Last night my eyes were glued on the National Championship game featuring the Huskies of UConn vs. the Bulldogs of Butler. Before that game, I was able to view the Yanks beat the Twins, per usual. It was probably the ugliest game I've watched in a long time (probably couldn't name one worse). Both teams looked to be well prepared and both teams played hard (couldn't have said it any better Rasheed).
After watching both teams throughout the season, I thought I had a really good grasp of how they would approach the game. Butler was going to rely on their gritty defense and their patient offense. UConn were going to attack outside to in and force Butler to score over them (UConn led NCAA in blocks for a record 7 or 8 years a while back). Butler has run some great stuff throughout the season and we might put in some of their stuff for next year. UConn obviously has one of the best players in the country in Kemba Walker but they had an emerging star in Jeremy Lamb and a couple of other very good role players.
The first half was downright ugly. Neither got into any type of rhythm. Both teams were taking bad shots and missing good ones. I thought this type of game played perfectly into Butler's hands. Even more so when Shelvin Mack made the three right before the halftime buzzer. It could've been a big momentum changer and confidence boost for the Bulldogs.
Butler then made a 3 to start the 2nd half and it was all downhill for them afterward. They played very impatient and took some really bad shots. Their offense looked like they were a very undisciplined team with each guy trying to get their own. They were pressing for the quick answer and nothing seemed to work. There never seemed to be a time where they were attacking on their 2nd and 3rd catch rather than their first. That is something we preach to our guys. The gaps and openings in the defense won't be there immediately but as the possession goes further the more chances of creating lanes to penetrate. I'd never seen that out of Butler before.
UConn looked really comfortable in the second stanza. Having Shabazz Napier hounding Butler's guards really went unnoticed. Kemba and Jeremy Lamb were running the Bulldog guards rampant on the staggered double baseline screens. They also got a couple of baskets in transition which really put Butler away. Impressive second half performance for the National Champs.
One thing I couldn't get over last night was how the announcers were talking about the "length" of UConn. Is UConn long? Yes, they are but they aren't much longer than VCU or Florida. Butler flat out didn't make shots. It was one of those nights. Was the UConn defense to blame for the 18.8% shooting? You bet it did but not enough for Clark Kellogg to keep on talking and talking about it. They played great defense, they closed out great all night, and they rebounded the crap out of it.
Another thing that bothered me was all the talk about Butler searching to figure out a way to stop UConn with their zone and "inverted" zone. Come on guys, have a clue. Does Butler normally play man to man defense? Yes, but they needed to do something different to get them going. They were probably hoping that they could get something in transition. It just never happened. Did Butler play an "inverted" zone? No, they played a 1-3-1 with Matt Howard at the top. They were trying to get UConn to stand around and force them to take bad shots. We must remember Butler did as good of a job on Kemba as anyone did all year. He was 5-19 from the field. It's not like UConn lit the world on fire in the second half. UConn was just under 35% from the floor for the game and 1-11 from 3 for the game, and scored 53 points. If I'm Butler I'm extremely happy with my defensive effort, they just couldn't throw it in the ocean.
Congrats to UConn. They deserved the win. They were better. When push comes to shove, "It's not about the X's and O's, it's about the Jimmy's and the Joe's." UConn's Kemba's and Jeremy's were a little better than Butler's Shelvin's and Matt's.
Now that UConn won the Final Four and Auburn winning the BCS, the really question is which program gets their National Championship taken away first?
And this goes out to my former teammates at Brockport. Let the tears begin...
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