NCAA Men's Tournament Capsules: Butler and UConn play for it all

Good enough to earn him a place among UConn's all-time greats? Hardly. Making the All-Big East third team doesn't exactly send the bust makers digging for their chisels.

One incredible season has changed that.

Win or lose in Monday night's NCAA championship game against Butler, Walker has earned single-name status up there with UConn icons Ray Allen, Richard Hamilton, Caron Butler and Emeka Okafor after one of the best individual seasons in college hoops history.

"He's just Kemba now," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said Sunday. "If it's just Ray, Caron, Rip, Mek, Ben (Gordon), it's just Kemba now. That's a great status to have."

Walker has been an unlikely addition to the pantheon.

A standout high school player and playground legend from the Bronx, he had a typical grow-as-you-go start to his career in Storrs, averaging 8.9 points his first season, 14.6 as a sophomore. Walker doesn't have the typical dominant-guy physique, either. It's usually bigger guys or wings who carry teams, and at a lanky 6-foot-1, Walker is more Allen Iverson than Danny Manning.

Nothing has stopped him this season.

Starting at the Maui Invitational, where he outscored opposing teams by himself for stretches, Walker set out on a journey to make a name for himself and his team. He — and, consequently, the Huskies — went through a late-season funk, but responded with one of the greatest conference tournament performances ever, leading the Huskies to five wins in five days and into the NCAA tournament.

Walker has been brilliant in the bracket, scoring when he needs to, dishing when he's not open, playing with a never-hurry-up confidence that tells his team and the one across the court that he's in charge.

Averaging 23.7 points and 4.6 assists per game, Walker accounted for an almost-unheard-of 45 percent of the Huskies' points this season and has them on the cusp of the program's third national title.

BYU's Jimmer Fredette got the national attention and player of the year awards, but if college basketball had an MVP, Walker likely would have been the runaway winner.

"I know Jimmer was able to get national player of the year and that's definitely well-deserved, but I don't see how Kemba didn't get it leading such a young team, literally carrying us on his back and taking us to victory," UConn sophomore forward Alex Oriakhi said.

Walker's run to Reliant Stadium rivals some of the best seasons in college basketball history.

Pete Maravich had the greatest one from a scoring standpoint, setting Division I records for average (44.5) and total points (1,381) at Louisiana State, including three 60-point games.

Lew Alcindor was as dominating a force as there's been in college basketball before he became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, setting a UCLA record with 56 points in his first varsity game before leading the Bruins to an undefeated season in 1967.

Bill Bradley single-handedly led Princeton to the Final Four in 1965; Bill Russell dominated without filling the stat sheet to lead San Francisco to its second straight title in 1956; and Indiana State's Larry Bird took a bunch of underlings to the national title game in 1979. Manning set the NCAA tournament team-carrying standard in 1988, guiding the no-name Miracles to a title at Kansas.

Walker's season fits not just because of his numbers, but how he did it.

He's been more than just a go-to player, willing his team to victories and seizing the moment with a big shot, defender-splitting dish or run-him-down blocked shot, as he did against Kentucky in the national semifinals on Saturday.

For Walker, it doesn't matter how it gets done as long as his team gets a win.

"For how much (attention) he gets and for how much people talk about him, he seems really unselfish," said Butler's Ronald Nored, one of the players who likely will get a turn at trying to stop Walker in the title game. "That's really admirable. It's great to have guys like that who are in our game."

Walker has been just as valuable, if not moreso, off the court.

When the players are away from the watchful eye of Calhoun, Walker is like a cord back to the coach, making sure everyone keeps their focus. He also became a leader without announcing it, his cool-but-confident constitution naturally dropping his teammates in line behind him.

"(It) is an unusual gift that Kemba has," Calhoun said. "It's funny. He walked out of the breakfast room yesterday morning, we just finished our meal. There was Kemba and about six guys following him. It just so happened it ended up that way. It was just the way they were leaving, but I thought to myself as I saw that, that's kind of who we are and what we are in many, many ways."

Walker is an All-America player, the undisputed leader of an improbable run to the title game — the Huskies were picked 10th in the Big East preseason poll — and the most dynamic player this side of Jimmermania.

But does he deserve an invite to UConn's one-name club?

"I don't know yet," Walker said. "I guess coming from (Calhoun), it's a special honor. He's coached some great players. We have a lot of great history in this program and to be mentioned with those guys is amazing."

