I actually debated blogging about last night's National Championship game, but I figured a record breaking game is a record breaking game regardless of the records that fell. For those of you who were unfortunate enough to watch the entire UCONN - Butler debacle last night, myself included, we will never get those two hours of our lives back. In front of a record breaking crowd (the first record broken last night and really only positive one worth mentioning) the UCONN Huskies and Butler Bulldogs put on arguably the worst display of basketball a National Championship game has ever witnessed. If nothing else, last night's game fuels the argument college football makes in having a computer program inform us who will play in the National Title game each year. I don't agree with it, but by halftime last night I was crying out for the Kansas' and Ohio St's of college basketball to please come forth and give me the title game I so desperately wanted to see.
Before I actually get to Butler's numbers, I created a hypothetical last night with about five minutes remaining in the game. If I told someone that there are five minutes remaining in the National Title game and UCONN's point total is hovering in the low 40's, their shooting approximately 34% for the game, losing the turnover battle and they've hit one three ball all game long, what would be your reaction? Well I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be that they have a double digit lead now would it! Here are some of the astonishing numbers Butler threw up last night:
- Butler's 18.8% shooting was the lowest in National Championship game history and third lowest in NCAA tournament history.
- Butler's leading scorer Matt Howard shot 7.6% draining only 1 field goal in 13 attempts.
- Butler was blocked a whopping 10 times by UCONN, returning the favour only twice.
- Of the 64 shots Butler bricked up last night, 33 of them were from behind the arc and they hit only 9.
- The Bulldogs bench combined for a masterful 2 points last night.
- Butler shot 57.1% from the free throw line going 8 - 14 in the game.
- Butler became only the 4th team in NCAA history to lose back-to-back National Title games.
Yes, there were some pretty gaudy numbers put up last night in Houston. Frankly, if it wasn't for the absolute abomination that was the Butler Bulldogs, we would be discussing how Kemba Walker and company ran out of gas and came down to earth after their improbable 10 game win streak beginning with the Big East tournament. However, credit where credit is due, the Huskies grinded out their 11th straight victory and claimed the National Title. The term 'grinded out' may actually be an understatement in this instance as the Huskies threw up a few gems of their own last night.
- UCONN made 1 three pointer last night which ties the record for the fewest made in a National Championship game
- The 19 points UCONN had at halftime were the fewest by a team in a National Championship since 1960
- The 53 points UCONN finished with was the lowest total for a Championship winner since 1949.
Well, I guess all I can really say is thank God it's over. March Madness 2011 will definitely go down as one of the more peculiar and, I guess, more interesting tourneys in recent memory. Not one number 1 seed reached the final four, a number 11 seed which had to win a play-in game came within a few points of becoming the lowest seed in a National Championship game, we saw countless games go down to the wire including 4 lasting into overtime and then we witnessed possibly the biggest letdown in National Championship game history (unless you are attending the University of Connecticut). The Madness lived up to its name as expected, for better or for worse, and we now have another year to ponder what's in store for next March. Once again, congratulations to the UCONN Huskies on their Cinderella run through the Big East and NCAA tourney.
No comments:
Post a Comment