Madness ends on ugly note

Tickel your Fancy
By Hunter Tickel | Senior Reporter

When Shelvin Mack missed his first two layups and had his 3-pointer swatted, I knew Butler was in for an ominous night.

The lack of execution and shot-making from Connecticut and Butler made for one of the most unbearable championship games in the history of college basketball.

The Bulldogs shot worse than 19 percent in a game that was an indecent climax to the five-month season and elimination of 343 other teams.

Only Harvard in 1946 had a worse performance from the floor in a tournament contest. Butler became the first team to hit just three 2-point baskets in a postseason game.

Even CBS analyst Charles Barkley, who had been ill-informed for the entirety of the Big Dance, was spot on when he compared Butler's six first-half buckets to being as ugly as the girls he dated in high school.

Butler's malaise spread quickly to UConn, which managed 19 opening-half points and actually trailed at the break. The 41 combined first-half points had the look of a scene cut from "Hoosiers" and Milan High School's championship in the '50s.

Kemba Walker, the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament, missed his first five shots before finishing 5 for 19 overall. The South Bronx native showed on the biggest stage that he is a dubious shooter.

Are the Huskies really the best team the nation has to offer? A squad that went .500 in the Big East only has one future NBA player and four underclassmen starters?

Monday night was evidence of one of the most talent-starved college seasons in recent memory. Only two players from the tournament finale — Walker, a lottery to mid-round pick, and Matt Howard, a late second rounder — will be drafted.

Mack would be wise to stay in school for another year after leaving much to be desired with his shot selection and ability to run an offense.

In a watered-down year for college hoops, the two teams left standing set a record for highest combined seed total (11) in a title game. The pair had 18 losses between them, another record high.

The tournament experienced its first Final Four without a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, which portrayed the mediocrity and lack of quality players in power conference programs.

There was not one single dominant team. Ohio State was the closest to it and they folded in the Sweet 16.

The Big East may have been deep, placing a record 11 teams in March Madness, but, besides Walker, it has zero players capable of playing at the next level.

The league rose to the occasion when many power conferences were in shambles. Take Southern California, which lost in the First Four, out of the equation and the PAC 10 matched the Colonial Athletic Association with three berths.

The Bulldogs garner elite status for posting back-to-back national title game appearances. The past two years, they have more NCAA tournament wins than any other program with 10, but have failed to deliver the fatal blow.

Monday, the Bulldogs appeared unaccustomed to the national spotlight as UConn flexed its muscles with 10 blocked shots and made it look like boys against men.

Coaches can't win championships, and the Bulldogs appeared to have had no business competing for the hardware.

In a fitting display of the thin line between the haves and have-nots, Pittsburgh guard Gilbert Brown missed his second free throw with 1.4 seconds remaining that would have squashed Butler's run in the second round.

The college game needs a restructuring if it's to keep up with the ranks of the pros.

One-and-done players are depleting top-level programs and veteran minnows raiding the Final Four are becoming less infrequent with the decline in quality college basketball.