Louisville vs Michigan; Kevin Ware vs. the Fab Five- so many
reasons to watch the NCAA National Championship game.
Even if your bracket is busted, the story lines leading up
the NCAA Championship game made it a game worth watching. And what a game it was. This was definitely one of the best National Championship games I’ve ever
seen.
The Fab Five just can’t let go of that famous timeout that
continues to haunt Chris Webber. ESPN Films story of the Fab Five was a great
insight, history and understanding of how they changed the game. But the one
element missing was Webber himself. Fab Five member Jalen Rose pleaded to get
Webber in Atlanta with the rest of the crew to support the efforts to “free the
fab five”, break the curse, and win a National Championship. As the starting
line for up Michigan was being announced, in walked Webber. I wasn’t ready to
see him in a UM hat rooting to break the curse- I personally love to hear Jalen
Rose rant every year about Michigan winning the Championship. As he stood tall,
clapping I knew this was going to be a battle.
But this game was
all about Plan B.: Mr. Cool Hand Luke Hancock. Maybe he was playing the game as
a backup for injured Ware, but he was playing to win in front of his ill father
who made the trip from Roanoke, VA to see him be crowned as the Most
Outstanding Player. As Louisville was down by 12 points in the first half
Pitino sent in Hancock. He made two free throws and then boom, boom, boooom, BOOM!
Four straight 3-pointers and 14 straight for Louisville on a 16-3 run gave the
Cardinals a one-point lead. This wasn’t the first time the Cardinals came back
from double digits to win in Atlanta. As Louisville’s best scorer, Russ Smith
went 3-16 in the final and an ugly 9-33 in the Final Four, Pitino knew how to
play his Cards right. Hancock ended the game with the team high 22-points and
will be a legend in Louisville. Siva shined with 18 points and had enough
energy to play another 40 minutes. Behanan also put 15 points on the board for
the Cardinals.
This wasn’t the week
to rain on Louisville Coach Pitino’s parade. The same day he was cutting down
the nets he found out he would be a member of the Hall of Fame, became the
first coach to win a National Championship with two schools, and his son was
named the head coach at Minnesota.
Michigan was left
feeling the blues as Webber is still settling his pay-to-play days from Michigan;
Louisville used plan B to ri5e to the
occasion and giving Kevin Ware the chance to cut down the nets was priceless.
Louisville girls
play to the championship Tuesday night against UConn- and seriously, anybody
but Geno!
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