Some Final Thoughts on "The Improbable Year"

Jerusalem, Israel, April 2,2011 - 2:15 A.M.
A man leaves the Citadel Hotel and walks out into the warm Israeli night; he seems to be in a hurry. CIA, Moussad, 007? No it is a 65 year old American Psychologist named Steve Eliot who is headed for "Mike's Place", the only bar or hotel in Jerusalem that has the TV station covering the Final Four. Eliot approaches the bar to find about 100 American and Israeli college students outside drinking and partying. He goes inside and asks if the Final Four is on. The owner guides him downstairs to a bar where there is a television with the Butler-VCU game on;no one else is watching. Eliot sits at the bar and becomes engaged in conversation with the bar tender who convinces him to start drinking shots of 25 year old special reserve Bourbon. The bar tender is a young, interesting Israeli and between the bourbon shots and the conversation Eliot is half watching the Butler game and not noticing that by 4:00 he is the only patron left in the bar. As UCONN and Kentucky take the floor the owner comes over to Eliot and tells him he is closing the bar because there is no one else is there. Eliot's attempt to pay "whatever it takes" to keep the bar open is rebuffed and he leaves Mikes and frantically walks back to his hotel hoping to get the game on live computer feed which he does.
Monday night, Eliot is at a hotel on the Dead Sea. At 4:00 A.M. he goes to the totally darkened lobby and watches the Championship game on live computer feed. As time winds down Eliot is elated but also wishing he was watching the game with a group of his followers. At 7:00 A.M., he stumbles back to his room for an hours sleep before the guide picks he and his wife up at 9:00.
How can we explain what some people might think is insane behavior on the part of Eliot, by all acoounts a very reasonable man,professionally successful with a lovely wife and family. Simple, Eliot is a FAN, and a true fan will go to any length to watch their team play a critical game.
As I sat down to write my final blog of this amazing season I realized it would be superfluous to write a lengthy analysis of the the Huskies amazing run. Two weeks ago, I read an interesting Op Ed. piece in the NY Times by David Brooks. In this era of incredible technological advances and neuroscientic study of behavior, Brooks made the point that rationality and science does not sufficiently explain certain behavior. Specifically, we can now study with accuracy the electrical and neuro-chemical activity in the brain that accompanies certain thoughts, feelings and behaviors; however, as Brooks so aptly points out this still doesn't explain "MacBeth." The same goes for the Huskies winning the National Championship; I could analyze it from every angle but it is still not an adequate explanation for the magical run to the championship. Instead, I will just give some random thoughts which I think are pieces but not the inexplicable whole.
- Kemba Walker is even better than anyone, except perhaps Jim Calhoun, thought.-
- Although neither player could be described as lights out players both Roscoe Smith and Charles Oakwandu improved significantly, particularly on defense, as the season progessed. In the "Big Dance" the Huskies interior defense became virtually impenetrable.
- This was Calhoun's best defensive team in a long time- blowhard Clark Kellogg notwithstanding, shutting down Butler's offense was an incredible accomplishment.
- Why didn't Arizona, Kentucky, or Butler alternate match up zones with their man to man defenses. This baffled me because match up zones accounted for at least 6 of the Huskies league losses and Walker simple cannot be stopped one on one. The Huskies were an incredible 22-0 in non-conference play.
- Calhoun will not retire. He has a good nucleus and still loves to coach. He reminds me of Jimmy Connors who continued to play to the ripe old tennis age of 39 because he just loved the game- he did not have to win to enjoy himself. I think, despite Calhoun's great record, the same goes for him. He loves the relationship with his players and still loves to compete.
Personally, I consider this a good year as we added 5 or 6 new enthusiastic and knowledgeable fans to the blog. I started the season unsure if I could continue but got swept up in the excitement of this Husky team. How will they be next year? Who knows as they do not have a highly rated recruiting class. I do believe, however, that somewhere there is someone in a gym, alone, at midnight, shooting jumpers who Calhoun will find.
Until next year remember "You Heard it Here First"
Steve

