ATLANTA, April 2 – The Florida Gators are celebrating back-to-back national titles tonight for one reason: every starter from last year’s championship team returned.

It seems like too easy of an answer, but it is the simple truth. Florida is taking home another crown because Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer all decided to come back for their junior seasons.

The trio of Gators could just have easily gone on to the NBA instead of back to Gainesville. They had achieved all there was to achieve in the college game and they were all looking at lucrative contracts from the League.

“I think they’re having a lot of fun here. They’re a different type of kids,” Florida Head Coach Billy Donovan said last year when his star players decided to return. “I think it’s all about them getting themselves prepared to make the next step, and I think right now they’re not prepared to do that. They want to be here. They want to play. They want to stay together as a group and they want to play together as a team.”

Georgetown, of course, is not the national champion this year, or even the runner up. But the Hoyas have the chance to do just what the Gators did – bring back all five starters for another run deep into the NCAA tournament next year.

Georgetown’s top 10 men in minutes played could all come back next year. The Hoyas will lose only two seniors – reserves Sead Dizdarevic and Kenny Izzo – neither of whom were significant players on this year’s squad and the starters – juniors Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert and Jonathan Wallace, sophomore Jessie Sapp and freshman DaJuan Summers – can all come back, which is of course easier said than done.

Both Green and Hibbert, if they choose to forgo their senior seasons, are projected to be NBA lottery picks.

Although overlooked for much of the year, Green established himself as one of the top players in the country this season. He was the Big East player of the year and the most outstanding player of the East Region, making a name for himself with his last-second layup to defeat Vanderbilt if with nothing else.

And Hibbert, who has NBA scouts salivating if for no other reason than his height, proved he can play with the big boys when he outshone Ohio State’s Greg Oden – the likely No. 1 or 2 pick in the NBA draft – with his 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting in just 24 minutes in the Hoyas’ Final Four loss.

Both Green and Hibbert have said that they want to stay at Georgetown all four years and earn their degrees, which – by adding two McDonald’s all-Americans to the roster in Chris Wright and Austin Freeman – would make the Hoyas an easy pick for the preseason No. 1 next fall and a trip to San Antonio for next year’s Final Four a seeming guarantee.

After the loss on Saturday night, both Hibbert and Green fielded questions about the likelihood of their returns and both gave good non-answers.

“I’m not answering any of those questions right now,” Hibbert said, “but right now I’m still a Hoya and I haven’t thought anything about the next level. For now I’m going to go into my off-season workouts and get better for next year.”

Green had a similar answer.

“I’m not thinking about that at all,” he said. “When the time comes, I’m going to make a decision. Right now, we just came off a tough loss, and that’s what’s on my mind right now.”

For the next 10 weeks, while Hibbert and Green test the NBA waters, Georgetown will have to sit and wait. Without Green and Hibbert, the Hoyas will be good next year. After watching what Florida did tonight, Hoya fans can hope they want to be great.