One shining moment
It happened in a blur, even for those involved. Pulling to within one in the final minute after trailing nearly the entire game, the Huskies got the ball exactly where they wanted it: in Emeka Okafor's hands, under the basket, with Duke third-stringer Nick Horvath defending him. Okafor got in position, wheeled and put up what everyone in the arena knew would be the go-ahead shot. Only one problem: It rimmed out. The Connecticut crowd, most of them sitting in the same corner as the basket where the play occurred, let out a collective groan. The Duke crowd let out a collective shriek. The Blue Devils, it appeared, would escape after all.
What happened on the ensuing dash for the rebound depends on who you ask. Okafor says teammate Josh Boone tipped it to him. Boone has no such recollection, just that Okafor "ripped the ball out of about three Duke players' hands."
"I just saw this orange object flying through the air that said, 'Grab me,'" Okafor said. "I grabbed it, spun, saw the rim, though it would be a good idea to put it in, and that's what I did." The conversion with 21.7 seconds left gave the Huskies their first lead since midway through the first half, one they would not relinquish.
Player who impressed me
Duh, Okafor. But for a less obvious selection, how about the guy who stepped up big time while the Huskies' All-America sat for 16 minutes in the first half? That would be freshman power forward Boone, who scored seven points and grabbed 11 rebounds before halftime.
"It was just like the Big East tournament when Emeka went down," Boone said. "Everyone was going to have to step up." Boone, miraculously, managed to pick up just one foul in the first half of a ridiculously whistle-happy ballgame, while the men charged with defending him, Duke's Shelden Williams and Shavlik Randolph, picked up three each on their way to fouling out.
Courtside confidential
For the second time in five years, Jim Calhoun outcoached Mike Krzyzewski at the Final Four. Calhoun's decision to sit Okafor until the second half, albeit a huge gamble, paid off in the end as Duke's big men were too hampered by foul trouble to contend with Okafor in the final minutes. It wasn't a decision specific to this game, however. "The 'two-foul rule' might be 20, 25 years old with me," said Calhoun, who insisted he wouldn't have strayed from the rule unless Duke's lead reached double digits. "I have always believed that games are 40 minutes. Thirty-two years as a Division I coach teaches you that a lot of things can happen in 30 seconds." ... Calhoun raved about Duke's pressure defense, which caused a 23-8 edge in points-off-turnovers, the single biggest reason the Blue Devils kept control much of the game despite the Huskies outshooting (50 percent to 40.8 percent) and outrebounding (44-37) them. "We haven't seen defense like that since Pittsburgh," Calhoun said. ... The officiating was, to put it mildly, excessive, with 44 fouls called, many of them soft or off the ball. Three Duke players fouled out. With 7:56 left, Connecticut fans voiced their protest, chanting, "Let them play." ... As media members left the court afterward, a blue-clad fan shouted to them, "So Duke gets all the calls, huh, guys?" ... It's going to be a long offseason for Duke's Williams. In his last game of the year, he went 1-of-9 from the field, fouling out in 19 minutes.
Championship formula
Every national championship team gets its scare at some point. This was Connecticut's. The Huskies had cruised through their first four NCAA contests. But there's a big difference between DePaul and Duke. The Huskies were sloppy, committing 18 turnovers. They fell behind by double digits. For crying out loud, they were down eight with less than three minutes to play. And yet they won, with very much the same formula that made this team the favorite even before the season began: Okafor's muscle, Ben Gordon's penetration, a third offensive weapon in Rashad Anderson and some phenomenal defense when it mattered most. "It's not who we beat," said Okafor. "It's how we beat them. The whole country probably thought we were out."
The Huskies weren't, and in making the stunning comeback, they showed why they're destined to take home the trophy. Nothing against Georgia Tech, which earned a spot opposite Connecticut with an equally impressive showing against Oklahoma State, but the Huskies aren't going to allow themselves to lose to the Jackets for a second time this season.