FINAL FOUR!!!!! UCONN 65 - Arizona 63

Carried by their poise, grit, intense man to man defense,and another sensational offensive showing by Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb, the UCONN Huskies continued their most improbable season in Jim Calhoun's Hall of Fame career. This will be the Huskies fourth trip to the Final Four and their second in three seasons, this one following their worst season in Calhoun's tenure. The Huskies started the season under the cloud of an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations and in what everyone thought would be a rebuilding year; their roster included 7 Freshmen and in the early part of the season this group did not look like an outstanidng crop. The Huskies season was marked by ups and downs but slowly but surely Freshmen Roscoe Smith, Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb and Sophomore Jamaal Combs-Mcdaniels began to develop confidence and experience. After an early season high of a #4 national ranking the Huskies slowly slipped, lost four of their last five games and finished ninth at 9-9 in the Big East. They looked like they were headed for a quick ticket home in the Big Dance, however, not unnoticed was the emergence in the latter part of the season of Jeremy Lamb from a "diaper dandy" to a "PTPer" (in Dick Vitalespeak a prime time player). In addition, Roscoe Smith, although disappointing on offense, became a very good defender and defensive rebounder. Shabazz Napier, confident from the start, cut down on his turnrovers and was a reliable sometimes sensational point guard who could give Walker much needed minutes off the point. The constant was the sensational Kemba Walker, who both carried and helped develop the team simiultaneously.
Improbably, the young Huskies seemed to gel before our eyes as they won five games in five nights to win the Big East championship and added 3 more convincing wins going into last nights elite eight tilt against Arizona. This reporter had just settled into the press box, after rushing home from a professional commitment in New Haven only to watch Arizona open an 11-3 lead, led by fierce offensive rebounding and the play of their outstanding swingman, Derrick Williams.
The Huskies started to settle down and play their way into the game when the Wildcats Williams committed his second personal foul with the score 18-10. As Williams sat for 7 minutes Walker heated up and the Huskies went on 12-2 run to open up a 22-20 lead. Williams re-entered the game and quickly committed his third personal with 5:22 in first half. The Huskies went to the locker room with what looked like a comfortable 32-25 lead as Walker hit a three just before the buzzer.
With Williams back on the floor for the second half Arizona went on a 12-1 run to take back the lead at 37-36. The Huskies fought back after a Napier three they had what looked like an insurmountable 51-40 advantage with 10 minutes to go. In this fierce see-saw battle the Wildcats fought back once again and with 6;36 to go opened up a 55-52 lead. At this point Jeremy Lamb took over and moving incessantly without the ball, a la Rip Hamilton, freed himself for two baseline jumpers. Walker added a 15 fooot jumper and then Lamb made a cat-quick steal followed by a coast to coast (S)Lamb dunk to put the Huskies up 62-65. A Walker step back jumper with 1:17 left resulting in a 65-60 Husky lead looked like the last nail in the coffin. However, Williams hit a three, Shabazz missed a jumper and Arizona had the ball with 14.3 seconds left, down 65-63. Surprisingly, instead of working the ball inside Williams missed a long three, Arizona got the rebound and with 3 seconds left Horne missed an open three and the Huskies were in the Final Four.
Walker, again led the scoring with 20 hard earned points while Lamb added 19, 12 of which came at key moments in the second half. Napier played a solid 30 minutes and had ten points, including two treys while Oriakhi added 7 points and 6 rebounds.
UCONN will play the winner of the North Carolina-Kentucky East Regional final next Saturday night.In what my son Pete told me on the phone last night was the "worst timed vacation in history" I will be in Israel during the Final four. He suggested that "next time I plan a vacation, I might look at the NCAA basketball schedule". It is unlikely that I will be posting blogs but regardless of the outcome I will write one more wrap up blog about the "improbable season" The Huskies will have to step it up one more notch when they meet either Kentucky or North Carolina in the semi-finals with the likelihood of Kansas waiting in the finals on the other side of the draw. Can they do it? In this most "improbable season" who the heck knows. I assure everuone, I will find a TV in the middle of Israeli night and will be watching these games but will be counting on my followers to root in the Huskies.
"You Heard it here First"
Steve
"

