ARLINGTON, Texas — Another Connecticut championship, another of college basketball’s all-time improbable tales.
One year after being banned from the NCAA Tournament, the seventh-seeded Huskies completed their unlikely ascension with their second national championship in four years, upsetting Kentucky, 60-54, Monday night in front of a record crowd of 79,238 fans at AT&T Stadium.
The Huskies, AAC afterthoughts when the season began and 100-1 longshots when the tournament began, became the first No. 7 seed to win the championship and the lowest seed to win the tournament in 29 years (Villanova), giving the school its fourth national championship since 1999 and first without Jim Calhoun.
“Someone told me we’re Cinderellas, and I was like, ‘No. We’re UConn. This is what we do,’ ” said second-year coach Kevin Ollie. “We are born for this. We’re bred to cut down nets. We’re not chasing championships, championships are chasing us.
“A lot of people were picking against us and doubting us … but we are first now.”
Shabazz Napier (22 points, six rebounds, three assists, three steals) embraced the hero role he had embodied all season, erasing any lingering shadow of former teammate Kemba Walker and winning his own Most Outstanding Player award, closing his college career with a second ring.
Sidekick Ryan Boatright was, appropriately, almost as valuable, adding 14 points, three assists and three steals, with the backcourt’s aggressiveness a key in keeping the Harrison twins from penetrating the paint and limiting Kentucky’s offense.
The ear-shattering fireworks had just gone off, the blue and silver confetti still falling when Napier attempted to quiet the crazed crowd, releasing two years worth of angst:
“This is what happens when you ban us!” Napier shouted from the podium.
The star guard was calmer upon entering the press conference, but carried the same conviction.
“When you stop, when you prevent us from trying to go to the postseason, and it wasn’t our fault, we worked since that day on,” said Napier, referring to previous teams’ poor academic performance. “Coach Ollie told us this is going to be a two-year plan and since that day we believe … when you believe in something so much, you understand what may happen in certain situations.”
While Connecticut (32-8) became just the second team since 1979 to win a title without a McDonald’s All-American (2001-02 Maryland), Kentucky’s all-time recruiting class was unable to end its up-and-down season as it began it — No. 1 — failing, as Michigan’s “Fab Five” did 22 years ago, in trying to become the first team to win a title by starting five freshmen.
The No. 8 Wildcats (29-11) showed their inexperience early, falling behind for the sixth straight game in the tournament, somehow unprepared for the big stage they’d seen so often. Kentucky opened 5-of-17 and fell into a 15-point hole late in the first half.
“The way we started the game probably cost us the game,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “Somebody said, ‘Well, why do you think you started that way?’ They’re all freshmen. They’re scared to death again. We tried to settle them down and we were rattled early. Then we settled down and started playing.”
Having closed the first half on a 16-5 run and cut the deficit to 35-31 at the break, Kentucky came out swinging in the second half, cutting the lead to one-point on multiple occasions. James Young’s (20 points) jaw-dropping dunk kickstarted the Kentucky-dominated crowd and team, starting an 8-0 run which cut the UConn lead to 48-47 with less than eight minutes remaining.
Aaron Harrison had the team’s lone chance to take the lead on the next possession with a 3-pointer, but after three straight game-winning shots, the freshman finally missed.
Kentucky killed any chance of another unlikely comeback by hitting only 13-of-24 free throws, watching their title hopes wither away as the Huskies hit all 10 attempts.
“It’s so surreal that it actually happened,” Napier said. “We’re the best team in the country. It’s not the Shabazz show. They understand that. It’s the University of Connecticut Huskies. We went out there and proved it.”
The season ended with no conference title or tournament title, the Huskies’ regular season stained by a 33-point loss to Louisville one month ago.
UConn was counted out again, like Khalid-El Amin, Richard Hamilton and Kemba Walker before. Napier now comes next in the school’s legendary lineage.
Improbable, not impossible.