The National Championship goes to the Huskies only a short year after the team was barred from the tournament because of grades problems. That, among other things, lit a fire under the champions that nobody, and we mean nobody, was able to put out. Missing out on last years tournament was just one of a number of factors were in play here to allow the Huskies to walk away with a championship.
One factor was tournament MVP Shabazz Napier. The senior bookended his career with National titles, winning in 2011 as a freshman and now in 2014 as a senior. Napier dropped 22 points, six rebounds and three assists in the Huskies win. It wasn't just this game that Napier had an impact on the Huskies. He had been an all around factor in every game that Connecticut played in the tournament. He stepped up big when the game was on the line, walking away with the MVP of the tournament. In fact, with this performance in the tournament, Napier becomes the 4th member of the "125-25-25" club, which is 125 points, 25 Assists and 25 Rebounds in a Single NCAA Tournament. (ESPN) The other guys to do it were Kemba Walker (2011), Derrick Rose (2008) and Larry Bird (1979). Of the four, only Napier and Walker did it with their teams winning the National Title.
Connecticut never trailed at all during during this championship game, employing the same fast pace that worked well in their final four win over Florida. The Huskies held a lead as large as 15 in the first half. Then the team watched as Kentucky started fighting back, trimming the deficit to one with 8:13 left. But Aaron Harrison missed a 3 from the left corner that would have given the Cats the lead. Harrison had hit big shots like that in earlier games in this tournament to get Kentucky to the title game. The miss late may have taken the air out of the sails of the Wildcats, because that's as close as Kentucky would get in this basketball game.
Another key stat to look at in this ball game: Kentucky's 11 missed free throws. In order to win in the tournament, you have to be able to hit at least 60% of your free throws and the Wildcats didn't do that. They finished going 13 of 24 from the line, while Connecticut went a perfect 10 for 10.
Tight defense for the Huskies was a big storyline in the final three games. Each team they faced, Michigan State in the Elite Eight, Florida in the Final Four and Kentucky in the Championship game, were held to under 60 points and well below their averages. All three teams failed to hit more than 40% of their shots from the floor and were held under what they had been scoring in earlier games. The Huskies played a solid all around game all tournament long, in a season in which nobody had them pegged to go this far and win the whole thing.
For head coach Kevin Ollie, this is a sweet victory. Ollie is the 12th coach to win a National Championship at his alma mater (per ESPN). Olie played for four years at Connecticut and was the assistant coach under Jim Calhoun. Ollie took over after Calhoun retired. Not a bad way to really kick off your coaching career is it?
Congratulations to the Connecticut Huskies on claiming the 23014 Men's Basketball National Championship!
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