BIG EAST CHAMPS!

Running on fumes and heart in the second half the UCONN Huskies completed one of the most improbable feats in College Basket history last night when they beat the Louisville Cardinals 69-66 for their fifth win in five nights. Because of the expanded Big East Tournament format (all 16 teams were in) and their 9th place finish in the conference UCONN did not receive a bye and had to play in every round. Their last three opponents, on the other hand, finished in the top four in the Conference and received double byes; this meant that they did not start play until the third round. Uconn's(9th in the conference and #21 Nationallly) five game run included wins over Depaul, Georgetown (3rd in the conference #22 nationally, Syracuse(4th in the conference and #11 nationally) Pitt (1st in the conference and #3 Nationally and red hot Louisville(3rd in the conference and #11 Nationally). During the regular season UCONN had lost to Syracuse, Pitt and Louisville twice.
Louisville dictated a frenetic pace in the first half and UCONN, miraculously did not look tired, and ran as well as the Cardinals and shot nearly 60% from the field. Walker started smoothly and had 10 points when he had to go to the bench with slightly less than eight minutes to play when he received his second foul. In the last eight minutes of the first half Louisville cut the lead to six and the teams went into the locker room with UCONN up 38-36.
During the half-time break, when the initial adrenaline rush subsided the Huskies started to feel the toll of five games in five nights. Louisville came out quickly and took the lead as sweet shooting Preston Knowles began drainng threes for the Cardinals. UCONN hung tough but Walker and Lamb began to look absolutely exhausted; both players were bent over tugging their shorts during any play stoppage and Lamb started turning the ball over. Walker was having trouble getting shots and resting during some offensive sets. Fortuneately Roscoe Smith, who had been shooting poorly all year chose this game to have his coming out party and hit three timely jumpers including a trey to help the Huskies regain the lead. The exhaustion level clearly effected the shooting as the Huskies field goal percentage dropped below 40% in the second half. Play was ragged as both teams tired down the stretch.
With 33 seconds left on the clock the Huskies trailed by one when Kemba Walker drove the lane and dished off to a wide open Jeremy Lamb who converted the lay up to put the Huskies up 65-64. Walker stole the in-bounds pass and was immediately fouled; he drained both and the Huskies led 67-64 with about 8 seconds left. On the ensuing possession Walker fouled the Cardinals Marra on a 3 point shot. He made two, Napier got the rebound and was fouled with 3.6 seconds left on the clock. He made two from the charity stripe and the Cardinals Preston Knowles then missed a three point shot at the buzzer for the 69-66 final.
Rather than try to think of even more adjectives to describe Walker's MVP performance let's just look at his statistics. He played 190 of 205 minutes,and he scored 130 points (26.0ppg) shattering the Big East Tournament record by 46. What a performace!
In the final game, Jeremy Lamb who I now consider a star scored 13 and had 7 big rebounds, Roscoe Smith had 12 and the resurgent Alex Oriakhi had 10 points and 8 rebounds while he averaged a double-double for the tournament.
Most encouraging was the improved half court offense against the zone, the continuing development of the Freshmen and sophomores and the very positive team chemistry. This is a different team than the one that started this tournament as many disparate factors have come together. So where are the Huskies headed in the Big Dance. Based on this amazing week the Huskies will get a #3 or a#2 seed. Remember a Steve Eliot truism; teams that are hot at the end of the season go deep in the NCAA Tournament and that in both Husky National Championship years, 1999 and 2003, they also won the Big East Tournament. I am predicting that the Huskies will go at least to the Elite Eight with a very good chance of going to the final four. After that it's a crap shoot but the sky's the limit.
In all my years of following Husky Basketball I have to say that this was Jim Calhoun's best coaching job. He obviously bonded with his young Huskies and helped foster the develoment of Lamb, Napier, Smith, Olander, Oriakhi and Combs-Mcdaniel.
"you Heard it here here first"
Steve