NCAA Men's Championship Game: Butler vs UConn
Tonight is the big night, College basketball's biggest stage. This year the match up is between the Butler Bulldogs and UConn Huskies. Both teams won close games in the Final Four and deserve to be present at this game. I personally think that tonight's match-up will be very close and that the game will come down to the final minute with Butler edging UConn in the last possible second.
The reason I believe that Butler can win it all this year is that during their tournament run, Butler played like a team with many different players taking control and leading the team. During their Final Four game against VCU, Butler was having trouble playing a decent offensive game but on the defensive end they were on fire, making stops and out-rebounding VCU 46-30. Those extra 16 rebounds made all of the difference as Butler was able to capitalize on second chance points and take control of the game. Butler is a team that is going in to this game as the underdog even though this is their second try in two years. Butler is now riding a 14 game win streak that began on Feb 3rd and were able to win the Horizon League to get them back into the tournament for a chance at a repeat and to this time win it all for their school. If Butler wins tonight it will be the first true mid-major school to win the entire tournament and cap all of the Cinderella stories that we have broken down and discussed over the years.
Butler has quite a few strong players that can lead the team past power house teams as was proven when Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack led the Bulldogs past Pitt, Florida and Wisconsin all teams that people would have expected Butler to lose too. But when these two men are playing well Butler has proven to be unstoppable. In the second half of the VCU game, Butler fell behind early in the second half when VCU took control and went on a scoring run, Mack came in and hit 10 straight points for Butler to put them back up. Howard is a senior for Butler who leads the team in rebounding and points. He is a three-point threat and someone that UConn should not dismiss.
While on the other hand you have a power house school in UConn, a team that people look at and see NBA ready players in some of their freshman and who have one the nations best players in Kemba Walker. This entire year has been Walker fever and no one can discount the threat that Walker is when ever he takes the floor. UConn is a very strong team who is riding a 9 game win streak that started with winning 5 games in 5 days to get the Big East Tournament Title. In their game against Kentucky people were able to see that the fatigue of playing so many games was getting to the players but they were still able to get the win and make it to the Championship game. Their Final Four game showed the world just how much of a defensive threat UConn is, they were able to keep Kentucky to shooting 33% which is the biggest reason that they won the game. Walker was held to 9 points and in the tournament he has averaged over 20 points a game. In their game against Butler, UConn is going to need to make certain that Walker is having a good game and that their defense is player better then Butler's defense.
This game will be all about who has the best defense, as both teams have strong defenses. I do believe as I said in the beginning of the post that Butler will edge out UConn to win the National Championship. I hope you all enjoyed my post and keep reading my love affair with sports.
The reason I believe that Butler can win it all this year is that during their tournament run, Butler played like a team with many different players taking control and leading the team. During their Final Four game against VCU, Butler was having trouble playing a decent offensive game but on the defensive end they were on fire, making stops and out-rebounding VCU 46-30. Those extra 16 rebounds made all of the difference as Butler was able to capitalize on second chance points and take control of the game. Butler is a team that is going in to this game as the underdog even though this is their second try in two years. Butler is now riding a 14 game win streak that began on Feb 3rd and were able to win the Horizon League to get them back into the tournament for a chance at a repeat and to this time win it all for their school. If Butler wins tonight it will be the first true mid-major school to win the entire tournament and cap all of the Cinderella stories that we have broken down and discussed over the years.
Butler has quite a few strong players that can lead the team past power house teams as was proven when Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack led the Bulldogs past Pitt, Florida and Wisconsin all teams that people would have expected Butler to lose too. But when these two men are playing well Butler has proven to be unstoppable. In the second half of the VCU game, Butler fell behind early in the second half when VCU took control and went on a scoring run, Mack came in and hit 10 straight points for Butler to put them back up. Howard is a senior for Butler who leads the team in rebounding and points. He is a three-point threat and someone that UConn should not dismiss.
While on the other hand you have a power house school in UConn, a team that people look at and see NBA ready players in some of their freshman and who have one the nations best players in Kemba Walker. This entire year has been Walker fever and no one can discount the threat that Walker is when ever he takes the floor. UConn is a very strong team who is riding a 9 game win streak that started with winning 5 games in 5 days to get the Big East Tournament Title. In their game against Kentucky people were able to see that the fatigue of playing so many games was getting to the players but they were still able to get the win and make it to the Championship game. Their Final Four game showed the world just how much of a defensive threat UConn is, they were able to keep Kentucky to shooting 33% which is the biggest reason that they won the game. Walker was held to 9 points and in the tournament he has averaged over 20 points a game. In their game against Butler, UConn is going to need to make certain that Walker is having a good game and that their defense is player better then Butler's defense.
This game will be all about who has the best defense, as both teams have strong defenses. I do believe as I said in the beginning of the post that Butler will edge out UConn to win the National Championship. I hope you all enjoyed my post and keep reading my love affair with sports.
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