basketball identity. Florida played with a swagger that dared opponents to try to run with them. There was no shot too bold or daring. But on Thursday, BYU was the team that played with swagger.

BYU's Brandon Davies (0) reacts after Jimmer Fredette hit a three point shot in the second over time during the NCAA Men's first round basketball tournament game between the University of Florida and BYU at the Ford Center on Thursday, March 18, 2010, in Oklahoma City, Okla. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman

There was a brief stretch of the second half when my colleague Brandon Chatmon observed that Florida players looked like they were ready for the season to be over. If they felt that way, it didn’t last. Florida battled back into the game and at one point seemed to ready to blow BYU out. The Gators were absolutely wearing out BYU on the boards, especially the offense glass. Florida finished with a 45-33 rebounding edge. But with chances to win the game at the end of regulation and the first overtime, the Gators couldn’t squeeze off a good shot.

And when Kenny Boynton fouled out early in the second OT, it was Gator done. He led Florida with 27 points, but most importantly he made BYU’s Jimmer Fredette wear himself ragged for every shot he got.

Some other thoughts on the BYU-Florida game:

– I’ve been taking some ribbing from coworkers for spending most of this week predicting BYU’s Jimmer Fredette was going to put on a show. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he spent the first half trying to make me look good. It seemed like he and his teammates were obsessing over getting him off to a great start. A BYU officials told me at halftime “We’re not   playing like us” and Fredette was definitely looking like the player I spent Sunday night watching on Youtube.

Defensively, the kindest description of Fredette’s effort might be “disinterested.” Brandon kept wondering if he was tired. I read an DraftExpress.com scouting report that said he conserved energy on defense. I’ll buy that. Boynton scored quite a few of his points with Jimmer playing matador defense on him. Still, Fredette made what I thought were the two biggest plays of the games that didn’t involve the ball going in the basket, and one was on defense.

With Florida leading 79-75 midway through the first OT, the Gators’ 5-foot-8 point guard Everett Walker started backing Jimmer down the middle of the lane.  And for what seemed like the first time in the game, Fredette put up a defensive fight, in effect saying “I’m not going to let some guy I’ve got six inches on post me up” by swatting Walker’s shot. On the other end, Fredette appeared ready to lose the ball out of bounds near the Cougar basket for making an amazing save — the guy has unbelievable hands — that BYU converted into two points.

Oh yeah. And he scored 37 points.

– Anyone who was watching BYU live for the first time had to wonder why Michael Loyd (26 points off the bench) doesn’t start and play a lot more. The lights went on in the building when he stepped on the court for the first time. And he gave the Cougars life with 10 straight BYU points late in the second half. Not that he noticed. In the postgame interviews, when asked about that 10-point spurt, Lloyd said, “That’s the first time I heard that.”

– Fredette came out for the first overtime chatting with Boynton, and it wasn’t about their matchup. Fredette and Florida’s Chandler Parsons know each other from their AAU summer league days. “At the beginning of the game I told Chandler Parsons ‘no game-winning shots tonight,” Fredette said of the Gator forward who hit a 75-footer this season to beat North Carolina State. “And he came down to the end where he had a chance and just barely missed … I told Kenny, ‘I think he missed that shot because I told him not to make it at the beginning.’ ”

–  The most meaningful streak that ended Thursday was BYU’s streak of eight straight NCAA losses. The Cougars last won a tournament game in 1993 when they beat SMU. Eddie Sutton was coaching at Oklahoma State. Billy Tubbs was at OU. And Kevin Durant was a 4-year-old.

We got Kansas and Kansas State, which will mean a relocation of the Sunflower State to the Ford Center Thursday.

During his Monday teleconference, NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee chair Dan Guerrero had to answer for why the committee sent San Jose such a lousy lot: New Mexico, Vanderbilt, Butler and Marquette are four highest seeds there, and only New Mexico isn’t traveling halfway across the country. The Washington Huskies could swoop in to buy tickets and save the day, but still.

Here’s the question and Guerrero’s answer.

