University of Connecticut: 2011 National Champions

by Joseph Landini
High Heat Network

You can say they had an easy road. You can say that they caught Butler on their worst night of the year. You can say that they did not play at a National Championship level that night. You can even say that they were apart of the worst National Championship game in the history of the NCAA. One thing is for sure, you HAVE to say the University of Connecticut deserved to win this years National Championship.

In a year where College Basketball had declined from the year before, and no number one seed advanced past the Elite 8, Connecticut (a 3 seed) found themselves as the highest seed left in the Final Four. First they played Kentucky, who they had defeated back on November 24th by 17 to win the Maui Invitational. This time around the game would be a lot closer. Despite holding a 10 point lead at halftime, Connecticut tripped up and let Kentucky back into the game. In a back and forth second half, defense was the key. Despite giving Kentucky chances at the end of the game, Connecticut held strong and defeated Kentucky for the second straight time.

Before that was the West regional, where UConn would fly to the west coast to face the number two seeded San Diego State. Defense and experience held true in this one. Coach Jim Calhoun drew up excellent defensive sets, and was able to overcome a poor shooting night by his Huskies to advance to the Elite 8. After defeating San Diego State, 74-67, UConn was surprised to see Arizona not Duke. The Huskies played another war type game with the Wildcats, but was able to catch two breaks, as Arizona missed two three pointers as time expired which would have won them the game. UConn at that moment completed another major task, which was defeating two west coast teams on the West coast. In both games UConn was seen as an away team, despite being the higher seed in the Arizona game. Neither of these games felt like a neutral site by any means.

In the first two round UConn started making their statements. First they dominated Bucknell in an all out team effort. It was not the Kemba Walker show, despite an almost triple double. Walker passed the ball early and often, as Jeremy Lamb and Alex Oriaki were the beneficiary. The second round would see UConn face off against a Big East foe in Cincinnati. It was the Kemba Walker show, as he scored 33 of the teams 69 points. What made this game so impressive was that for Cincinnati, this was a revenge game after losing to UConn earlier this season on their home court.

The Big East Tournament enough was history making for the Huskies. They became the first team ever to win this tournament in five games. UConn had to play in the opening day and won five games in five days. The run through the Big East saw them take down Depaul, followed by #22 Georgetown, #2 Pittsburgh, #11 Syracuse, and winning the title against #14 Louisville. Five games, five wins in five days.

With all that being said, The Connecticut Huskies deserved this championship more then any other team in the nation. Not the best team always wins, but the most deserving will always achieve greatness.