Win Monday night, and the conversation could start with one name: Kemba.

-- John Marshall

Butler wary but not obsessed with UConn's Walker

"We were like, we know who he is," said Butler senior guard Alex Anglin.

Of course they do. So does everybody else who has faced Connecticut's singular superstar this season. Yet meticulous Butler coach Brad Stevens wasn't about to break routine, not with another shot at a national title on the line.

So the Bulldogs spent the usual 45 minutes running through tape of UConn's strengths on Sunday morning, spending no more time on Walker than they have on any other high-profile player this year. They watched 8-10 clips of Walker doing what he does best — getting to the basket, creating his shot off the dribble and finding open teammates — before moving on to the next Husky in line.

"You try not to overwhelm them," said Butler associate head coach Matthew Graves. "Obviously, they're familiar with him. He's one of the best players in the country."

One who poses Butler with a challenge they haven't faced while crashing college basketball's biggest party two years running.

Though the Bulldogs have knocked off a series of Goliaths during their remarkable run to consecutive national title games — their victim list includes Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Florida and Syracuse — they haven't faced a player as vital to one team as Walker is to the Huskies.

"He's a guy that puts you in a lot of unique positions," Stevens said.

Most of them bad.

Lay off Walker, and he'll pull up from 3. Body him, and he'll blow by you with a vertigo-inducing first step. Throw two players at him, and he'll find an open teammate.

Graves, who splits the scouting with assistants Terry Johnson and Micah Shrewsberry, called Walker "without a doubt the best individual player in terms of importance to his team that we've faced."

Shutting him down is almost an impossible task. Slowing him down isn't much easier.

Kentucky did as good a job as anyone on Saturday, holding Walker to "only" 18 points in UConn's narrow 56-55 win. Yet he added six rebounds and seven assists to send the Huskies to their 10th straight victory and a spot in the national championship game.

"Kemba makes it tough for you," said guard Ronald Nored, who could get one of the first cracks at guarding Walker on Monday. "But the great thing about people is they all have tendencies. Everyone has something that they're good at; everyone has something that they're probably not as good at, or they're not as efficient at. In the next few hours, there's going to be a lot of breakdowns."

None of them nervous ones. Butler doesn't do nervous.

Credit the even-keeled Stevens, who has perfected "the Butler Way" during his four seasons on the bench. The Bulldogs respect every opponent, regardless of what it says on the front of their jersey.

The fear factor, however, is long gone.

Yes, they're concerned about Walker. Saying they're obsessed would be stretching it.

"You really just can't focus the defense all on him," said guard Shawn Vanzant. "They've got excellent other guards on the team who can hurt you. (Jeremy) Lamb's a very good player. It's going to be a team collective to guard their three guards."

Meaning everybody has to take a look at the scouting report on each player, no exceptions. Forward Matt Howard won't be anywhere near Walker when the Bulldogs set up their halfcourt defense. Yet he has to know where to go when Walker inevitably comes his way.

"You have to have a team awareness on him; it's not going to be one guy," Howard said. "I know we'll probably be rotating guys onto him."

Nored and Vanzant certainly will get a shot, and the assistants have prepared extra tape so the players can spend all Sunday night studying where Walker likes to go when he gets the ball on the left baseline if they want.

Every minute of tape represents hours of work by the coaching staff. Distilling 40 games worth of highlights into a palatable package that can be quickly grasped can be exhausting. Graves estimates the staff is averaging between 4-5 hours of sleep a night during the tournament.

If it means they know where to go when UConn runs a pick-and-roll at the top of the key with Walker and center Alex Oriahki, then it's worth it.

Anglin likens the scouting reports to SparkNotes, the popular series of study aides that condenses classic books into easily digestible morsels.

The Bulldogs, however, have been better than most at taking away an opponent's strengths. They harassed Virginia Commonwealth's sharp-shooting Joey Rodriguez into a 1-of-8 performance on Saturday and limited SEC Player of the Year Chandler Parsons to just five points in the regional final a week ago.

Yet neither Rodriguez or Parsons are on Walker's level. Nobody in college basketball is. He'll step into the spotlight one more time on Monday, a place opponents have found mighty uncomfortable the last month.

Butler watched in person as Walker shred through the first weekend of the tournament in Washington D.C., and paid close attention on Saturday when he guided the Huskies to within 40 minutes of their third national title.

