Uconn.......Is Number One!!!!!!!

On March 6, almost an exact month ago today, I wrote the following:

The reality is this team will probably have a short run in March, followed by a long spring and summer of questions. And, instead of excitement come October, I'll be filled with something more resembling dread. Will Oriakhi improve at all (heck, will he even return)? Can Napier truly lead the team as its point guard? Can Lamb become a top player? Can Roscoe make the leap from great athlete to great basketball player, the way Stanley Robinson was never able to do? Will guys like Olander and Giffey become contributors, or will they remain in Calhoun's doghouse? And, of course, has the game begun to pass the old Hall of Fame coach by, or does Calhoun have another run at a championship in him?

Yeah, it was a rough day. Uconn had just lost to Notre Dame for the second time in the year, both losses by three points. It was an ugly, uninspired performance by a team that looked out of sorts and sick of basketball. It brought back horrendous memories from the previous season, when Uconn, almost every game, looked distressed that they even needed to play the game. 

There wasn't any reason to believe.........in anything. Uconn would play Depaul, the worst team in the Big East, that Tuesday in the opening round of the BE Tournament, and I truly believed they could lose. I mean, nothing came easy for this team and, if the effort wasn't even going to be there, nothing was a certainty,

However, even in my sorry state, even with so much pessimism bursting out at the seams, I wrote this:

Of course, maybe March gets a little crazy for the next two weeks? We can always believe, right?

I'd like to say there was something more to that comment than a throw-away line at the end of an often angry, bitter, hopeless post. I'd like to say that something deep inside of me quietly whispered "believe" and I dutifully listened. The truth is, I didn't believe. I honestly didn't even know what to believe in. As you can see, I even in my sarcastic fantasy, I could only dream for a crazy two weeks. Doing anything more seemed silly.

That's what makes what happened Monday night so amazing. That's what makes the images now so much a part of Uconn lore so sweet. No one expected this. No one could have. No one should have. And yet, it happened.

Do I care the Championship Game was played at a level lower than most submarines can safely travel, especially on Butler's side of the ball? Nope. Don't care in the least. This was about the journey, not a game. This was about March, not April. This is about brilliant moment after brilliant moment, not ugly basketball at the end.

There isn't a lot to break down with this game. Butler played poorly, so did Uconn. It was apparent that Uconn was just the better team. They dominated Butler inside. The Bulldogs signature timely offensive rebounding, especially by its guards, was taken away. Matt Howard was muscled out of the low post and forced to play from the perimeter. Shelvin Mack will see long-armed Jeremy Lamb in his nightmares for years. Anyone who looks at Butler's 18.8 percent shooting in a championship game and not give a boatload of the credit to Uconn's defense isn't being fair.

But, as has been said many, many different times, this game will not make any ESPN Classic playbacks (well, maybe it will, ESPN is always putting up strange things and calling the "classic"). That doesn't matter. And it doesn't matter if the rest of the country couldn't care less about Uconn's win. 

I care. This state cares. That University cares. Those kids care. That's all that matters.

Uconn is a strange basketball community. Unlike North Carolina or Kentucky, which can trace its lineage of greatness back for decades, if you're over 30 years old, you probably remember when Uconn WAS Butler. This was the little school that could. Sure, they played in the Big East, the way Depaul and South Florida plays in it now. They were the low end of the mighty conference, the "sure thing" on so many school's schedule. They were what their state suggests they would be: small.

When Tate George hit "The Shot" against Clemson, Uconn went to the Elite Eight to play Duke, and it was classic David and Goliath. When Uconn played them to an overtime, and lost by only one point, it was viewed as a victory for the program. In college basketball, the little guy can win, even when they have less points than their opponent at the end of the game.

For a lot of Uconn fans, the ones like me who grew up watching the maturation of the program, watching Chris Smith, Tate George, Scottie Burrell, Nadeve Henefeld, and the rest, there is still a part of us that looks at Uconn as that little school always on the brink of going back down the ugly hole of obscurity. There is always a sense of inferiority, never all that comfortable with the idea that Uconn is, now, one of the true "Big Boys" in the sport.

For those Uconn fans who have grown up watching since the late 1990's, that might be hard to understand, yet it's true.

That's why the last year was so......troubling. Maybe it had as much to do with outlandish expectations, but when Uconn played so badly all year last year, squandered so many opportunities to be good, so many chances to make a mark, and looked at either scared or disinterested doing it, there was a real fear that the best days of the program had passed. 

When the NCAA came trampling down on the heads of the program and, most notably, the architect of the program, coach Jim Calhoun, it felt like the wheels were coming off.

Yes, Uconn had made it to the Final Four in 2009, the school's third trip in. Yet, for some reason that run felt less wonderous than it should have. Perhaps that's because the AJ Price, Jeff Adrien class had already provided so many disappointing moments, from the loss to George Mason to not making ANY tournament, to being the first Uconn team to lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, to losing the epic six-overtime game against Syracuse to cap a four-year winless streak in the Big East Tournament.

