Well...the madness is over. UConn won the National Title, and I have to say it did so in one of the most boring games I've seen. When it comes to basketball, I need a good offensive game to be interested. Defensive games are fun to watch in football because of the big hits and such, but in basketball, hits are frowned upon more than they are in soccer. And defensive games generally just mean sloppy.
I mean look at some of these stats. You can start with the final scoreline (53-41) and get an idea that the game was slow and boring. Then you look at the shooting statistics and you realize that it wasn't just good defense, it was really bad offense. Butler shot 12 for 64 on the night for a whopping 18.8%. 9 of those hoops were from 3-point land, meaning that in a 40 minute game, Butler only made 3 baskets inside the arc (barely over 10%). UConn wasn't all that much better. They were 19 for 55 overall for 34.5%. And they were less than 10% from 3-point land.
But despite the less than exciting game that ultimately decided who won the title, no one can say that Connecticut did not deserve to be National Champion. They may not be the most talented players in the country, but they are the best team in the country. And "team" includes the coach. Between the coach and the players, UConn is the best team out there. They won every tournament game they played in. The Maui Invitational to start the season, the Big East Tournament, and the NCAA Tournament. Hard to argue with that.
And you can't really say that Butler was a fluke either. Despite losing by 12, they made it to the Final 2 years in a row. That certainly doesn't happen very often, and definitely not by luck. The problem in this game is that they absolutely got dominated inside. They could not break down UConn's interior defense. Mostly because they were significantly smaller.
So the game in the end didn't really live up to expectations. But the results were deserved. The best team in the NCAA won the NCAA tournament.
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