Two Packs, One Fight

The 2011 NCAA Basketball Champions will be crowned tonight in Houston, but the talent is watching from home.  Number one seed Pitt hasn't played a game of basketball in two weeks, while the other one seeds, Duke, Ohio State, and Kansas, have been at home for a week.  There hasn't been a two seed that has played in the last week.  The final four came down to a three, four, eight, and eleven seed equaling the highest total seeds in the final four ever.  Did the best four teams make it to the final four?  No, but those teams earned every bit of what they have taken away from the top contenders.

VCU(11) was doubted heavily on Selection Sunday by all the experts.  They went on to knock off three great teams in Georgetown(6), Purdue(3), and Kansas(1).  Their only downfall was having to face a Butler(8) team that finds ways to win every game they play in.  Butler has won three of their five games by three points or less, and they haven't won a game by over eight points.  With the experience of playing one championship game the team has played well enough to stay in each game till the end when Matt Howard seems to always get a game winning basket.  At this point, Butler has won 10 of its last 11 NCAA tournament games.  Kentucky's(4) combination of experienced leadership and youthful talent helped them with the biggest win of the tournament over top seeded Ohio State.  However, UConn was able to tighten up the defense and cause Kentucky to have a poor shooting night in the final four.  Kemba Walker and the Huskies began their run in the Big East Tournament by winning five games in five days as a nine seed to become the Big East Champions.  Most of us thought they wouldn't have the legs or mental energy to advance through the NCAA Tournament, but they have proved all the doubters wrong by becoming the hottest team in the country over the past few weeks.

So it seems fitting that the two hottest tournament teams are getting to face off for the NCAA National Championship.  Before the conference tournaments UConn and Butler were listed as a five and eleven seed respectively, and both teams seemed off the national radar for a championship.  By now Butler has proven its worth as a mid-major by making it to the title game two consecutive years, and UConn has shown that if you can survive the Big East regular season, the NCAA Tournament can be yours for the taking.  On Selection Sunday in March some teams spend their time pounding their chests over their seeding, but to reach the big game in April the Huskies and Bulldogs have shown us the only thing that matters is the size of the fight in the dog.

I've got Kemba Walker and the Huskies.