Walker and Lamb lead Huskies into Elite Eight

The improbable season continues as offensive fireworks from Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb sparked UCONN's eighth consecutive win, this time over San Diego State 74-67. The win procured the Huskies a spot in the elite eight for the 10th time in their history. Walker was unstoppable as he scored 36 points on 12-25 shooting from the field including 4-8 from three point land. Lamb continued his red hot shooting from the floor as he hit 7-9 field goal attempts including three clutch treys for 24 points.
Both teams looked tight for the first four minutes of the game as Walker missed his first three shots, although he was getting good looks. At this point the Aztecs Kahwi Leonard picked up this second personal foul and Coach Steve Fischer sat him out for 7 minutes. When big man Malcolm Thomas also went to the bench with two fouls the Huskies had a great opportunity which they squandered with coninued cold shooting, including Walker's fourth straight miss. At 10:31 of the first half Shabazz Napier hit Walker with a beautiful back door pass and Walker layed it in to get off the schneid- he never looked back from there. Leonard came back in for the Aztecs but as walker started draining shots from all over the court the Huskies pulled away for a seven point half time lead. Of significance was that Oriakhi and Smith were controlling the defensive boards and consistently limiting the Aztecs to one shot. In addition, yet another team was letting Walker prove that he cannot be guarded one on one in a man defense.
San Diego State started the second half strongly and led 55-51 with about eight minutes left to play. At that point Walker just took the game over and scored 12 straight Husky points. Coming down the stretch he and Lamb scored the last 24 Husky points between them as UCONN pulled away for an emphatic 74-67 win.
The Huskies will take on a fast improving Arizona team who blew out the Region's #1 seed in the other West region sweet sixteen contest. Although Walker and Lamb were sensational, I still remained concerned that the Huskies aren't getting a bit more scoring from their big men and better balance on offense. On the other hand we might just be seeing a great, great college player carrying his team on his back and that is just how it will be.
"You heard it here first"
Steve

UCONN takes on San Diego State in Sweet Sixteen

The UCONN Huskies, ranked 3rd in the Western region will take on the San Diego State Aztecs ranked second in the region on Thursday night with coverage starting at 7:15 on CBS. The Huskies will go into the contest with a seven game winning streak and an overall record of 28-9, while the Aztecs are 34-2. This is the sixth NCAA tourney appearance for the Aztecs and the first time they have advanced out of the first round. Make no mistake about it, the Aztecs are for real; They have an RPI ranking of #3 in the country and a big,fast, athletic team.
This is a very good match up of two teams that are similar in some respects and very different in others. Both teams are tough defensively; the Aztecs are 6th in the nation in points allowed per game, 58.8 while the Huskies only give up 66.4. The aztecs opponents shoot 39.3% from the field while the Huskies opponents shoot 39.3.
While both teams are athletic and fast the Huskies rely on their backcourt for most of their scoring(Walker and Lamb) while four of the five top scorers for the Aztecs are front court players. UCONN is led by Kemba Walker at 23.3 ppg while San Diego State's top scorer is 6'7" Sophomore swingman Kahwi Leonared at 15.3 ppg.
The aztecs have three other players averaging in double figures including Senior Guard D.J Gay at 11.0, 6'9" Malcolm Thomas at 11.4, and 6'8" Bill White at 10.1.
Most of the pundits are predicting that San Diego State will win. I expect a very close, down to the wire contest in a low scoring game. (both teams in the 60's)
To me there are two keys in this game. The UCONN big men have to play an outstanding defensive game and force the Aztecs to shoot more from the outside than they like to do. They must control the defensive boards and stay out of foul trouble, particularly Oriakhi who tends to commit careless fouls and cry to the refs. The whining has to stop before he gets hit with a costly technical or quickly picks up two fouls and has to go to the bench for long stretches.
On offense, the Huskies have to get some points from their big men. If Oriakhi and Smith do not contribute offensively the Huskies will be in trouble. I look for Walker to have a good game and score 24 or more points. The Huskies need at least 12 from Lamb and another good game from JCM. Despite what most pundits are saying I am picking the Huskies by 3 points.
Since I will be flying back from pre-game scouting and will not get home until 7:00 on Thursday the Steep Hill Dome will not be open for this game. If the Huskies win and play in the Elite Eight on Sat. I will be importing a 50" HD screen for the game and everyone will be invited.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve

