11 Apr 5 - The Black Lion (POSTSEASON)

Volume XV, No. 22 - 11 Apr 5: POSTSEASON

The Black Lion

Well, a terrible year for College Basketball got the championship game it deserved, I guess. What a lousy spectacle to watch. [SE8]Butler set an all-time record for bad shooting in a final: 12-for-64 from the floor. Some of it was good D by [W3]Connecticut, some of it was built-in difficulty judging jump shots in a cavernous dome; but a lot of it was just plain ineptitude when you can't make a point-blank layup. 53-41 UConn? Yikes. ("My name is Leonard Pince Garnell and welcome to Bad Basketball.")
     Give Connecticut (and coach Jim Calhoun) credit for raising its own lousy play in the second half enough to take control of the game. With a pair of players as versatile as Final Four Most Outstanding Player tKemba Walker(16p9r) and fJeremy Lamb(12p7r) (whose second-half spurt keyed the win), the Huskies had lots of options of how to give those two scoring opportunities. The high screen and drives through the lane were well shut down by the Bulldogs, so they switched to running the baseline and scoring on the wings against BU's man-to-man and zone. That was well conceived and executed.

The quality of play aside, what Connecticut and Butler achieved this year are both noteworthy more than a normal year. bKemba Walker's final month of play -- winning five games in five days to win the Big East tournament followed up by a run to the NCAA title -- is as good as any "One-Man Team" runs anyone has had: Larry Bird, Danny Manning -- it's easily as impressive as that considering how young and untested his supporting cast was. And Butler's back-to-back runs to the national final by a Mid-Major team only trail the championship runs of Cincinnati(MVC) '61-63 and San Francisco(CBA) '55-56.

What a special treat the ride has been this past month watching Kemba and The Kids keep finding ways to win. How many ways did we see gWalker make game-winning plays? Clutch three-pointers, drives to the basket for three-point plays, that Jordanesque step-back jumper to bury Pittsburgh in the Big East tournament, cutting backdoor for layups as the #2 guard, running the baseline coming off low picks for jumpers on the wing, clutch steals, clutch blocked shots, all-out hustle diving to save balls from going out of bounds -- what a month-long highlight reel. He's not the greatest of all time, but no one has ever had that kind of a showcase of his skills: 11 games in the month of March with the national spotlight on him and he came up with something special and beautiful in every one of them.
     I haven't been much of a Jim Calhoun fan at all over the years -- an abrasive personality, hints of minor violations, teams that relied on brute force as much as talent and finesse -- but here, with this young team that wasn't especially physical or talented (with one major exception), his coaching intellect was really on fine display moreso than ever before. The halftime adjustments he made to turn games around, great set plays after timeouts -- pulling off this ride to the national championship with a team completely different than any other he's ever had. My respect for his coaching ability has jumped immensely in just this past month. He's now the oldest coach (68) to ever win the national championship and joins the elite company of coaches with 3 titles: John Wooden(10), Mike Krzyzewski(4), Adolph Rupp(3), Bob Knight(3), Jim Calhoun(3). Hats off.

In the semifinals, neither [E4]Kentucky (4/12) nor Connecticut (1/12) could hit very well from three-point land. tBrandon Knight(17p5a8r;6/23fg) battled through a tough night. The Huskies maintained a narrow lead in the second half and seemed to have things locked away up 54-48 with two minutes to go, but UConn miscues and a late flurry from UK made it a nervous escape for a 56-55 win.
     bJamie Skeen(27p6r) did his best to extend [SW11+b]VCU's run from the First Four to the Final Four, but bShelvin Mack(24p6r;5/6 3s) outside and fMatt Howard(17p8r;11/12ft) inside proved too much as Butler battled its way to a 70-62 win.

