NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Connecticut defeated Butler in a strange national championship Monday, 53-41. Butler shot about 18 percent from the field, the worst a team in the title game has ever shot, and the third worst shooting performance in an NCAA tournament game ever. UConn wasn't much better, shooting 34.5 percent. Kemba Walker had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Huskies, but shot just 5 of 19 from the field. Big man Alex Oriakhi, perhaps the MVP for the game, poured in 11 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks for the Huskies. He really disrupted everything Butler was trying to do down low. Matt Howard never got going in the paint for the Bulldogs and made just 1 of 13 field goals. Butler made nine 3s, but it was on 9 of 33 shooting. And the Bulldogs only managed three 2-point field goals. They couldn't get anything going inside the arc and wasn't hot enough from beyond the arc to make up for it. Jeremy Lamb also came on strong for UConn in the second half, scoring all 12 of his points in that frame. He had zero points before halftime, but did a good job guarding Butler's Shelvin Mack, who was the only Bulldog to reach double figures at 13 points, but he made just 4 of 15 field goals.
With the win, embattled UConn coach Jim Calhoun secured his third national championship and Butler fell short of a national title for the second straight year. Any team making two straight title games, however, is quite impressive and Butler is a mid-major no less. The pair of runs they have had the past two seasons, along with George Mason's run in 2006 and VCU's this year will do a lot for mid-majors across the country to gain more respect.
The women's championship, held Tuesday, ended up being the more exciting game. Texas A&M defeated Notre Dame 76-70 to claim its first women's hoops title. I was just glad someone other than UConn won it. Notre Dame knocked out the Huskies in the Final Four, preventing any chance UConn had of winning titles in both men's and women's basketball. Both Notre Dame and Texas A&M were No. 2 seeds. It was the first time since, I think, 1994 that no No. 1 seed had appeared in the women's title game and only the third time ever it had happened.
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UVA BASEBALL, MEN'S LACROSSE, MEN'S TENNIS UPDATES
Baseball: The baseball team--now ranked No. 1 in the country--is on a tear with a 29-2 record, 11-1 in the ACC, and hits the road for a big matchup at Georgia Tech this weekend. The Yellow Jackets are 23-7, 11-1 in the ACC, so the winner of this series will gain control of the ACC's Coastal Division.
Men's lacrosse: The lacrosse team has hit a bit of a rough patch. The Cavaliers are 7-3, with losses to Syracuse (understandable) but also back-to-back losses to Johns Hopkins and Maryland. In recent years, UVa has done great in the regular season while falling short of national titles so hopefully this year could see a role reversal as the Cavs still seem to be trying to find their feet. Virginia hosts UNC at noon on Saturday.
Men's tennis: The men's tennis team is 22-0 and 7-0 in the ACC, continuing to pace the conference. Looks like it will be just another matter of seeing if this team can finish what it's started in the NCAA tournament--the team has still not won a national title despite blistering regular-season records the past few years.
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MLB
The Major League Baseball regular season officially got under way last Thursday, March 31. My favorite team, the Braves, defeated the Nationals in Washington 2-0 in one of the first games of the season. Atlanta is now 3-3 and in the middle of a four-game series with the Brewers, who have taken 2 of 3 so far from the Braves. Here are a few early storylines I'm seeing around the league:
AL East flip flop: Buck Showalter has the Orioles sitting at 4-1. Baltimore finished up 2010 with a winning second-half-of-the-year record. The Blue Jays are also 4-1 while the Yankees are 3-2. The Rays and Red Sox ave yet to win a single game and are 0-5.
Philly out in front as expected: The Phillies are 4-1 and leading the NL East. Lots of people are picking the Phils to win the World Series this season behind an awesome starting rotation of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt and Joe Blanton.
Texas, Cincy pounding the ball: Texas is 6-0 and Cincinnati is 5-0, the only teams without a loss. The Rangers have scored seven rpg so far, while the Reds lead the league with an 8.6 rpg average.
World Series letdown?: The defending champion Giants are off to a slow start so far at 2-4.
