The University of Connecticut Huskies (UCONN) led by junior Kemba Walker took a bite out of the Cinderella Butler Bulldogs in the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament by shutting them down 53-41.

UCONN closed out an amazing run of 11 consecutive postseason victories which included 5 wins in 5 days at the Big East Tournament.  The title is Coach Jim Calhoun and the Huskies third since 1999 (1999, 2004, 2011) and groups him with the likes of Indiana’s Bob Knight, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp and UCLA’s John Wooden who are the only others at present to win at least three or more national titles.

Both teams came out nervous and it sort of reminded me of a high school game as UCONN shot 29 percent from the field in the first half and Butler fared worse at a dismal 22.2 percent.  Despite, the poor shooting, Butler led at half 22-19 (high school, right?).  Butler was executing their game plan of leading the Huskies into foul trouble, but they weren’t executing on the floor and the ever-opportunistic Huskies began to pull away with an 18-3 run that had them up by 44-36 late in the second half.  Overall, Butler shot 18.8 percent from the field; the lowest ever for an NCAA final to date.

Kemba Walker finished the game leading all scorers with 16 points and 9 rebounds and was awarded “Most Outstanding Player” of the tournament.  He scored an unprecedented 130 points in 5 games during the Big East Tournament and was named MVP.

Congratulations to Jim Calhoun and the Connecticut Huskies!

Connecticut Huskies