Overall, for the NCAA tournament, last year's blip became this year's trend as Mid-Major teams again made their mark with a national runner-up and a Final Four team to go along with 3 Sweet 16s and 3 first-round splashes. 1BCs coudn't match last year's Sweet 16 result, but the OVC managed to make a splash for the second straight year. The new First Four format didn't produce compelling bubble games the first two days, but it did provide the ultimate Cinderella story as VCU (which would have been the first team out under last year's 65-team draw) made an unexpected run all the way to the Final Four. The expanded television coverage (from CBS to TBS, TNT and Tru-TV) gave us all the ability to tune into any game we wanted and watch it in its entirety -- what a bonus! -- and it gave us the added commentary/analysis from TNT's Charles Barkley. His perspective as a Hall of Fame NBA player was a valuable edition. (But it was President Barack Obama's bracket who edged him out as the "Top Celebrity/Expert" in this year's Hoops Contest.)

In the NIT, the (m4)Wichita State claimed the title for the MM MVC with a 66-57 win over (s1)Alabama in the final (after blowing out (e2)Washington State 75-44 while 'Bama escaped 62-61 past (w1)Colorado in the semis).
     In the CBI, coach Dana Altman had the bittersweet joy of leading his new team, Oregon, to a 2-1 series win over his old team (of 16 years) Creighton. In the final game, a @71-69 win, fE.J. Singler -- (Kyle's younger brother) -- scored the game-winning basket on a late drive to the hoop. Creighton had just committed a controversial over-and-back violation at halfcourt where the player couldn't see the halfcourt line because of Oregon's designer floor (a silhouette of trees that covers the entire length of the court). So a BCS filler squad -- (7-11 in conference) -- prevented the MM MVC from claiming a second postseason crown.
     In the CIT, Santa Clara claimed a 76-@69 road win at Iona to hand the Mid-Majors their second postseason crown (and shutting out the 1BCs for the year).

With Ohio State's cJared Sullinger making first team All-America, Kentucky's youth-led squad making Final Four (and even Connecticut starting three freshmen), perhaps we can't completely close the book on the Golden Child Era -- but experienced Mid-Major teams have shown they can still more than compete with green blue chip stars. (And I don't see anybody, not even cSullinger, going one-and-done as a "can't miss" prospect for the next level.) Moreover, the departure of talent from last year was evident this year, especially with so many top-seeded teams going down early in the tournament.

What seemed like a down year on paper for the Big East at the start of the season turned out to be anything but. The conference dominated the preseason with (?an unprecedented?) 7 preseason tournament crowns; it had as many as 10 teams ranked simultaneously in the Top 25 throughout the regular season; it received a record 11 bids into the NCAA tournament and backed that up with 7 teams through to the Round of 32; a couple of knockout games led to just two teams advancing to the Sweet 16; but its conference champion -- the 9th seed from the regular season -- came away with the national title. The only thing the league could have done to make it better was place more teams in the Final Four.
     Since the last GCS II (Great Conference Shuffle) prior to the '06 season, this megaconference has only gotten stronger. Next year's Western Conference Shuffle (spurred by football motivations) may eventually counterbalance this trend. (But, for sure, the days of the ACC's claim to be the best basketball conference bar none are fading into a distant memory.)

The drop in talent that was apparent on paper at the start of the season did, in fact, prove itself in the lack of quality play that was seen at the end of the season in the NCAA tournament. The mega-Big East was able to fill much of that void by its sheer depth and associated level of competition. But the official stamp on this season belongs to one player and his majestic display of his many talents throughout the final month of play -- when it mattered most and when the national spotlight was shining the brightest. The Player of the Year -- not even co-Player at this point; (Sorry, Jimmer.) -- and Most Outstanding Player for his national champion Connecticut Huskies is gKemba "The Black Lion" Walker. What a show he put on.

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This was a tough season to get through for me, emotionally and logistically. I always feel like I'm playing catch-up, but things were in crisis mode the entire last month of the season (all the way through the final day). Hopefully, I put out something that was worth reading. Thanks, as always, for all the feedback and support.

See y'all next year!

-- Ron