Huskies National Champions Back at the Top

Photo Credit: NCAA.com

By Francisco Romero

After being banned from post-season play for one year, the University of Connecticut’s basketball team is back on top the college basketball world.  The Huskies defeated the Wildcats of Kentucky (60-54) to its fourth national championship in the last 16 years.

In 2012 the Huskies program was placed under a one-year ban for low scores in the Academic Progress Rate, a term-by-term measure of eligibility and retention for Division I student-athletes that was developed as an early indicator of eventual graduation rates.

With the mentality of Us-Against-the-World the Huskies were underdogs throughout the tournament, resiliency and determination took over the UConn’s players guiding them to a cut the nets at the end.

”It’s unbelievable because those guys, my players, stayed with the program,” mentioned a teary eyed Kevin Ollie who took the Head Coaching job after Jim Calhoun retired in 2012.

UConn never trailed during the game, but Kentucky was right on their tails throughout the whole game, the Wildcats cut the lead to 1 point in the second half. 

Shabazz Napier played outstanding and led his the Huskies with 22 points, six rebounds and three assists, junior guard Ryan Boatright finished the game with 14 points.

“We believed, we had faith on each other and we are here, we won the whole thing,” said Napier during a press conference after the game.

On the other hand Kentucky had plenty of chances to win the game.  Jim Calipari’s team missed 11 free throws. “We had our chances to win,” Calipari mentioned. “We’re missing shots, we’re missing free throws. We just didn’t have enough.”

James Young finished the game with 20 points for Kentucky. 

A storied ending for a team that was able to fight and overcome adversity.  UConn Huskies 2014 NCAA National Champions!