The Bulldogs are the last obstacle standing between Walker and a place in history reserved for the likes of Danny Manning, who carried Kansas to a national title 23 years ago.

Their admiration for Walker is palpable. So is their determination to succeed where so many other teams have failed.

"I've been cheering for him making game-winning shots all year so it's exciting to have this opportunity," Nored said. "It's going to be a tall task and not just him, the other two guards. It's going to be a tall task for us."

-- Will Graves

Breakdown of Monday's national championship game

BUTLER (28-9) vs. CONNECTICUT (31-9)

BUTLER

ROAD TO TITLE GAME: No. 8 Butler beat No. 9 Old Dominion 60-58; No. 1 Pittsburgh 71-70; No. 4 Wisconsin 61-54; No. 2 Florida 74-71, OT; No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth 70-62.

STAR: Shelvin Mack had 24 points and was 5 of 6 from 3-point range in the win over VCU. When he started connecting from the outside is when the Bulldogs started putting some space between themselves and the Rams. Matt Howard deserves co-star billing as he had 17 points and eight rebounds against VCU. Both have been instrumental in getting Butler back to the title game for a second straight year. Howard's tip-in at the buzzer to beat Old Dominion in the opening round was followed by him making the winning free throw with less than a second to play in the victory over Pittsburgh.

COACH: Brad Stevens, despite being just 34, is being lauded as one of the best in the coaching profession. His ability to motivate his team while keeping a cool demeanor has made him the talk of the NCAA tournament for a second straight year. His decision to remain at Butler after last year's run to the championship game has added to his persona as the ideal college coach. He is already 10 wins ahead of the previous record for best four-year start by a coach with a 117-24 mark.

KEY POINT: The Bulldogs have been here before, and most of that team is back. Butler plays solid defense and doesn't make mistakes on offense, but it's the way the Bulldogs play so hard and don't let the disparity in talent affect them that has made them one of the country's favorite teams at this time of year. The Bulldogs showed they have some ability up front by outrebounding VCU 48-32, including 16-6 on the offensive end.

CONNECTICUT

ROAD TO THE CHAMPIONSIP GAME: No. 3 Connecticut beat No. 14 Bucknell 81-52; No. 6 Cincinnati 69-58; No. 2 San Diego State 74-67; No. 5 Arizona 65-63; No. 4 Kentucky 56-55.

STAR: Kemba Walker showed again why he is having one of the best seasons in recent memory. He had 18 points, six rebounds and seven assists in the win over Kentucky. Despite being guarded by a much bigger player in DeAndre Liggins, Walker, who played all 40 minutes, was able to find his teammates to score and still made big shots himself. He accounted for 32 of the Huskies' 56 points. The All-America is averaging over 26 points a game in the postseason, a 10-game stretch in 25 days.

COACH: At 68, Hall of Famer Jim Calhoun would become the oldest coach to win a national championship. It would be his third title and would put him in a group with John Wooden, Adolph Rupp, Mike Krzyzewski and Bob Knight to win at least that many. He has a career record of 854-607 placing him sixth on the all-time wins list and third among active coaches behind Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim. The Huskies' Big East championship was Calhoun's record seventh.

KEY POINT: The Huskies are on a roll over the last 10 games with seven of the opponents being ranked in the Top 25. It hasn't all been Walker. Freshman Jeremy Lamb had 12 points and four assists against Kentucky, and Alex Oriakhi had eight points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Shabazz Napier had quite a final 16 seconds against the Wildcats, turning the ball over then coming up with a rebound with 3 seconds left and then made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 1.7 seconds left for a four-point lead.

THE SKINNY: It's the school from the aptly named Big East against the school from the Horizon League. It's the team with a superstar against one that plays the team game seamlessly. Butler rebounds well for its size, and that's one thing Connecticut has plenty of with Oriakhi and Charles Okwandu in the middle. Walker and Mack should be a great matchup of players who lead their teams on and off the court.

THE PICK: Walker and Connecticut continue to roll, and Butler comes up short in the championship game again. The Huskies come up with a 61-58 victory.

-- Jim O'Connell

Overall News

On Basketball: Even great college basketball players get tired

HOUSTON (AP) — Kemba Walker finally broke down and confessed: He was tired.

