Okafor Dominates Final Four

It's what we all really expected, isn't it?

This year there was no dark horse coming out of left field to capture the title. For the UConn Huskies, this national championship was vindication of their preseason number one ranking and their extremely high level of talent.

After a regular season filled with underachievement, injuries to key players and the troubles of getting heralded freshman Charlie Villanueva adjusted to the program, UConn showcased its superior talent with a dominating 82-73 win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Monday night in the National Championship game.

The Huskies never fell out of the top ten all year, but didn't come together until the Big East Tournament, when they were forced to play the first two games without junior Emeka Okafor. The Huskies were forced to overcome an early loss to the North Carolina Tarheels and the Yellow Jackets in the preseason NIT. But ultimately, it was Okafor's dominance and his supporting stars that proved to be too much for Georgia Tech and the rest of the NCAA field.

The score of Monday night's final does not indicate the real nature of this championship game. It was a blowout folks, after about ten minutes into the game.

On Monday night, it was the usual suspects again with Okafor leading the way with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Ben Gordon and Rashad Anderson also chipped in 21 and 18, respectively. But the unsung hero of the entire Final Four was freshman Josh Boone.

Boone played brilliantly when Okafor was saddled with foul trouble in the first half against Duke, and he was the one hustling after every loose ball throughout the tournmanet. In the end, it was Boone who deserved all the freshman credit rather than Villanueva. The hyped first year may be a great NBA player someday, but it is the college players like Josh Boone who help a team win NCAA championships.

The pace of the game was the key to UConn's dismantling of the Tech defense. Georgia Tech doesn't have the shooters or the speed to keep up with the Huskies on the break, but they continually pushed the ball up court playing right into the UConn game plan. The Yellow Jackets were 24-0 this year when holding opponents under 70 points, so you would think that they would have wanted to slow down the game to make UConn score in a half court offense.

Even after Paul Hewitt called a timeout to slow down the pace, the Jackets still did not understand that they could not run with the Huskies. With Taliek Brown running the offense so well, and Gordon and Anderson on the wings, Tech had no answers for Uconn's speed.

Even with Tech's bench outscoring UConn's reserves 34-1, and all of the UConn starters playing over 30 minutes, the Huskies never seemed out of gas. They truly proved that they were the best starting five in college basketball.

On the other side, Jarret Jack was completely neutralized by stifling defense by Brown, who had his best game of the tournament in the finals. Jack's night was ended with Okafor's emphatic Badooka-block with six minutes left in the game.



Semifinals

The national semifinals on Saturday night showcased a fine night in the Final Four history, in which both games were decided by two points or less for the first time in 17 years.

The night's first game lacked the name firepower of the Duke Blue Devil-Uconn match-up, but it proved to be just as good a game. Georgia Tech and the Oklahoma State Cowboys ended up tied after the Cowboys' John Lucas hit a clutch three-pointer with around 23 seconds remaining. But little Will Bynum, the transfer from Arizona, came up big, rolling off of a high screen to end the game with a double clutch lay-up.

It was Bynum's late heroics that ended this game, but it was Tech's domination in the first half that put the Jackets in position to win. Luke Schenscher was unbelievable on the offensive and defensive ends for Tech. OK State was also hurt by Tony Allen's first half foul trouble, which kept him on the bench, and Tech's Marvin Lewis' five first half threes.

The marquee game of the night between UConn and the Duke Blue Devils definitely lived up to its billing. This was one of the greatest big games ever, ending with UConn's Chris Duhon's buzzer-beating three-pointer, which left it as a one-point win, 79-78. Over the final three minutes of the game, UConn went on a clutch 12-0 run.

Okafor proved that he is the most dominant player in America in the second half, even coming through at the free throw line, a place that he traditionally struggles. Though riding the bench for most of the first half after picking up two quick fouls, the All-American still stood out despite playing conservatively in the second half.

Ultimately, the key plan in the Huskies' late run was Luol Deng's ill-advised three that ultimately went up over the back board with about 2:30 minutes left. Duke was up 75-67 and did not score again until Chris Duhon's Hail Mary three at the buzzer.

This game was unfortunately marred by some of the worst officiating ever in a Final Four. The fouls that sat Okafor on the bench for the majority of the first half, as well as the calls that Duke's Shavlik Randolph and Shelden Williams fouled out on, were some of the most ticky-tack fouls.

Despite all of this, UConn was able to get over all of its regular season problems and dominate the tournament competition. With the exception of Duke, every team that faced the Huskies seemed to be playing against an NBA all-star team, not really understanding how to guard them. Emeka the Rejecta was a man among boys in the college game, and he proved that on Monday night.