The Student News Site of Fitchburg State University

The Point

The Student News Site of Fitchburg State University

The Point

The Student News Site of Fitchburg State University

The Point

UConn vs. Butler: Who knew?

By Jordan Cannava

photo illustration by Alan Berning

Well, it has all come down to two teams. We started this tournament with 64 and now there are two: the No. 8-seeded Butler University Bulldogs vs. the No. 3-seeded University of Connecticut Huskies.
When the March Madness tournament started, I can’t say that I had Butler or Connecticut playing for the national championship. A few analysts had Connecticut going to the Final Four, but then losing before they made it to the championship. As for Butler – no one had Butler here again. Everyone had Butler getting to maybe the Sweet 16, but losing there. They were last year’s Cinderella; no one thought they could pull it off again. But tonight at 9:23, these two teams will be playing for this year’s 2011 national college basketball championship. 
The Butler Bulldogs will be representing the Horizon conference with an overall record of 28 and 9, and a conference record of 13 and 5. Their coach, Brad Stevens, has proven to be one of the top coaches in all of men’s college basketball. Getting his team to the championship two years in a row now is unbelievable for a small school. Also, they are a very well balanced offensive team and any one of their players on the court can score at any time.
Butler’s opponent, UConn, won this tournament back in 2004. They, too, are a very well-coached basketball team. Their coach, Jim Calhoun, has always had UConn on the map because of his great recruiting skills, and also his amazing offensive coaching in the games.
Calhoun’s recruiting power brought one of the best college basketball players ever, Kemba Walker, to UConn. Walker has been averaging over 30 points a game in this tournament,  and that is more than any player on Butler’s team can say. Also, Walker and the UConn Huskies have not lost a tournament yet; they won the Maui open in the beginning of the year, the Big East before the tournament, and now they have one more game to make the streak complete. This is one of the main reasons I have the UConn Huskies beating the Butler Bulldogs tonight, 71 to 63.
This game will be a great one to watch I’m sure it will come down to the wire, but don’t take my word for it – tune in to CBS tonight and see who this year’s 2011 national college basketball champion will be.

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