The 63-year-old Hall of Famer has co-written and is the executive producer of a documentary called "On the Shoulders of Giants." It tells the story of the Harlem Rens, an all black professional basketball team that defeated the Original Celtics for the world basketball championship in the 1930s.

"The primary reason that I did it was because the early days of professional basketball are almost totally unknown now to the public because it happened so long ago," Abdul-Jabbar, in town for the Final Four, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "There's no footage. It's just fallen through the cracks of history."

The Rens, who competed from the 1920s until 1949, were named after Harlem's Renaissance Casino and played in its second-story ballroom. Jazz greats including Count Basie and Cab Calloway played at halftime of the Rens' games, and they'd come on again after the game for a dance that lasted until the wee hours of the morning.

They won more than 2,000 games, including 88 straight in 86 days in 1932-33.

Abdul-Jabbar, who was born and grew up in Harlem, said he didn't learn of the Rens until the summer before his senior year in high school.

"When I was still in high school I knew that they were a very good team," he said. "But I didn't know their relationship to professional basketball until much later, after having played professional basketball."

The movie is currently available on Comcast on demand but is set to be released on Netflix in May. It features music by artists including Chuck D of Public Enemy, will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and Herbie Hancock. Jamie Foxx narrates the film, and a star-studded list of people, including Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Carmelo Anthony, Charles Barkley and Bill Russell, appear in it.

He said it was easy to get so many people to lend a hand with the film.

"There are a lot of people who like the sport who I know and who have something relevant to say with regard to where the sport is today and where it's come from," Abdul-Jabbar said. "So I was able to get people to say a few things about what they knew about the Rens and give them a little bit of the recognition that they deserve."

The documentary also features an interview with John "Wonder Boy" Isaacs, a Ren who died in 2009.

The impact of the Rens, who were enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 1963, is far reaching, and Abdul-Jabbar said even the late John Wooden, his coach at UCLA, was influenced by the team.

"Coaches would bring their staffs to watch them play so they could figure out a way teach the game," Abdul-Jabbar said. "That's how well they played the game. My own coach John Wooden, he played against them in the 1930s. He played for a professional team in Indianapolis. He remembered how they played and tried to incorporate some of their expertise in his coaching philosophy."

Abdul-Jabbar was most struck by the obstacles the Rens had to overcome in playing in a time when America was segregated.

"They couldn't travel like everyone else," he said. "They couldn't stay in hotels. There was no guarantee that would be able to eat at a restaurant, and sometimes people wouldn't sell them gas because they were black. It was a very different time in this country and very difficult to be a person of color and try to function in America. Yet they dealt with all of that just for the opportunity to play basketball."

SMOOTH OPERATOR: Connecticut freshman Jeremy Lamb has the curse of smooth. On the court, he moves so easily it hardly looks like he's breaking a sweat.

People have noticed throughout his career but rarely with an admiring tone.

"That's my personality," Lamb said Sunday. "I'm just real calm. I don't really show much emotion on the court. That's just how I am. A lot of people ask me about that, ask me, 'Are you really working hard?' and stuff like that. I'm working hard. I just don't show much emotion."

Lamb heard the same thing at Norcross High School in Georgia, despite averaging a team-leading 20 points as a senior, and the impression followed him to Storrs, Conn.

"When I first got to UConn, people were saying, 'You're going half-speed. You're not working hard.'" he said. "I was working hard. It looks like I'm not. So yeah, sometimes people get on me for that, but really when I start scoring, don't nobody really say nothing, so I just got to score."

OTHER OPTIONS: VCU coach Shaka Smart isn't the only one who turned down Harvard.

Butler defensive specialist Ronald Nored got an academic scholarship from the school considered by many to be the most prestigious in the country. But just as Smart did about a decade earlier, Nored decided to go somewhere where basketball would be as big a deal as his grades.

The Homewood, Ala., native initially committed to Western Kentucky, but changed his mind after coach Darrin Horn left for South Carolina. Nored then decided to go to Butler.

"Harvard's done a great job. Tommy Amaker's done a heck of a job at Harvard lately," Nored said Sunday. "And the fact that he told me the average Harvard graduate makes $300,000 after they graduate, I was like, maybe I need to be going to Harvard. But I thought Butler's been doing great things over the last 10, 11 years, and I just wanted to be a part of something special."

That he has. Butler is the first Indiana school to make the Final Four in back-to-back years, and Nored and the Bulldogs will play for the national title for a second straight year Monday night. The eighth-seeded Bulldogs play third-seeded Connecticut.