Connecticut defeated Butler in a strange national championship Monday, 53-41. Butler shot about 18 percent from the field, the worst a team in the title game has ever shot, and the third worst shooting performance in an NCAA tournament game ever. UConn wasn't much better, shooting 34.5 percent. Kemba Walker had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Huskies, but shot just 5 of 19 from the field. Big man Alex Oriakhi, perhaps the MVP for the game, poured in 11 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks for the Huskies. He really disrupted everything Butler was trying to do down low. Matt Howard never got going in the paint for the Bulldogs and made just 1 of 13 field goals. Butler made nine 3s, but it was on 9 of 33 shooting. And the Bulldogs only managed three 2-point field goals. They couldn't get anything going inside the arc and wasn't hot enough from beyond the arc to make up for it. Jeremy Lamb also came on strong for UConn in the second half, scoring all 12 of his points in that frame. He had zero points before halftime, but did a good job guarding Butler's Shelvin Mack, who was the only Bulldog to reach double figures at 13 points, but he made just 4 of 15 field goals.
With the win, embattled UConn coach Jim Calhoun secured his third national championship and Butler fell short of a national title for the second straight year. Any team making two straight title games, however, is quite impressive and Butler is a mid-major no less. The pair of runs they have had the past two seasons, along with George Mason's run in 2006 and VCU's this year will do a lot for mid-majors across the country to gain more respect.
The women's championship, held Tuesday, ended up being the more exciting game. Texas A&M defeated Notre Dame 76-70 to claim its first women's hoops title. I was just glad someone other than UConn won it. Notre Dame knocked out the Huskies in the Final Four, preventing any chance UConn had of winning titles in both men's and women's basketball. Both Notre Dame and Texas A&M were No. 2 seeds. It was the first time since, I think, 1994 that no No. 1 seed had appeared in the women's title game and only the third time ever it had happened.
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UVA BASEBALL, MEN'S LACROSSE, MEN'S TENNIS UPDATES
Baseball: The baseball team--now ranked No. 1 in the country--is on a tear with a 29-2 record, 11-1 in the ACC, and hits the road for a big matchup at Georgia Tech this weekend. The Yellow Jackets are 23-7, 11-1 in the ACC, so the winner of this series will gain control of the ACC's Coastal Division.
Men's lacrosse: The lacrosse team has hit a bit of a rough patch. The Cavaliers are 7-3, with losses to Syracuse (understandable) but also back-to-back losses to Johns Hopkins and Maryland. In recent years, UVa has done great in the regular season while falling short of national titles so hopefully this year could see a role reversal as the Cavs still seem to be trying to find their feet. Virginia hosts UNC at noon on Saturday.
Men's tennis: The men's tennis team is 22-0 and 7-0 in the ACC, continuing to pace the conference. Looks like it will be just another matter of seeing if this team can finish what it's started in the NCAA tournament--the team has still not won a national title despite blistering regular-season records the past few years.
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MLB
The Major League Baseball regular season officially got under way last Thursday, March 31. My favorite team, the Braves, defeated the Nationals in Washington 2-0 in one of the first games of the season. Atlanta is now 3-3 and in the middle of a four-game series with the Brewers, who have taken 2 of 3 so far from the Braves. Here are a few early storylines I'm seeing around the league:
AL East flip flop: Buck Showalter has the Orioles sitting at 4-1. Baltimore finished up 2010 with a winning second-half-of-the-year record. The Blue Jays are also 4-1 while the Yankees are 3-2. The Rays and Red Sox ave yet to win a single game and are 0-5.
Philly out in front as expected: The Phillies are 4-1 and leading the NL East. Lots of people are picking the Phils to win the World Series this season behind an awesome starting rotation of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt and Joe Blanton.
Texas, Cincy pounding the ball: Texas is 6-0 and Cincinnati is 5-0, the only teams without a loss. The Rangers have scored seven rpg so far, while the Reds lead the league with an 8.6 rpg average.
World Series letdown?: The defending champion Giants are off to a slow start so far at 2-4.
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