UConn Marches Past Arizona For 2nd Final Four Berth in 3 Years

Jim Calhoun and the West regional champs. (credit: Hartford Courant)

In what was essentially a road game at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Saturday night, the UConn Huskies marched past the Arizona Wildcats to earn their second Final Four berth in three years.  Much to Charles Barkley's dismay, the 2011 Final Four features No. 4 Kentucky, No. 8 Butler, and No. 11 VCU, making third-seeded Connecticut the lowest seed left in the tournament, and the only Big East squad still standing.

File those last two sentences under "things I never thought I'd say five months ago when most of the college basketball world considered these same Huskies strictly NIT-bound."

Shabazz Napier
(credit: Hartford Courant)

Apparently the players never got the memo back in November.  Instead, they locked in and became one of the greatest tournament teams in college basketball history.  Seriously.  It doesn't even matter whether they win the NCAA tournament.  They've already sealed their place in NCAA lore by winning the Maui Invitational (3-0), the Big East tournament (5-0), and advancing to the Final Four (4-0 so far).  Yes sir, the UConn Huskies are undefeated in tournament play with a 12-0 record (and counting).  So can Connecticut keep its amazing streak going for two more games and close out this remarkable season by winning their 3rd NCAA championship?

Putting aside my obvious bias, I say yes -- and a plurality of Americans agree with me.  (ESPN's latest poll has UConn at 38%, Kentucky at 24%, Butler at 22%, and VCU at 11%.)  Speaking of ESPN, here is an unbelievable stat.  Out of the 5.9 million brackets submitted to the WWL's Tournament Challenge, only two brackets got the Final Four correct.  Two!  In related news, Jay Bilas and Jay Williams were the only two ESPN experts who picked UConn to reach the Final Four.  Perhaps you should listen to people named Jay; we know what we're talking about.


So what do I like about this UConn team?  First and foremost, I like Kemba Walker.  I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I'll keep saying it until a team proves me wrong by bottling him up in a big game.  And even then, you can't really stop Kemba, you can only hope to contain him.  The man is a true baller, a floor general that younger players look up to.  His fun-to-watch factor is off the charts.  And most importantly, he's the single most valuable player in the country, the one unstoppable scorer that opposing teams genuinely fear when the game's on the line.   For better or worse, UConn's hopes ride entirely on his shoulders.  The Huskies will only go as far as Kemba can carry them.

Kemba Walker & Jeremy Lamb      (credit: Hartford Courant)

So far, so good -- Kemba has carried them pretty far.  And if he can finish what he started and win UConn's third national championship, he could very well be considered the Greatest Husky Ever.  But every Batman needs his Robin, and Kemba Walker has Jeremy Lamb.

Did you know that in UConn's Sweet 16 victory over San Diego State, Walker and Lamb combined for 60 of UConn's 74 points?  It's true, and Connecticut will need more of the same if it expects to win the title.  Lamb is long, athletic, and has a nose for the ball.  He is the most emphatic dunker on the team, and his floaters in the lane are a thing of beauty.  But it's not just the points Lamb scores, it's his ability to match Kemba's flair for the dramatic.  When the Huskies were down 55-52 against Arizona, he swished a trademark floater, nailed a jumper, and stole the ball away from superstar Derrick Williams, finishing with a breakaway dunk.  Game.  Set.  Match.  That dunk sparked a 10-0 run that gave UConn the lead for good.

Having a 1-2 punch like Walker and Lamb is what wins games in April.  But what else can UConn count on?  Let's take a quick look...

UConn loves playing out West.  Connecticut won the national championship in 1999 (Phoenix) and in 2004 (San Antonio) and reached the Final Four in 2009 (Glendale) -- all out of the West region.  Whether it's psychological, or being able to play thousands of miles from the distractions of family, friends, and the local media, it doesn't really matter.  What's important is that history favors UConn.

Jeremy Lamb will continue to perform his best Rip Hamilton impression.  That's where his career is headed, at UConn and beyond.

The media framing the Final Four as "Cheaters vs. Cinderellas."  Not that anyone could blame them, given the despicable John Calipari (whose two prior Final Four runs with UMass and Memphis were later vacated) and Calhoun (no stranger to controversy himself) pitted against the eminently likeable Brad Stevens and Shaka Smart.  I guess Calhoun gets lumped in with Calipari as one of the "cheaters," but let's be honest, he's nowhere near Calipari in that regard.  If anything, matching up against Calipari makes Calhoun look like a good guy!  Hey, anything to distract the media from hounding Kemba & Co.  This is what you'd call a "good" distraction.

Speaking of the coaches, Brad Stevens (34) and Shaka Smart (33) are younger than Jim Calhoun (68) combined.  It's a cute stat if you're a Butler or VCU fan.  But the way I see it, Calhoun was coaching high school basketball in Old Lyme, CT in 1965.....12 years before Shaka Smart was born.  I'll take Calhoun, thank you very much.

A lot of people have been asking me whether I would've preferred UConn to face UNC rather than Kentucky in the semifinals.   Umm, no.  Connecticut beat then-No. 9 Kentucky by 17 in the Maui Invitational.  I realize that November 24 is a long time ago, but I'd rather play the devil you know than the devil you don't.  Especially when the devil is full of freshmen that every single non-ACC team is just now seeing for the first time.

Could this be a sneak preview of April 4? (Credit: Courant)

As Jimmy Dugan would say, it's time for the song and dance.  My prediction is that Calhoun rewards fans across America by bouncing Calipari, who is the Duke of college basketball coaches.  Kemba leads the pack (get it?) with a routine 27-6-8.  And yet another Wildcat team (the second one this week) cries on the bench at the buzzer.

Butler and VCU better get ready for a nice slice of humble pie, because midnight is coming for the Cinderellas.  This year's UConn team, which has defied expectations every step of the way, just feels like a special group of Huskies.

Connecticut by 5.