One shining moment
Once the final seconds had finally ticked away, Connecticut's Rashad Anderson took off running around the court with the basketball -- and Emeka Okafor took off running after him. Here, in front of 44,468 spectators, many of them screaming at the top of their lungs, two college kids staged their own personal game of cat-and-mouse, with Anderson showing no intention of giving up the ball. Moments later, Okafor would get to hold a far more glamorous object -- the national championship trophy -- yet he wouldn't relent in his pursuit of the ball. "I'd been plotting a long time for this," Okafor said. "Ben [Gordon] got to keep the Big East championship ball. I was going to get the [national] championship ball."
A half hour later, Okafor walked into the postgame news conference clutching the aforementioned ball like it was a newborn baby. A half hour after that I found him standing in front of his locker -- still clutching the ball. How did he ultimately take possession of it? "I'm 6-9, 260 pounds. Rashad is a smart guy. He figured I'd either get it forcefully or the friendly way." The ball, the trophy, the MVP award -- would those be enough mementos to satisfy the occasion? "Ooh," said Okafor, surveying the locker room. "I've got to see if I can get some chairs."
Players who impressed me
In what was most likely their last collegiate game, Okafor and Gordon each delivered one last stroke of greatness. Okafor exerted his dominance on the glass from the opening minutes, grabbing the defensive rebound on Georgia Tech's second possession and two offensive rebounds to set up an Anderson 3-pointer on the other end. Offensively, Okafor showed off a dizzying array of moves to the basket, whether wheeling on Georgia Tech's taller Luke Schenscher for a layup, hitting a Patrick Ewing-esque turnaround jumper or simply taking a pass and powering his way to the hoop for a dunk.
In one defensive sequence, with just under six minutes remaining and the Yellow Jackets trying to cut into a 16-point lead, Okafor met point guard Jarrett Jack on the drive and sent the ball flying about 20 feet in the wrong direction. Then, on the other end, Okafor followed a Denham Brown missed layup with an authoritative dunk to extinguish any remaining Tech hopes. Okafor's numbers on the night: 24 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks (though it certainly seemed like more).
Within the game's first 10 minutes, Gordon, whose outside game was toned down in the past two rounds, hit three 3-pointers and sank all three free throws when fouled on another attempt. Along with Taliek Brown, Gordon helped prevent Jack from penetrating effectively while sealing up 3-point specialist Marvin Lewis on the perimeter. "Gentle Ben" finished with 21 points.
"I wanted this so bad for [Ben] and for 'Mek, because I do think they're ready for the NBA," Huskies coach Jim Calhoun said. "To me, they're great, great role models for what this game is all about."
Courtside confidential
Several of Georgia Tech's players declined to give credit to the Huskies' defense for their poor shooting night (38 percent, 29.4 percent in the first half), which drew a strong reaction from Calhoun. "Over the past 35 years, a lot of teams have had a lot of 'bad shooting nights' against us. We lead the country in field-goal percentage defense, we lead the country in blocked shots. It wasn't the air conditioning blowing the ball down." ... Brown said he and several teammates were motivated by watching ESPN Classic's broadcast of the Huskies' November loss to Georgia Tech on the eve of the championship game. ... There were 19 former UConn players in attendance, including recent stars Donyell Marshall, Ray Allen and Richard Hamilton, all of whom touched the trophy during the Huskies' postgame celebration. ... UConn's Ed Nelson, who transferred from Georgia Tech and sat out this season, may have become the first player in championship history to be booed without suiting up. It happened with 46 seconds left, when the Alamodome video screen showed Nelson sitting on the bench. ... UConn's 15-point halftime lead was the largest since UCLA over Dayton in 1967.
Championship formula
It's certainly not an original formula, but by following it, Connecticut disproved the recent notion that you don't need future pros to win a championship. The Huskies had three of them in their starting lineup in Okafor, Gordon and Josh Boone, and a potential fourth off the bench in Charlie Villanueva; hardly anyone else in the country had more than one. Credit Calhoun -- somehow not yet a Hall of Fame coach -- who not only assembled the talent but nurtured them, motivated them and masterfully melded their egos. See this year's Arizona team for an example of an NBA combine gone awry.
Calhoun knew the potential was there all along. Everyone did. Okafor would be the most dominant player in the country and Gordon would give them a deadly inside-outside combo. Still, there was no guarantee his 23-10 team of a year ago would reach that expected next level. "We had folks on our campus in September taking pictures, talking about us being undefeated, talking about all the various things we were going to do, and we hadn't even touched a basketball yet," Calhoun said.
The Huskies reached the next level in large part because of Okafor and Gordon, for sure. But it was more than that. It was point guard Brown eliminating mistakes and becoming a valiant leader. It was Anderson going from role player to sharpshooting third option. It was unheralded freshman Boone asserting himself as a rebounding force from day one. But mostly, it was a matter of UConn's players accepting the hefty expectations leveled on them, brushing off a couple of rough patches and developing into exactly the type of team they were projected to be over the final month of the season. "There aren't many teams that can go wire-to-wire. It's a very difficult thing to do," Calhoun said. "Over the past four weeks, we've been an amazing basketball team. When we're healthy, we're the best team in America, and tonight they proved it."
