It certainly wasn’t pretty but it definitely counts just the same because the new banner that will hang in Gampel Pavilion on the campus of the University of Connecticut will mirror the others from 1999 and 2004. Last night, UConn defeated Butler to earn their 3rd national championship in school history with a somewhat ugly 53 – 41 victory.
During the pregame show, Charles Barkley said that the first team to 70 would win. When Shelvin Mack hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to give Butler a 22 – 19 lead when the two teams headed into the locker room, I thought the first team to 50 would win based on the low scoring affair. The pace of the first half was so slow that I longed for Gus Johnson’s energy and patented “rise and fire” call to bring more excitement.
UConn came out blazing in the second half and the Bulldogs slowly started to get smaller in the Huskies’ rearview mirror. While the Huskies were busy extending their lead, Butler was preoccupied with missing shots at an alarming rate. The Bulldogs shot 12 – 64 from the floor and that putrid 18.8% shooting performance is the worst ever by a team in the national championship game. Credit UConn’s second half defense for that as well as Butler’s ineptitude. If you can even believe this, Bulter only made 3 2-point baskets and 9 3-pointers for the entire game. They were outscored in the paint 26 – 2, missed 23 of their first 25 shots in the second half and had one field goal during a 14-minute stretch.
I’ve never been a believer of their being parity in college basketball and I’m going to continue to sell rather than buy. George Mason began the conversation in 2006 when they made it to the Final Four and those talks resurfaced last year when Butler appeared in the title game. The fact that they made it back this year, along with VCU in the Final Four, doesn’t change my mind, because we’ve yet to see a mid-major crowned as a national champion. I’ll buy when I see that happen. Also, Butler’s historically horrendous performance last night further proves to me that parity doesn’t exist because they didn’t look like they even belonged on the floor on that stage. Personally, I’ve had all of the “Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack are great players” and “Brad Stevens is a coaching genius” talk that I can handle.
I don’t mean to bad mouth Butler. I’m just stating my opinion, and they should be proud of the strides that the program has made in the last two years. But, this is about UConn. The same team that was unranked to begin the season. The same guys that beat two top 10 teams to win the Maui Invitational. The same squad that played .500 ball in the Big East’s regular season before winning five games in five days to win the conference tournament. And the same bunch that just won the national title to bring their season’s tournament record (Maui, Big East and NCAA) to a perfect 14 – 0.
In those single elimination games this season, Kemba Walker, the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA tournament, averaged 26 points per game. But his impact far outweighs his ability to score because he changes the game in many ways. He plays the passing lanes exceptionally well, does the intangibles and elevates the play of his teammates. People around him improved because of his play, which is why it’s a travesty he wasn’t named Naismith Player of the Year. At the beginning of the season, freshman Jeremy Lamb looked like a timid wing player. Today he looks like a potential lottery pick if he decides to leave now as a result of playing alongside Walker.
This championship puts Jim Calhoun in distinguished company. He joins John Wooden, Bob Knight, Adolph Rupp and Mike Krzyzewski as the only coaches in NCAA history with at least three national championships and at age 68, he’s the also the oldest coach to win it all as well. After the game, he would describe this win as possibly “the happiest moment of my life.”
Having previously spent four years of my life in Storrs, Connecticut as a student at UConn, let me just say that partying isn’t frowned upon by the young men and women who attend this fine institution. Trees were set on fire and cars were flipped out of celebration of it simply being Wednesday and one day closer to the weekend, so I can only imaging the number of trees set ablaze and cars with the wheels pointing towards the sky as result of an undoubtedly raucous celebration.
Congrats to UConn for their magical run this season.
If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook
