Archive for April 5th, 2011

WATERCOOLER CHAT: NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

In college basketball, the night we’ve all been waiting for:  The End of The Madness.  Yep, it was finally time for the National Championship Game between the #3 UConn Huskies and the #8 Butler Bulldogs.  The question was basically, which team was hotter.  Well, in the first half, the teams were neck and neck, but Butler looked to have the edge.  At the end of the first half, Shelvin Mack hit a gorgeous 3 to put the Bulldogs up by 3 at the half.  But, in the second half, it was all UConn, as Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb took over.  To add to that, Butler completely fell apart.  They couldn’t hit a shot to save their life and finished the game shooting only 18% from the field.  They couldn’t even buy a bucket inside the paint — that was purely dominated by UConn.  The clock kept ticking, and that was all she wrote.  And UConn, a team that wasn’t even ranked at the beginning of the season, is your National Champion!  Wow! UConn 53, Butler 41.

This is the 3rd National championship for UConn in the past 12 years, and many believe that next to Coach K at Duke, that Jim Calhoun is the second best coach in college basketball.  This team wasn’t even touted, they just worked hard, and Calhoun had them ready to play championship level ball since the Big East tournament.  Butler, on the other hand, has established themselves as a force to be reckoned with.  It will be rare to see them slotted as a low seed again, and you can expect them to be a #5 seed or higher if they have a good season henceforth.

And in other college basketball news, Shaka Smart, the man who led #11 VCU from a play-in game all the way to the Final Four will have a few options after this season.  Typically, coaches like him depart to coach a major conference school for more money.  In fact, NC State offered him the head coaching gig.  But, Smart is pulling a Brad Stevens (Butler coach) and has inked an 8-year deal to remain at VCU.  But, don’t think he would be doing it for the same amount of money.  Smart’s base pay went from $325K per year, to $1.2 Million per year.  Now that’s a pretty good pay raise.

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