How Sweet(Sixteen) it is! UCONN 69-Cincinatti 58

In workman like fashion the UCONN Huskies knocked off the pesky Cincinatti Bearcats tonight 69-58 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen against San Diego State. Surprisingly, Bearcat coach Nick Cronin started and stayed in a man to man defense with no double teaming of Walker for 17 minutes of the first half. The Huskies looked a little tight for the first 10 minutes but then Walker started draining good shots and Lamb hit some clutch threes to give the Huskies a 36-28 half time lead. Three minutes before the break Cronin moved the Bearcats into a trapping zone and cut some points off the lead before the break.
Cincinatti stayed in the zone for most of the second half and it took the Huskies a good 9 minutes to solve it. During this time they turned the ball over several times and Cincy took the lead.UCONN finally solved the zone by finding JCM at the foul line where he made some nice dishes and hit a couple of 15 ft. jumpers. A good Husky run created a 8-10 point lead which they never relinquished. In the last four minutes of the game Cincinatti fouled UCONN every time up the court and Walker piled up points on a perect 14-14 from the foul line to finish with 33. Lamb was consistent and kept up this incredibly high shooing percentage- tonight he was 5-7 with two threes to finish with 13 points. JCM in a fine all around performace added 10.
I was concerned that Oriakhi did not score tonight and Smith had only 2 points after two break out performances. As the Huskies move on they will need points from their front line against the better teams.
There was a good crowd at the Steep Hill dome tonight as the Bucknell Bison himself, Mike Davis, showed up after having driven directly from the Verizon center in Washington D.C. to the Steep Hill Dome, stopping only to pick up his wife Suzanne. Alan And Marilyn Goldberg were there, with Marilyn looking a bit bleary eyed from having watched every game on today. What a Fan!
As most of you know by now I am a very modest man who eschews the spotlight. However, Alan Hopkins from the NSW awards committee insisted I include a quote from a blog I wrote two weeks before the regular season ended. "I would imagine that the Pittsburgh fans ( some of whom read this blog) have high hopes this year. Sadly, the Panthers will eat their annual Big Dance apple and it will get stuck in their throats. The choking sound will reverberate all the way to Weston, Ct."
"You Heard it Here First"

UCONN plays Cincinnati tomorrow night at 9:40

The UCONN Huskies take on the Cincinnati Bearcats in round 2 of the Big Dance tomorrow night at 9:40. The Huskies defeated the Bearcats in Big East regular season play 67- 58 on February 27. The Bearcats have a very balanced attack with five players averaging between 8.1 and 11.8 ppg. Their leading scorer and rebounder is 6'7" Forward Yancy Gates who is scoring at an 11.8 ppg clip followed by Guard Dion Dixon at 11.6. No Big East opponent can be taken for granted but I am looking for the red hot Huskies to continue their fine play and win by at least 8 points.
The Steep Hill Dome at 27 Steep Hill Road will officially open doors tomorrow night at 9:00 P.M.when this reporter will lead a televised pre-game analysis along with Lou Carnesecca and Billy Packer. All who who receive my UCONN e-mails are invited along with spouses and SO's. Please RSVP to me at steliot@aol.com. if you plan on coming.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve

Huskies cruise past Bucknell in 1st round 81-52

The UCONN Huskies were simply too big, too fast and too athletic for a game but overmatched Bucknell Bison five. The Huskies controlled the tempo, boards and both ends of the court in a 81-52 blowout in the first round of the Big Dance at the Verizon center.
Bucknell could never get into an offensive rhythm as they were forced to rush shots all night by the quicker Huskies. On offense UCONN ran their sets at will and it was obvious that Kemba Walker decided early in the contest that this was a night to further develop his Freshmen teammates. Walker passed up at least 10 shots he would ordinarily take and probably make to pass off to Lamb, Smith and Olander. This paid off handsomely as Lamb continued to play like Walker's first lieutenant and scored 16 points on 6-9 shooting including 3 from downtown. Roscoe Smith had his second big game in a row, scored 17 points and had 7 rebounds, and is beginning to look like the recruit who was rated the 20th best in the nation pre-season. Tyler Olander clearly has some talent and is playing with a growing poise and Oriakhi had another good game with 9 points and 12 rebounds. Walker had the quitest 18 points, 8rebounds and 12 assists you'll ever see- the sure sign of a superstar.
Smith and Olander are coming on at just the right time. On Saturday, the Huskies will play the winner of Cincinnati to be played later tonight. The Steep Hill Dome will be officially open and hope some of you will attend.
"You Heard it here First"
Steve