WATERCOOLER CHAT: UCONN WINS CHAMPIONSHIP

BASKETBALL

In college basketball, it was the end of March Madness:  The National Championship game.  This year, we got a game between two teams that weren’t even ranked headed into the tournament:  UCONN vs. Kentucky.  While these are both powerhouse programs, nobody could have imagined they would have advanced this far, especially because of all the high-quality teams in the tournament this year.  But the thing is… both of these teams were playing with a chip on their shoulder the whole way.  Kentucky wanted to become the youngest team ever to win a National Championship (all freshman), and UCONN wanted to show the world that even though they were banned from the tournament last year, they kept their composure, and would unite and shock everyone.

The game started out quite close, but then UCONN pulled away.  Star point guard Shabazz Napier worked his magic, and along with his co-pilot shooting guard, Michael Boatright, they pulled out to a 15-point lead on Kentucky.  But when you’re playing a resilient team like the Wildcats, you know they don’t go away.  Kentucky clawed their way back in, and went into the half only down by 4.

In the second half, it looked like Kentucky was going to take control.  And even though they neutralized UCONN’s offense with a seemingly impenetrable zone defense, they still couldn’t score very effectively.  UCONN took advantage of this, and even though they were clearly running out of gas, they held a 4-point lead with 5 minutes left, and it felt like all they needed to do was survive.  Some key 3-point shooting at the end for UCONN, and some poor clock management by Kentucky, helped UCONN grab the win!  They won their 4th National Championship in 15 years, and new head coach Kevin Ollie is being looked at as a sheer genius.  To remind everyone, they WERE A #7 SEED HEADED INTO THE TOURNAMENT, and they almost lost their opening round game against St. Josephs.  Sometimes teams make a run in the tourney, but you usually don’t see a team as low as a #7 win the whole thing.  Truly incredible!  UCONN 60, Kentucky 54.

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