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The last NCAA basketball game we care about was played last night. A long tournament now ended, we crown a champ: the UConn Huskies. Really, UConn? Did anyone see that coming? I don't think so.
Last night #7 UConn beat #8 Kentucky 60-54. I didn't get to watch the game (work), but that's fine. The main man who showed up was Shabazz Napier (before the tournament he was the consensus #40.10 player, expect that to change). 'Bazz finished with 22 points (4/9 from three), 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 50 fg%. Sure, he had 4 turn overs in this game, but he was the #1 guy to stop for the Kentucky defense. And they failed to do so.
Napier had some help, by not from DeAndre Daniels (the only other player on his team that's in the Top 150). DD finished with 8 points off of 14 shots, but did still get 6 rebounds and 2 blocks. He did go 0-4 from downtown. That's not a good look. Ryan Boatright added 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Niels Giffey hit some threes and got some boards too.
This is a win for the better team by ranking, but if you look at the prospects these two teams have, this looks like an upset if you're like me, and care about the NBA talent a team has.
Kentucky has a boadload of "NBA talent" on their squad: Julius Randle, Willie Cauley-Stein (injured), James Young, Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison, Alex Poythress, Dakari Johnson, and Marcus Lee. Young finished with 20 and 7, which is what you want -- but he shot 5-13 in order to get there. Randle did a lot of everything but wasn't outstanding -- 10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 block. He also went 4/7 from the free throw line. He's looking more and more like a Utah Jazz player if you ask me.
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Yeah. Congrats to UConn. And now let's really get down to business with the NBA draft coverage here!
Also congrats to our Top 5 winners of the SLC Dunk Bracket thingy. Hit me up via e-mail to claim your prize! (My email is allthatamar at gmail . com)