So, largely because of this mini-controversy and discussion, I watched most of the game last night. What I saw was interesting and a bit different from the Dan Shaughnessy narrative. Or at least what I think he's trying to say. And it was actually quite different from what I thought I was going to see, or had sort of been led to believe I would see.
The final margin was 21, but that was a bit flattering to the Huskies, or at least, what you might think it must mean about the game is probably not exactly right. This was not a case of obviously better players imposing their will on an overmatched team. In fact, if you watched the game without the sound or the score on the bottom, you might be surprised to learn the score at the end. Texas was good. They were actually a bit tougher than UConn. They were a little better on the boards -- both in terms of number of rebounds and even a little bit in aggressiveness and toughness on the glass. They were physical and caused turnovers. They were capable of runs and making UConn look hesitant at times.
UConn won this game, and in fact it wasn't close, because of the way they played as a team. Yes, they have individual players who can make strong individual plays, but it was surprising how little of that there actually was. UConn won, because they used their 30 seconds every trip to find exactly the right shot -- the right person in the right place had a bit of extra space to get a higher percentage shot off. That's it. That's the only sense in which I would actually describe Connecticut as the "better" team. It was most notable when Texas would go on a little run or UConn would get frazzled and then settled themselves. It was a dogged determination to get the best shot possible under the circumstances.
And then, when they got them, they just didn't miss. To see that a team shot 12-21 from behind the arc, you'd assume that the other team's perimeter defense was simply shitty. But it wasn't that. It was just that Connecticut found the right pass, and if it wasn't someone open behind the arc, then they made the other pass. Obviously, you need good players at every position to be such a threat that there is a correct shot on each possession. But the stuff that UConn did right, at least last night, is really stuff that other teams with very good players should be able to emulate.