One shining moment
The outcome had already long been decided, but Connecticut kept bringing its "A" game well into the second half, producing a couple of moments you might see on that season-ending highlight montage.
The first came when DePaul's Quemont Greer grabbed a rebound and went up for what he thought would be an easy put-back. Instead, the Huskies' Emeka Okafor stole the ball on Greer's way up and quickly tossed it up court to Taliek Brown, who in one swift motion laid a bounce pass to Rashad Anderson streaking to the basket.
Later, Greer grabbed a defensive rebound and was starting the break when Connecticut's Ben Gordon stepped in front of his pass. He tossed the ball to Brown at the top of the key, who passed it right back to Gordon on the wing for a wide-open trey.
This was the Huskies are at their best, forcing turnovers and getting out in transition. "The kids did the two things we asked them to do -- defend and run," said head coach Jim Calhoun. "It was pretty much a clinic."
Player who impressed me
Denham Brown, F, Connecticut. Calhoun has been wont to call the Canadian his best all-around player, but the sophomore hadn't shown it lately. Slowed by knee tendonitis and swelling, the normally key bench player had been limited to 17 points on 6-of-29 shooting in the five games prior to Saturday. "I talked to Denham at length yesterday and told him, 'You're going to break out of this.'," Calhoun said.
He did just that, serving as the spark to UConn's first-half flurry. Playing in front of friends and family just across the border from his native Toronto, he entered the game about five minutes in and instantly provided a driving lay-up to go up 9-0, followed by a defensive rebound that set up another fast-break basket. By the end of the half he had a team-high nine points on 3-of-3 field goals, giving the Huskies the lift from the bench they'd been lacking of late -- and will surely need as they go deeper in the tourney.
Courtside confidential
Calhoun said he was "sick to his stomach" when he mysteriously disappeared from the Connecticut sideline about midway through the second half. He said he "took care of it," but, mercifully, spared the details. ... While most coaches swear their teams never look past the game at hand, Calhoun said he's been telling his players about the other teams -- N.C. State, Vanderbilt, Syracuse -- still in contention in their region and had them watching the Syracuse-Maryland game in the locker room before the game. "Over the past 24 hours, I've really been a pain in the ass about getting them involved in the tournament," said Calhoun. "We want them to get a feel of what they're involved in." ... After watching his team give up two uncontested lay-ups to start the second half, DePaul coach Dave Leitao called timeout, shook his head in disbelief for a few moments then gave his team an R-rated lecture, paraphrased as follows. "For all the [crap] you [guys] have been through, you're going to [flipping] give up now?" ... Leitao wasn't the only unhappy camper on the Blue Demons' sideline. Several players had mini-tantrums as the game was getting away from them, including backup Cris Exilus, who drew Leitao's ire for pouting on the court. ... Knowing his former protégé Leitao -- who played and coached under Calhoun for 16 years -- would have Connecticut's playbook down cold, Calhoun installed six plays for the game that they'd rarely used during the season.
Long-term prospects
With Stanford's stunning loss to Alabama on Saturday, Connecticut is now the prohibitive favorite in the Phoenix region -- and perhaps in the entire tournament. Having followed up its Big East tournament championship with two dominating performances to start the NCAAs, the Huskies are playing every bit like the team forecasted as the nation's best back in November. And they've done it without even getting the kind of monstrous offensive games you might expect from Okafor (25 points in two games) and Gordon (3-of-11 3-pointers).
The knock on Connecticut earlier in the season -- including from this writer -- was they sometimes lacked emotion, surfacing most recently in their first-round game against Vermont. Not Saturday. The Huskies pounced on DePaul from the opening tip. "We wanted to come out and attack," said Gordon. "We wanted to bring more emotion to the game than we did against Vermont."
If they continue to play with that kind of fire, they'll be as tough an out as any team in the tourney. You've got to figure either Okafor or Gordon are going to go off in the very near future, and Taliek Brown is exactly the kind of savvy senior point guard who comes in handy this time of year.
