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Volume CXXXIII, Number 18 |
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Huskies' athleticism, size, talent will put them on top
Nick LaRocque
STAFF WRITER
It was only about five and a half months ago that the college basketball season was about to begin, and it seemed to be a consensus among experts everywhere that the Connecticut Huskies were the team best equipped to be cutting the nets down in March. It was also clear that there was one team who was a close second, before a sharp drop-off in talent. This team was the Duke Blue Devils. A lot has happened since.
Rather than the Huskies or Blue Devils owning the best record in college basketball, America watched as the Hawks of St. Joe's, a small Atlantic-10 school in the Philadelphia area, carried a perfect record all the way until its conference tournament. However, March Madness always brings out the best in great teams, and this year is no exception, as the Huskies and Blue Devils have marched themselves into a Saturday night Final Four match up.
I believed that Connecticut was the best team in America five and a half months ago, and I expect them to be victorious on Saturday night and to win the national championship. The Huskies have been steamrolling the competition, as their four NCAA tournament wins have been by an average margin of 17.5 points.
A 16-point shellacking of Alabama capped off this impressive Final Four run. Perhaps the most impressive part of this win was that UConn played the final 18 minutes of the game without its center and best player, Emeka Okafor, who suffered a shoulder injury in the first half.
Okafor has been cleared to play, and doctors say that he has no serious damage to his shoulder. If the Huskies are indeed going to advance to the Championship game on Monday night, Okafor will have to play for the majority of the game and will be called upon to neutralize Shelden Williams in what will be a very physical matchup.
Okafor will have help from first-year standouts Josh Boone and Charlie Villanueava, two players who are excellent shotblockers in their own right.
This three-headed monster held opponents to the lowest field goal percentage in the nation. Look for them to establish a strong presence in the paint on Saturday night.
Offensively, the Huskies simply have too much firepower for Duke to handle. Junior shooting guard Ben Gordon has been sensational over the past month, taking home MVP honors in both the Big East tournament and the Phoenix region of the NCAA tournament. Most recently, Gordon scored 36 points against Alabama in the Huskies' regional championship victory.
Sophomore Rashad Anderson has been an offensive catalyst for the Huskies ever since being inserted into the starting lineup for an injured Denham Brown in the regular season. The long range shooting ability of Gordon and Anderson guarantee that the Huskies are never out of a game. These two combined with solid point guard play by senior Taliek Brown, and Okafor, Boone, and Villanueva on the inside spell trouble for any team.
However, this team does have a glaring Achilles heel. The Huskies have struggled from the charity stripe all season, floundering around 60 percent as a team. This has perhaps never been so painfully obvious as last Saturday, when Josh Boone shot the nine ugliest free throws I have ever seen. While they may not make it look as bad as Boone does, the Huskies are below average all-around, Gordon and Anderson being the two exceptions. If there's going to be an aspect of the game that could cost UConn a trip to Monday night and eventual eternal glory, this is it.
This is a matchup that has provided us with some fireworks in the past. I still feel sick to my stomach when I think of Christian Laettner hitting the game-winning shot to beat UConn in the final seconds. I still well up with pride when I recall the national championship game five years ago (possibly the greatest day of my life) when experts everywhere had all but given Duke the championship trophy before the game, and Rip Hamilton led UConn to victory.
Saturday night will be no exception. Two great coaches. Two loaded teams. Two gritty seniors grinding it out amidst a sea of talented youngsters. It will be close. But the Huskies have the edge in athleticism, size, and talent, and they will emerge victorious.
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