University of Connecticut has done it again.
Unheralded, but undeterred, at the end of it all, they are the ones left standing, holding and prancing that National Title, Kings of the Madness in March. For the fourth time since the turn of the century.
Who would have thought? UConn was a middle-of-the-pack team and did not even win its conference. They were ranged against the best of them all in their Final Four match against Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators, the overall number one seed of the tournament. The Gators had Scottie Wilbekin and the baddest-bad man at center in Patric Young. It was loaded, reminiscent of that powerful Gators team anchored by Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer that ploughed through everybody for a back-to-back title run.
UConn? They no longer have the services of Jim Calhoun, who has brought the Huskies to the title games during his tenure, and if my memory serves me right, grabbed that ’99, ’04 and ’11 title in four Final Four appearances. Mind you, his teams were downright nasty featuring Richard Hamilton on the ’99 squad and having Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon and Denham Brown anchor his ’04 championship run.
The year 2011 was a different beast. UConn was bereft of beasts like Okafor, Gordon, Hamilton and only had then-junior Kemba Walker as their true threat with freshman Jeremy Lamb somewhat inconsistent in the beginning and Shabazz Napier was far from being even a starter. Walker lit up the scoreboards during tournament play and no one could dent the Huskies even when they only scored 53 points to win the title against Gordon Hayward and Butler University.
2014? This is the first time in school history that UConn won with a seeding below five (they were seeded seventh). And they had a rookie coach, UConn alum Kevin Ollie to boot. Since 1979, only one rookie coach reached the Final Four. But they never said about winning it all did they?
What’s surprising with the Huskies this time around is that this title run was similar to that of 2011. They had no one, literally, to try and go up against the Menace of Big Blue, Julius Randle, Calipari’s Twin Rifles and his penultimate swingman, James Young. The Huskies have who to show up with? Only All-American Shabazz Napier, who has turned himself from a pedestrian point guard to THE point guard. Not only is he an All-American and talented scorer as a PG, he’s now Shabazz Napier, All-American, National Champion.
Unheralded, but undeterred.
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What the Huskies have shown that can be applied to our own collegiate system is that one, you don’t have to recruit big in order to win big. Kentucky has the best recruiting pipeline since their head coach is practically known for mass-producing one-and-dones that base themselves on potential, which sometimes goes unrealized (hi Marquis Teague!), UConn? Proven veterans who can produce right away (Okafor, old Ben Gordon, Rip Hamilton, Ray Allen, etc.) are their selling points.
But looking at the Philippine landscape, there is much to be gleaned from the NCAA. Recruiting rules first and foremost. We all know how it is done here. Shower your prospect with money, cars and a condo unit. In the US, they ever hear a penny drop on the floor, you are done for. Say goodbye to scholarships, tourney invites and the worst of them all, vacating of wins.
Here? Nah, you can even have the prospect at gunpoint just so he’ll keep playing for the school you are boosting.
Another is tournament formats. The one-and-done format of the NCAA Tournament and the Conference tournaments are what make US College ball exciting. Cinderella stories are always great and UConn was just about that. Here, we give the top dog a lot of chances to win in Best of Three finals. I mean, come on, reward the small schools by making it a deal that says win-or-go-home.
SWU should have been the National Champs had it not been a seriously stupid round-robin Final Four of the PCCL. Twisted, right?
Remember, unheralded, but undeterred.
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