Q.  In terms of just the San Jose teams, the teams you put in there, there’s eight teams there that aren’t a great draw for the Bay Area for a number of factors.  Is that something that you analyze and discuss, whether you’re going to be able to get crowds into that arena to see those eight teams?

DAN GUERRERO: ” You know, most of the sites have their tickets sold well in advance.  But if you think of the teams that are in any given region, and you’re talking about San Jose in particular, you’re talking about Marquette, Washington, a West Coast school, New Mexico, a West Coast school, Montana, a West Coast school, those are all teams that I think whose crowds will follow.  You have Butler, UTEP, Vanderbilt, Murray State.  Those are some great teams.  College basketball fans in Northern California and on the West Coast should flock to go see those games because it’s a great opportunity. I know San Jose has done a great job in getting ready for this tournament.  They’re excited about what they’re going to be able to do to create a great experience for the people to go there. You know what, a national championship could be won by one of those teams that’s at that particular site.  So I think fans should go out there and support the City of San Jose.”

Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Jacksonville and San Jose were the four regionals that still had all-session passes for sale on Monday morning. OKC got lucky to have two powerhouses from a border state. San Jose didn’t: The Pac 10 picked a bad year to stink.

Here’s the schedule: (All times CDT).

Noon-12:40 p.m. Florida
12:45-1:25 p.m. North Texas
1:30-2:10 p.m. BYU
2:15-2:55 p.m. Kansas State
4:25-5:05 p.m. UNLV
5:10-5:50 p.m. Kansas
5:55-6:35 p.m. UNI
6:40-7:20 p.m. Lehigh

The Oklahoman’s John Rohde reported Sunday that OKC will likely get one more chance to prove itself as a host for Big 12 men’s basketball tournament in 2012. But Rohde said league officials were concerned by empty seats at men’s games at last year’s tournament at the Ford Center. There’s also a question whether good turnouts for the Big 12 women’s tourney are largely a Sherri Coale-fueled phenomenon. Privately, Big 12 officials may be wondering if OU’s women aren’t involved whether OKC would to draw the disappoint crowd of 3,100 that watched Texas A&M beat OU in Sunday’s women title game at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.

And then there’s the small matter of there being all-session passes available for the NCAA men’s tournament first-round games that start Thursday at the Ford Center. According to the NCAA Web site, the NCAA regionals in Providence, Buffalo, Milwaukee and Spokane are sold out. As of Sunday evening, OKC was still on the “bad list” with New Orleans, San Jose and Jacksonville. Not great company.

If someone wants to charge OKC with first-degree indifference to college basketball, OK. We might even cop a plea. We’re planning a story this week focused on the question of whether March Madness is still as appealing in the 405 now that we’ve got the NBA in town, and I’ll be as interested as anyone to read that.

You may have noticed that we’ve got quite a team in town.  And after being swept up by Thunder fever, some discriminating sports consumers may be thinking twice about ponying up $204 for an all-session NCAA Tournament pass at the same time they’re finding room in the family budget for Western Conference playoff tickets.

Thunder-Nuggets or Kansas State-North Texas?

Durant vs. Carmelo or the Man Man of Manhattan (Frank Martin) vs. the Mean Green of Denton?

There’s really no choice, is there.

Fortunately for OKC, the NCAA has dealt us a heckuva hand. You can make the argument that we’ve got best storyl ines and of any first-round NCAA site. Consider:

Kansas: Bill Self returns to the scene of the crime. The Jayhawks’ last NCAA Tournament trip to OKC ended with a 2005 first-round loss to a Patriot League champion. So guess who’s waiting for Self and Co. in Thursday’s late game: Patriot League champion Lehigh. Drama and subplots abound. Local subplot No. 1: KU freshman phenom Xavier Henry returns to his hometown to start what could be his one and only NCAA Tournament appearance. If Henry truely is a one-and-doner, wouldn’t he look nice in an OKC Thunder uniform? Remember, the Thunder has two first-round picks. Local subplot No. 2: Edmond’s own Bill Self is back home, again. It’s hard to imagine a better total package in a college basketball coach. But I also think we’ve written that angle a time or 22….

