Well, that was ugly. In a contest that made last year's NBA Finals game 7 look like this game, the Connecticut Huskies outlasted the Butler Bulldogs to win Jim Calhoun's third championship.
Great defense was played, to be sure, but there's no excuse for a team to shoot 18%. That's not a good percentage on half court shots. If they shot twice as good, it would have been a terrible offensive night. This isn't to say that UCONN was much better. Neither team could hit a shot for minutes at a time. I almost wished NCIS or whatever is usually on CBS at 930 on a Monday would pre-empt the game. This game was that bad. Even the usual fawning college ball enthusiasts on ESPN and CBS couldn't pretty this one up. Gus Johnson would have trouble getting excited over this mess.
Anyway, not to sound too negative, great defense was played by the big doofy guys in the middle for the Huskies (Oriakhi made up for his Jared Jeffries like offensive skills with some key 2nd half blocks) and UCONN made a few baskets when they needed them to pull away with a 20-3 run. Since I mentioned the game 7 earlier, it looked like Kemba was going to imitate his idol Kobe's 6 for 24 in that game, but he too made a couple nice steals and hustle plays to contribute. But the story of this game was the absolute horror show put on by the Butler shooters. There were wide open shots missed all over the court, and this one has to hurt worse for the players and students at Butler than last year's heart breaker. At least last year, they can say they played their best against a very good Duke team, and were a miracle shot away from stealing that one. Tonight, they missed 24 3s and the face of their team, Matt Howard, went 1 for 13. Nothing went down for them. That's too bad, because this was an extremely exciting tournament full of dynamic offensive play, clutch shots and big time "Onions" performances starting with the conference tourneys all the way up to Saturday's final four games. Tonight's game between two not-so-great teams was an unfittingly ugly end to it all.
Congratulations to Uconn on a great season, though, they deserved to make it this far and have the chance to sneak out with an unsightly win.
Now dance, Kemba, dance!
Quote from Hater J about one month ago:
ReplyDeleteUConn - Heard from some folks that the boys on ESPN picked them to be in the Final Four. I vehemently disagree. San Diego St and Duke are far better. I see this UConn team struggling against Mizzo (my upset pick in Round 1 of that bracket) or Big East rival, Cincy in round 2. If they pass that test...good luck playing San Diego State in Anaheim.
Kemba, third year in the NBA:
ReplyDelete16 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds per game.
Bottle...you are overly optimistic. You're welcomed to get in on the bet I have with Bagels.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to yesterday's mess
-NASCAR
-Listening to my girlfriend talk about the real housewhores of somewhere
-Walking my dog with a hangover
-Watching the Nets
Are all things I would say were less painful to do than watch that game.
@Kemba Lover (aka Bottle aka Trouble Maker)
ReplyDeleteI stand by that. That was a very improbable run. To not lose a basketball game in almost two months with just one person able to create/make a shot is almost unheard of. I have to tip my hat to Kemba. To my knowledge there hasn't ever been a run like that and I think it will be an exceptionally long time until we see that again.
@ Hater J
ReplyDeleteHow about when my boy Kemba is surprise rookie of the year! Stop being a hater!
How am I a hater? I think he can be a decent pro. I just don't think he'll be a great pro. He's proven that he's a great college player. There's no taking that from him. A lot of people have proven they were great college players. They've also proven that it doesn't translate into great pro player. He has a motor and a ton of intangibles and leadership qualities you want out of a guy. But he is small, not a great passer, and will struggle to find good looks in the pro game.
ReplyDeleteWhen Vegas starts accepting bets on ROY, he'll probably be top 5 in odds to win the award. That wouldn't really constitute as a surprise, would it?
Since I said he isn't winning it, I should pick a guy. I like Derrick Williams to win the award. That's not a surprise pick either.