ATLANTA —The Florida Gators happily ascended the ladder, a pair of scissors in hand, to snip away at the nylon. They’re not about to pass up the chance to celebrate, even though they would much rather be cutting down the nets at the Georgia Dome three weeks from now.

Sending an emphatic message to those who thought they looked vulnerable at the end of the regular season, the no. 6 Gators finished off three routs in three days with a 77–56 blowout of Arkansas in the SEC championship game yesterday.

Florida (29–5) is certainly on the sort of roll that could bring them back to Atlanta for the Final Four. The Gators received the top seed in the Midwest Regional and will play Jackson State on Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

“Six more wins!” a Florida fan yelled at Joakim Noah as he strolled off the court, orange-andblue beads dangling from his neck.

“I’m still hungry for more,” Noah screamed back. “I’m never satisfied.”

Which might just be Florida’s secret. While the Gators captured their first national championship a year ago, they’re still playing with the passion, desire and pure joy of a team that wants more.

“We’re not defending our championship,” Florida’s Chris Richard said. “We won that one (last year). Nobody can take that one away. We just want to win to win another one.”

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OHIO STATE 66, WISCONSIN 49 Greg Oden heard the chants for one more year from the Ohio State fans and did his best to ignore them.

Time will tell if the 7-foot freshman grants their wish or answers the call of the NBA, but his mind was on other things yesterday.

Like celebrating no. 1 Ohio State’s Big Ten championship victory over Wisconsin.

Like the NCAA tournament, where the Buckeyes will be a top seed.

Oden wasn’t at his best, but Mike Conley and Ron Lewis compensated as the Buckeyes beat No. 3 Wisconsin 66–49 to win their second conference tournament title.

Conley scored 18 points, Lewis added 17, and now, Ohio State can focus on the big prize.

The Buckeyes have the no. 1 seed in the South regional and will face Central Connecticut State on Thursday in Lexington, Ky. Wisconsin got the second seed in the Midwest and a matchup with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday at the United Center.

“We’re really looking forward to getting down to Lexington because it’s pretty close to home,” Conley said.

“It’s going to be an exciting time,” Oden said. “I’m ready for it.”

Besides having to cram for Central Connecticut, Oden has finals in sociology and the history of rock ‘n’ roll this week. Although they didn’t earn an A, the Buckeyes passed a big test yesterday.

Oden finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks after playing just six minutes in the first half against the Badgers, but Conley and Lewis did enough to lift Ohio State (30–3) to its 17th straight victory. Conley had eight assists and six rebounds, and Lewis was 6-for-12 from the field.

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KANSAS 88, TEXAS 84, OT As coach Bill Self cut down the nets to commemorate Kansas’ second straight Big 12 tournament title, a shout came from the crowd: “And now a national championship!”

After surviving another stellar effort by Texas’s Kevin Durant, the second-ranked Jayhawks appear primed to make a run at another set of nets.

“Our confidence level is pretty high right now,” Kansas guard Brandon Rush said. “Just making big plays at the right time.”

Sherron Collins scored 20 points, and Rush and Julian Wright each added 19 points to help Kansas rally from a 22-point deficit to beat Texas 88–84 in the Big 12 championship game yesterday and earn a top seed in the NCAA tournament.

Durant, the Big 12 player of the year, matched his career high with 37 points but took only two shots and did not score in overtime.

“I don’t want to play him again,” Self said.

The only chance for another rematch would be in the NCAA championship game, with Kansas a no. 1 seed on one half of the bracket and Texas a no. 4 seed on the opposite side. The Jayhawks enter the tournament on a seasonbest 11-game winning streak. They’ve lost in the tournament’s first round each of the past two seasons.

Russell Robinson hit a jumper from the left wing to put Kansas (30–4) on top 83–81 with 2:19 left in the extra period, and Wright added a free throw to push the lead to three. D.J. Augustin had a 3-point attempt and a runner in the lane blocked on consecutive Texas possessions, and Darnell Jackson’s two free throws extended Kansas’ lead to 86–81 with 13.2 seconds left.

A.J. Abrams hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to give no. 15 Texas (24–9) one last chance, but Robinson hit two foul shots with 5.3 seconds left to seal the win. Durant’s final shot — a 3-pointer from the right wing — caromed away with 2 seconds left.

NORTH CAROLINA 89, N.C. STATE 80 North Carolina is young, deep, talented — and hardly without flaws.

But by winning their first Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title since 1998 with an 89–80 victory yesterday over North Carolina State, the eighthranked Tar Heels clearly re-established themselves as a force in the NCAA tournament.

North Carolina lost two of its last three regular-season games, but showed why it was ranked no. 1 this season in blowing through three opponents in three days to give Roy Williams about the only thing missing from his coaching resume.

“We are gifted,” Williams said. “For these three days, we came together and played pretty doggone well.”

Tournament MVP Brandan Wright and Wayne Ellington scored 16 apiece, Tyler Hansbrough went 11-for-11 from the foul line to finish with 15, and Reyshawn Terry and Ty Lawson added 13 each for North Carolina, which won the national championship two years ago after losing in the ACC tourney.

North Carolina received the top seed in the East Regional and will play Eastern Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday.

In winning their 16th ACC tournament title, the Tar Heels (28–6) are tied with Duke for the most in conference history.

“I hope they enjoyed the feeling of cutting down the nets and getting those trophies. Winning championships is not easy,” Williams said. “I told them that at maybe the 4-minute timeout. I said, ‘Hey, I’m not concerned about State making a run. Winning championships is not supposed to be easy.”

N.C. State (18–15) reached the title game with an improbable run that included upsets of secondseeded Virginia, third-seeded Virginia Tech and defending champion Duke.