Clank, Clank, Clank

There are many distinctive sounds in sport. The swish of a basketball through a hoop, touching nothing but net. The explosive tink of a golf ball as it is hit with a driver off the tee. The banshee wail of a Ferrari F1 engine at 18,000 rpm. All of these are exquisite sounds that signify good things in sport.

And then there is the sound of a basketball, bouncing off the rim. They call it a “brick”, and it produces quite the hideous sound as the ball goes “clank” off the rim. In my opinion, it might be one of the worst sounds in sport.

We got to hear that a lot this past Monday night. The sound was resonating, reverberating, echoing around Reliant Stadium during the NCAA men’s basketball final. What looked to be an exciting match-up between #8 Butler and #3 Connecticut turned into an event that only a brick mason could truly appreciate.

It all started with 68 teams. It was now down to 2. Until Monday, the NCAA tournament had been phenomenal. This was the first year that every game was televised, utilizing four channels to do so. That was a treat. The level and quality of basketball was phenomenal. This has become all-too-familiar in the month of March in years past

Then we were left with the remnants, the dregs, for the Final. Or so it turned out.

You knew it was going to be a long night when the half-time score was 22 – 19 in favor of Butler. It was a grind-it-out game, for sure, as a national championship should be. But I don’t think anyone expected 18.8% shooting from Butler – the worst ever in Finals history. Of course, Connecticut’s 34.5% wasn’t exactly stellar, and probably wouldn’t have won many games in the tournament.

It was a meeting of dogs – Bulldogs and Huskies – that produced one dog of a game.

But there has to be a winner, and the Huskies played the best defense, played good enough offense, and came away from Houston as National Champions. It was a tremendous run, with 5 straight victories in the Big East tournament before going 6 – 0 in the Big Dance. That’s a total of 11 consecutive tournament wins over the stretch of 27 days – all coming from a team that finished 9th in the Big East.

Throughout those magical 27 days, they were lead by guard Kemba Walker, who in my book is the best player in college basketball (sorry, Jimmer). I knew he was special when he put up the game winner in overtime against Texas at the Erwin Center. His leadership, clutch shots, and enthusiasm made watching UConn’s run even more enjoyable.

As we pull all the loose ends together on the 2010 – 2011 season, there is a side note for all Longhorn fans. Texas was ranked #16 in the end-of-season coaches poll. Apparently, not many coaches were watching basketball this past month. That would have put the Horns in the Sweet Sixteen – yet they didn’t advance past the round of 32. Leave it to the coaches to over-rate them yet again. Now if Thompson and Hamilton would just stay in school …

Photo credits: Wikipedia