The College Basketball world has been taken by storm in the last few weeks due to the craziness of the NCAA tournament. Going into Saturday night, four teams were left with a spot in the National Title game up for grabs.
The first matchup was between the #1 seed Florida Gators and the #7 seed University of Connecticut Huskies who have been this year’s cinderella story. The Huskies road to the Final Four has consisted of victories against St. Joseph’s, Villanova, Iowa State and Michigan State. On the other hand, the #1 seed Florida Gators were flying high going into the tournament after defeating the Kentucky Wildcats 61-60 in the SEC championship game. Florida’s path into the Final Four was a lot easier given their seeding. The Gators defeated Albany, Pittsburgh, University of California and Dayton.
Nobody gave the Huskies a fighting chance on Saturday night but the Huskies shocked the College Basketball world after defeating the Gators 63-53. Point Guard Shabazz Napier wasn’t the only player running the show for UConn but junior Forward Deandre Daniels was the leading scorer with 20 points. Daniels also posted ten rebounds to complete his double-double and junior Guard James Boatright also contributed with 13 points and six rebounds. UConn was a force to be reckoned with and dominated the defensive boards that have been a major strength for the Gators all year long.
In the second game, the Wisconsin Badgers went up against the Kentucky Wildcats. The Wildcats loss to the Gators seemed to motivate them during the tournament. The Wildcats had the hardest road to the Final Four especially being in the Midwest Region. Kentucky defeated #16 seed convincingly in the first round but it got a lot worse from there. The Wildcats went on to defeat Wichita State, defending national champion Louisville and then Michigan on a last second shot by freshman Guard Aaron Harrison in the final seconds. Wisconsin came out of the West region and defeated American, Oregon, Baylor and Arizona in the Elite Eight.
The UConn Huskies are back on top of the College Basketball pedestal after defeating the Kentucky Wildcats in the NCAA National Championship Game 60-54. The Huskies are now a record 4-0 in the National Title Game and join Kansas and Duke with four National Titles. As expected, Huskies guard Shabazz Napier was the leading scorer with 22 points and also recorded six rebounds in the process. Kentucky had a valiant effort but they were playing from behind the whole game. In other words, time was not on their side. Huskies were under the leadership of head coach Kevin Ollie who was only in his second year of coaching the Huskies. This year was UConn’s first year of tournament eligibility after being under academic probation the year before due to the scandal under legendary head coach Jim Calhoun.
The Wildcats and Huskies future is up in the air because the NBA draft is on the horizon and players will make their decisions to declare for the draft or not. Kentucky’s freshman class played a huge role to their success this year. For example, forward Julius Randle and the Harrison twins (Aaron and Andrew) were the major key to their success. Randle averaged about a double-double per game while the Harrison’s were known for their late game heroics. UConn will be dealing with a similar dilemma because guard Shabazz Napier will be graduating and Juniors Deandre Daniels and Ryan Boatright will also decide to declare or not.
Until that moment comes, Husky fans in Storrs will rejoice their storybook season and shall no longer be overlooked by the college basketball universe.
Phil Novotny can be reached at philip.novotny@spartans.ut.edu.