Kansas State: I’m calling coach Frank Martin the Mad Man from Manhattan, but I’m sure I’m not the first. I grew up in Maryland, have followed the Terps all my life. I’ve been tempted to call in a Stroke Alert on Terps coach Gary Williams 45 times in the last 10 years. But I’m sure I’ve never seen Williams act like Martin. I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone act like Martin. Hysterics aside, the guy can coach and the Wildcats fan base is energized.

And for that OKC says thank you, Frank Martin. You and Mr. Self have almost guaranteed that Sunflower Staters will swoop in Monday morning, buy up tons of tickets and get us off the NCAA/Big 12 bad list. Plus you’ve got people on our staff stirred up. One colleague swears Kansas and K-State fans will cheer for each other Thursday at the Ford Center. I say no way. What say you?

Brigham Young: Maybe it’s just the name, but I Googled Jimmer Fredette almost the minute after the pairings were announced and I’m all fired up. The BYU guard scored 49 points against Arizona, which has some NBA-caliber guards, and 45 against Texas Christian. BYU is the highest scoring team in the field of 65 (83.5 points), has a better scoring margin than Kansas (18.5 to 18.4) and hits 42 percent of its 3-pointers. But what makes the Cougars worth watching is Jumpshot Jimmer. Watch for yourself.

Plus, maybe the BYU folks will finally come clean on whether Coleby Clawson meant to hurt Sam Bradford.

Florida: Hey, remember these guys? The back-to-back NCAA champs haven’t been back to the tournament since coach Billy Donovan backed out on a deal to coach the Orlando Magic and returned to Gators for $3.5 million a year. Questions about whether Donovan’s two titles should insulate his coaching seat from turning hot for life would probably be a lot more prevalent if Tim Tebow hadn’t spent the last four years walking on water across the Sunshine State. But is there a more interesting 10 seed in the field?

UNLV: Hey, remember these guys Part II? UNLV and the NCAAs go together like, well, major and violations. Seriously, I was tempted to write that tournament is better off with the Rebels in the field, but I’m not sure that’s true. What is true is that OKC could spend the weekend playing peacemaker between two sets of rival fan bases. Word out of the Mountain West Conference is there’s no way UNLV and BYU will be cheering for each other. Then there’s the Lon Kruger Six Degrees of Separation Game to play. Kruger played and coached at Kansas State (1986-90) coached Florida (1991-96). Sub Illinois for say BYU and Pan American for North Texas and you’d have the Lon Kruger Regional.

Northern Iowa: I once coached a second-grade Catholic school girls basketball team with a guy who persuaded our daughters to play vicious defense by taking the phrase by using every time out to remind them “THE BASKETBALL IS LIKE A PIECE OF HEAVEN.” It looks like Northern Iowa has a similar philosophy. Read this ESPN story by Pat Forde and you really don’t like UNLV’s chances. For entertainment purposes, I prefer run-and-gun basketball to Northern Iowa’s “strangulation defense” but for NCAA Tournament drama give me a mid-major victory any time.

Lehigh: I was talking on the phone to Oklahoman columnist Berry Tramel shortly after the bracket was released and Lehigh’s presence in OKC inspired him to starting singing “America the Beautiful,” substituting the worlds “Oh beautiful for Patriot League dreams.” I doubt Bill Self cares to sing along. Anyone remember “Cinderella City?” That’s what we dubbed Oklahoma City in a special section a couple days before the Jayhawks faced Bucknell at the Ford Center in 2005. OKC was the site of Bryce Drew and Valparaiso’s 1998 upset of Mississippi. Staff writer John Helsley had done some investigating and came away convinced that 14th-seed Bucknell had a shot of stunning No. 3 Kansas. The Bison went out and made John and the rest of us look like geniuses for the “Cinderella City” cover. And believe me, we need all the help we can get. This Thursday’s date with Lehigh gives Self and Kansas a chance to blot out those memories and extend the No. 16 seeds’ NCAA Tournament losing streak beyond 100 games.

This is, after all, is a Leigh team that lost to Navy, twice. But this is also the NCAA Tournament and Lehigh gives us reason to sing, dream and ponder a return to Cinderella City.