It almost felt as if the 2009 team had to do something like that, just to try and atone for all the misery in which it had been involved.

Also, the great talent seemed to be finding homes elsewhere. 

No one on that 2009 team, not even Thabeet, seemed like an impact player at the next level, and while the holdovers from that team, Jerome Dyson and Stanley Robinson, had worlds of talent, they didn't have much actual basketball ability.

As the season began this year, Jim Calhoun's recruiting class received more attention for what it wasn't than what it was. It wasn't Brandon Knight, CJ Leslie, Doron Lamb, or any of the big time recruits. It was supposedly second-tier group, nice guys, decent players, but nothing special.

On top of all of this was by far the biggest question: how much longer would Jim Calhoun coach, and did he still have "it" to make another run?

When games started, no one knew the answer. Now, we do.

If you're reading this post, I'm going to assume you're a Uconn fan. In that case, I don't need to recap this season. You know the highs, the lows, and the unbelievable. You know where this team started and ended. You know what this journey looked like and felt like.

What I will always remember is that this team, this season, made me believe not only in Uconn again, but in college basketball. There have been so many bad instances over the last years at Uconn: AJ  Price and Marcus Williams being involved with stolen laptops; the 2006 team, the best in the nation, that seemed to look ahead to the NBA rather than look towards a championship and, ultimately, made George Mason's dreams come true; guys like Doug Wiggins coming in and out of the program; Dyson and Robinson failing to live up to expectations. Then, the Nate Miles thing hit the fan, right in the middle of the 2009 Final Four, and it seemed like basketball was an afterthought.

This team, these kids, turned all that around.

How could you not love this group? From Kemba's smile to Jeremy's straight-man demeanor. From Oriakhi's playful nature, to Shabazz Napier's extraordinary confidence. From their willingness to hustle and fight for every loose ball, to their calm approach to late-game situations. This was a team of kids willing to do what it took to win. This was a team led by a star, a quick, smart, tenacious competitor who did whatever it took to win a ballgame. This was a team led by an old coach who looked young again. This was a team, growing together, believing in each other, fighting to have each other's back.

Uconn is my team, no matter what. It's my school. It was my favorite when I was growing up, and that love only grew when I went to the school. I was there in 1999 when Uconn won it all for the first time. I danced in the Jungle, screamed at the top of my lungs, and remember not going back to class for a week because it was just one big celebration. They are some of the best memories of my life. That team will always be my favorite.

This team will always be my second.

Jim Calhoun said it perhaps a hundred times last night: he needed this team.

Well, I think this state needed this team, as well. 

Times are tough. Winter was hard. People are without jobs. Businesses are still trying to figure out how to make ends meet. 

Uconn basketball, both mens and womens, has, for better or for worse, come to define this state. It is the one thing in which we can all enjoy and, in the end, root for together. In other sports, we are renters, not owners. We root for teams with addresses in the Bronx or Boston. We drive hours to see them play in other states. They aren't Connecticut.

Uconn, however, is. 

On March 6, when Uconn lost to Notre Dame, it looked like the long stretch in March, when warm weather and April showers seem still so far away, would come with no distractions. Uconn would go home early, and questions about the program and the coach would linger. It would be a dark, cold end to the season.

But that's when the light came in. That's when it all turned.

In the last month Uconn has given me memories that will, again, last a lifetime. I will remember Kemba's ankle-breaking jump-back buzzer beater against Pitt. I'll remember feeling sick to my stomach when dreaded Syracuse hit two crazy threes to tie Uconn and send the BE Tournament semifinals into overtime. I'll always remember Kemba's drive and pass against Louisville, with Lamb emerging from the shadow of the Cardinal defender to lay it up off the glass.

I will remember being in The Mirage in Vegas, watching Uconn dismantle Bucknell with three pointers and back-door passes. Ill remember sitting in a local bar, surrounded by friends, and watching two Arizona three pointers go up into the air with a chance to send Uconn home. I'll remember Kemba's block against Doron Lamb as he raced back to prevent an easy dunk, and I'll remember Shabazz Napier turning the ball over on one end, hitting two key free throws on the other, to beat Kentucky.

And, I will always remember Jeremy Lamb standing just inside half court, gleefully dribbling as time wound down and a national championship came into being. I'll remember Jim Calhoun's face. I'll remember how Kemba Walker looked both ecstatic and exhausted at the same time.

But what I will remember most is that a team that made me write what I wrote above went on to be the best team in the country. You don't get seasons like that, ever. You don't get the unexpected. You don't get the miracle, the unimaginable, the surreal, and you certainly don't get it in one month.

Well, we got it. And, Dear God, did it feel good.

Thank you Kemba, for being the best player this great program has ever known. Thank you Jim Calhoun, for bringing us something to cheer about, if only for a few weeks. Thank you Jeremy Lamb, for forgetting that you're a freshman and playing like a seasoned veteran. Thank you to all the players, from Shabazz to Oriakhi to Niels Giffey to Donnell Beverly. You all helped make this a reality.

I believe in God........and this is why.

Thank you Uconn, 2011 National Champions.

GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!