It was a pretty good first half, but the second half was ugly if you were a Butler fan or you had picked Butler to win as I did. I was proud of Butler for making the championship game because they beat a good Pittsburgh and a very good Florida and a hot VCU team to get there, but they lost to a team with better talent. UConn played suffocating defense and Butler helped them by not being able to throw it in the Gulf. Butler shot 18.8% from the field (12-of-64). They only scored three points from the 19:40 mark to the 6:13 mark in the second half. They went from the 12:32 mark to the 6:13 mark in the second half without a point. I don’t care how good you are defensively, if you can’t shoot any better than that, you’re going to lose. And UConn started hitting some shots and extended the margin to double digits later in the game. With the way Butler was shooting it was over.
Matt Howard was 1-of-13 and Shelvin Mack was four-of-15. Nine of Butler’s 12 field goals were three pointers. They had three, two point field goals. UConn just dominated the paint. They outscored the Bulldogs 26-2 in the paint. Butler’s shooting percentage was the worst ever in the championship game.
Jim Calhoun, at 68, was the oldest coach to win a national title game. He won his third title since 1999. He won in ’99 and ’04.He’s in pretty tall company with guys like John Wooden and Coach K who have won multiple championships. This guy deserves credit for being one of the greats at least in the modern era. He’s impressive.
Kemba Walker is a warrior, but I don’t think he’s the greatest UConn player of all time like he was being touted before the championship game. UConn has had guys like Ray Allen, Richard Hamilton and Emeka Okafor; that’s some pretty tall company. All three have gone on to have great NBA careers particularly Allen and Hamilton. Walker needs to work on his outside shooting; he was only five-of-19 from the field and 0-for-4 from trifecta. He’s a junior and I suspect he’ll go out for the draft though I’m not sure we’re going to have an NBA season next year due to labor problems, so he might be better served to come back for his senior year. Jeremy Lamb is an excellent player. He took over for a stretch in the second half and opened up the lead. He’s a freshman with a very bright future. Hopefully, he’ll come back and improve his skills. Alex Orikhi had 11 points and 11 boards. He’s a beast in the middle. He’s a sophomore. He is a future NBA player, but he probably needs another year. It would be good for college basketball if some of these younger guys stay in school another year and improve their skills before they make the leap to the NBA.
Shelvin Mack is a junior. He could make the jump, but again, the labor unrest and possible lockout or strike may have these players thinking twice about the NBA. I think Mack could be a good player in the league. Matt Howard is questionable. He’s a hustler no doubt, but I’m not sure he’s a good enough scorer or strong enough to bang in the NBA. He could make a roster, but don’t see him playing a lot at least in the first three years. He’s a senior.
UConn simply was the better team than Butler. I thought Butler could ride their momentum all the way to the national championship, but their overachievement ran out of gas against UConn. Great victory for the Huskies who won five straight games in the Big East tournament to win that and six more in the NCAA’s. They earned it. While Kemba may not be a great shooter, he has a giant heart and carried his team most of the postseason and inspired his teammates to be the best they could be late in the season. It was an impressive performance.
The Big East is like the SEC in football. The best team in that conference should have a pretty good shot of winning the national championship because of the competition they face during the regular season and the conference tournament. UConn survived the Big East wars, won the Big East tournament and culminated their great late season play with a national championship. A lot of people were saying the Big East was overrated, but I think there were a lot of good teams that just beat each other up. Not a great team, but a lot of solid group of very good teams. Certainly the best league in the country. And the team that got hot in the Big East tournament kept it up and now Jim Calhoun, Kemba Walker and company are back at Stoors, Connecticut as national champions.
(Kemba Walker carried his team to the national title game then got some help to put the Huskies over the top.)