Looking at how UConn, Butler reached NCAA title game

HOUSTON - A Final Four record 75,421 fans saw one fast-paced semifinal game and another where every point was hard-earned. The surprise was that Butler-Virginia Commonwealth was the more up-and-down game while Connecticut-Kentucky was a slog fest.

Attack the pressure

The way Butler attacked the VCU pressure was well-conceived and had a purpose. The Bulldogs spread the court perfectly, passed ahead and had the brilliant Matt Howard come from behind the defense to be the pressure release at halfcourt. And then they ran the ball at the rim. Butler got VCU in early foul trouble and made the Rams play from behind.

VCU had 11 first-half points in a 2-minute burst. And just 17 in the other 18 minutes, once Butler defensive ace Ronald Nored got off the bench and on the court . . . VCU had been plus-90 points from the arc in five NCAA games. It was a 24-24 dead heat with Butler as each team made eight threes . . . VCU had forced 69 turnovers and gotten 35 steals in five NCAA games. The numbers were just nine and three against the Bulldogs . . . Butler, as it does in almost every game, won all the hustle stats. They had 16 offensive rebounds to just six for VCU. Thus, it had 19 second-chance points to six for VCU, attempted twice as many free throws (26-13) and got just about every loose ball . . . Jamie Skeen (27 points) was great for VCU, but Joey Rodriguez (shadowed by Nored), Ed Nixon and Brandon Rozzell were just 3-for-18.

Butler's Brad Stevens is a brilliant coach. He knew his team could not play its usual middling pace against the VCU heat so he used the Rams' greatest strength (speed and pressure) against them by attacking. He put his best players, Howard and Shelvin Mack, in position to make plays or finish plays. They finished with 41 points and 14 rebounds. Mack went on a personal 10-point run to break the game open, shooting 5-for-6.

Locked 'em up

This was not terribly complicated. Other than a brief flurry to start the second half, UConn really defended the three-point arc and forced the Wildcats out of their comfort zone.

Huskies freshman Shabazz Napier was a bit out of control on offense until his late drive and two clinching free throws, but his defense on UK freshman star Brandon Knight (6-for-23) was terrific.

Kentucky shot just 21-for-62 (33.9 percent). Many of its three-point shots were short, especially those from Knight and DeAndre Liggins. After a 48-48 tie, UK missed seven consecutive shots and could not recover, even though UConn was not generating much offense either.

As poorly as UK shot, the Wildcats still could have won if they had made free throws (4-for-12) . . . UConn was playing on fumes late, turned it over too many times (15) and was fortunate Kentucky's 11 steals only led to two fastbreak points . . . Hard to believe that it was a one-point game with the shooting differential - UConn shot 46.9 percent to just 33.9 percent for Kentucky. The reason it was so close? UK made nine threes to just one for the Huskies, a 24-point difference on the scoreboard, something almost impossible to overcome on most nights. UConn won the game in the lane, outscoring UK, 34-20, there . . . UK freshman Terrence Jones, the best athlete on the floor, had 11 points, 15 rebounds and four steals. He also missed all five of his free-throw attempts. Look for him in the NBA lottery . . . Knight had 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals. But he missed those 17 shots.

In this unprecedented 10-game run through the Big East and NCAA, Kemba Walker has scored 26, 28, 24, 33, 19, 18, 33, 36, 20 and 18 points, including all those big shots. When nobody could make a shot late in this game, Walker went end-to-end to give his team a two-possession lead. When his shot wasn't going (6-for-15), he did everything else - seven assists, six rebounds, two steals and a highlight film run-him-down-from-behind block at the rim. Nobody has been able to stay in front of him and, if you don't think some of those Kentucky shots were short because their players got tired from chasing Walker, you weren't paying attention.

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