Florida-bound All-Americans bring Final Four buzz.(McDonald's All-American game, 2001)(Brief Article)

Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium was a natural choice as the site for the 2001 McDonald's All-American game. After all, seven of this year's Blue Devils played in the game as high school seniors.

But as it turned out, this year's version should have been renamed the Gator Circus last week, thanks to power forwards Kwame Brown and David Lee and small forward James White. Stopping in Durham on their way to greater things in Gainesville, those three Florida-bound McDonald's All-Americans wowed the crowd and made Cameron their own.

It was a fitting place to begin a journey the Gators hope will take them where Duke went last weekend--the Final Four.

Brown run the floor, blocked five shots, scored 17 points and otherwise made NBA people drool over his 6-11, 240-pound frame. White showed his Vince Carter-like leaping ability and was 9-for-13 from the field with 19 points. Lee was the best of the three--21 points, four assists and a game-high 13 rebounds. And his most impressive trick of the week was upsetting White in the slam-dunk contest.

You'll hear grumbling about Billy Donovan's 2001 haul, but no one will argue that this will be the best incoming class in the nation next season. "Think? We know we're the best recruiting class in America," Brown says.

Donovan first raised eyebrows with his 1998 recruiting class--Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem, Teddy Dupay and LaDarius Halton. Signing three of the top 10 players in the 2001 class underscores Donovan's easy access to the living rooms of the nation's elite prep ballplayers.

"It's very surprising when anybody does that," former UNC player and current announcer Brad Daugherty said. "But Billy does a great job. He's a young guy, he's brought that program to national prominence. If I was a young kid, I'd look very hard at Florida."