There is much anticipation for the Men's Championship tonight between Uconn and the Butler Bulldogs. Uconn has arguably the best player in america not named Jimmer. Kemba Walker has been unbelievable. I had the chance to watch all of their Big East Tournament games and he was far and away the best player on the court, every game. The beauty of his game is that he doesn't force anything. The game comes to him and his teammates realize he is the go to guy. Everyone in the building knows he is going to take the last shot and still no one can deny him the ball (ask Texas and Pitt). Maybe his best attribute, however, is that he genuinely is having fun playing the game.
The X-factor is Jeremy Lamb. He is tall, athletic, quick and shoots it well. He has a match-up advantage no matter who is defending him.
Butler, simply put, locks you up defensively. They are a reflection of their coach. Intense, detail oriented and composed in pressure situations. Their guards are quick, active and can really shoot it on the offensive end. Shelvin Mack is a star and Matt Howard, well, what can you say about him? He scores, rebounds, defends, communicates, assists when necessary. He is a coaches dream. He doesn't take bad shots. He is always in the right place at the right time. If he and center Andrew Smith can stay out of foul trouble in the title game, I don't see how Uconn beats them. Uconn is taller and stronger but none of the their bigs have the motor and the heart that Howard possesses.
PREDICTION
I think Kemba has a superstar game (per usual) and points will be hard to come by. However I believe that Mack and company will slow down Lamb enough to pull off the upset. Make it Butler 62 Uconn 59 finishing what they started last season.
No comments:
Post a Comment