"It's really exciting," Nored said. "The thing that's changed in the last few years is that people will recognize who Butler is a little more, that people are excited about Butler basketball."

NEW ALLEGATIONS: Former UConn player Nate Miles recently told The New York Times that coach Jim Calhoun knew he received improper benefits from a former team manager, contradicting statements Calhoun made to the NCAA.

Calhoun acknowledged making mistakes in the recruitment of Miles, which led to a three-game suspension next season by the NCAA, but said he did not have knowledge of payments and gifts that were given to the player.

Calhoun's lawyer issued a statement after the allegations surfaced and the coach didn't elaborate much more on Sunday.

"I've said before that I took full responsibility as the head coach, anything that happened within our program," Calhoun said. "So, therefore, I accept that responsibility. I said my own personal and private thoughts would be kept personal and private."

Miles, who was expelled from UConn in October 2008 without ever playing for the Huskies, said he received shoes, clothing and money from a former team manager who was introduced by current Quinnipiac coach Tom Moore, a former assistant under Calhoun.

GIVE THEM A CHANCE: Butler coach Brad Stevens feels for the non-BCS football schools who never get a chance to play for the national championship no matter how good their records are. He said he's a fan of Boise State and TCU.

"I'm one of the guys screaming at the TV when TCU doesn't get a spot to play for the national championship," he said.

He was excited when someone told him Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore attended a Butler game in Salt Lake City last season wearing a Bulldogs' T-shirt.

"That's pretty cool," Stevens said. "Our guys rallied around that. Every time Boise would play, they'd be talking about that the next morning. I think that's a pretty neat deal. Certainly we understand what they're going through in a lot of ways."

WALKER TO THE NBA: UConn coach Jim Calhoun has said Kemba Walker's draft status is high enough that he should probably consider leaving school for the NBA.

Walker hasn't thought much about what he's going to do but certainly didn't rule out a return despite prognostications that he's already got a foot out the door.

"Everybody's got the perception I'm leaving," Walker said. "Everybody says, 'oh, yeah, he's leaving, he had his senior night already and is graduating early.' That's not the case. I just want to get it over. If I was able to come back, I'd probably have just one class, but I don't see why people make those perceptions. I just want to win the national championship at this point."

So with the potential of being a lottery pick in the NBA draft, why would Walker come back to Storrs?

"If we win the national championship, I'm thinking back to back," he said. "We'll have a great team; we'll have the same team, actually. Coming back would be fun. These guys are my brothers."

RIMES TO SING: Grammy Award winner LeAnn Rimes is scheduled to perform the National Anthem on Monday night before the championship game between Butler and Connecticut. She has sold more than 37 million albums and won two Grammy Awards. The "How Do I Live" singer also has won three Academy of Country Music Awards and 12 Billboard Music Awards.

-- Kristie Rieken

Unlikely pairings don't hurt Final Four ratings

Town rallies for Howard family, funds NCAA trip

CONNERSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Residents of Connersville have rallied behind the family of Butler star forward Matt Howard, raising about $10,000 to send 10 of his relatives to see him try to lead the Bulldogs to the NCAA men's basketball championship.

Howard's father, Stan, delivers mail to 700 homes in the city of 13,000 in eastern Indiana where he lives with his wife, Linda.

A week's fundraising is helping cover the cost of sending his parents, five sisters and three of his four brothers to the NCAA Final Four in Houston. His other brother, Tim Howard, is staying home with his pregnant wife.

Connersville Mayor Leonard Urban proclaimed Thursday as "Howard Family Community Day," and family members road a fire truck for a parade to a courthouse rally.

Butler beat Virginia Commonwealth 70-62 on Saturday, with help from Matt Howard's 17 points. The Bulldogs face Connecticut in Monday's championship game.

As Stan Howard walked his delivery route last Wednesday, many people came forward with good wishes — and more.

Jan Cox stepped from behind her storm door and swapped an envelope for her mail, The Indianapolis Star reported.

"Here's a little check for you and your family," Cox said.

Cordia Nunn missed Howard when he worked her side of the street. She stepped out of her home, crossed the street as he made his way back down the other side. She wore slippers, and her shoulders were hunched against the 32-degree cold and swirling snow. She held a bill in her hand.

"Hope they win," she said, giving Howard the money and a hug.