At what point in the championship game did you know we would win? | Page 3 | The Boneyard

At what point in the championship game did you know we would win?

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Lasan's 2 FT's. No way we would've missed free throws even if they had made that first 3 pointer with like 15 seconds left
 
dogpause said:
There are some games where you just never know, with confidence, which way it will go until the final buzzer sounds. There are others where you might get a strong sense of confidence at a certain point in the game. For me, that feeling occurred within the first couple of minutes, when it became obvious that Kentucky's size was not going to intimidate us, and that our quickness and experience were the trump cards. The other thing that made me feel good was how quickly everyone got involved.
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I knew after we beat MSU and Florida back to back that we would beat Kentucky. It took a whole season but we finally realized how to turn OUR size and speed to our advantage. Now if that had been Lville we would be facing in the finals another story. Its all about match ups. Oh and I was never worried about "Coach" Cal making tweaks to his game plan to deal with us. Guy can't coach his way out of a corner. Izzo, Donovan or Pitino scared me and KO outcoached 2 of 3.
 
uconNYC said:
Honestly - from the start. After how we dismantled Florida did not feel Kentucky could beat us. Was not a moment in the Championship game where I was really worried, mostly because our FT shooting is so good.
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I agree with you. After the huge win against Florida, I watched a replay of the 5 Kentucky victories leading up to the title game. I was actually disappointed since they appeared slow, especially the PGs, and their defense was not stellar and that their wins were obtained by small margins. They barely scraped by whereas Uconn always won convincingly except for the St. Joe's win by way of a magical Houdini escape act courtesy of Amida. Bazz obviously felt the same as he revealed in an interview after the win. He said that on the eve of that game he stayed in his hotel for the most part and truly believed in his heart and mind that they would win and even PREPARED A SPEECH. What he said on live at the celebration that " this is what happens when you ban us" was not by any means an afterthought.
 
Husky25 said:
Ironically, Calipari did his homework. He said in the postgame he saw UConn's performance from the line.
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That was baloney. Our FT shooting notwithstanding, tell me one UConn fan that wasn't thrilled when they realized UK wasn't fouling.
 
Probably the last minute or so. Once Kentucky started fouling, I knew it was over. Our FT shooting was too good for them to make a come back. I had a few friends over watching it and when Daniels hit his shot with about 3 minutes left they were like "Booyeah - game over". I just about punched them in the face.
 
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Waquoit said:
That was baloney. Our FT shooting notwithstanding, tell me one UConn fan that wasn't thrilled when they realized UK wasn't fouling.
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Can only tell you what the man said. Was he making excuses? Probably. But no one wants to be to blame for losing the National Championship. Least of all someone making $5.5 mill + bonuses.
 
For me, this was one hell of a crazy championship game. I was on a business trip out in South Dakota and was supposed to be there through Tuesday. Things ended more quickly than expected and I was leaving for a connecting flight out of Detroit just as the game was beginning. I called my wife and had her set up the DVR that morning and during the flight, I kept having to cover my ears every time the flight crew would give us an update about the game. I had to keep up the same act at baggage claim and on the shuttle going to the parking lot.

I probably looked like a nutcase, but I managed to watch the game spoiler-free.
 
I felt confident about 3 days after the championship watching Shabazz say "you're looking at the Hungry Huskies!!!" for the thousandth time.
 
Once UConn made the NC game I knew they would carry the hardware home
UConn just doesn't lose NC games
Never Have Never Will
 
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epark88 said:
When Boatright came racing out of the pack with that last rebound.

I darn near scared my coworkers to death at that point!...
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This right here minus the coworker thing. Although I did think for a minute I broke the fan in my living room after carelessly jumping up and down and hitting it with my hand.
 
Listening to coach KO going into halftime, when that reporter mentioned how UK is a 2nd half team then Ollie got mad and raised his voice "well were a 2nd half team too and whatever Kentucky is were gonna take it a step higher". Hearing KO going into the locker room made me confident every time, just imagine hearing what he said in the locker room at halftime. There were a couple telling moments, when Boatright stayed in with the sprained ankle, the jump ball from Kromah, the run in the 2nd half with Shabazz on the bench.
 
I knew we were going to win when Kromah got fouled. I knew uk was in trouble when the twins looked lost against our guards early on. Bazz n Boat looked so much faster than the twins and they simply couldn't adjust or keep up. If not for the zone uk probably gets humiliated on national television.
 
Husky25 said:
Ironically, Calipari did his homework. He said in the postgame he saw UConn's performance from the line. He knew if he fouled UConn there was a better than average chance that He'd be giving up 2 free points. UConn only missed 6 of 67 free throws from the Sweet 16 on and had hit all 10 in the UK game. Fouling UConn was a guaranteed losing strategy.
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You often hear that games were won at the FT line, but this may be the first team to ever win an entire tournament at the FT line. Also the first time that an opposing coach has surrendered because of the other team's free throw shooting performance. All that size, muscle and potential doesn't help you much when it comes to FT's.
 
arnie3 said:
It may sound crazy, but I felt the same way that I felt when we played GT- we were going to win. I didn't know or care by how many. I just knew that they were going to take care of business. Usually I dread watching because I'm so nervous. This time I couldn't wait until tip-off. And when tip-off came, I knew that the freshmen wanted to play anyone but UConn. It showed. As Calipari said-"They were scared to death"
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In fairness to KY's players, I think they were nervous about the moment, not about playing us. The stage was a bit too big, the lights a little too bright. They didn't expect to be there and weren't mentally ready when it snuck up on them. Our players expected to be there (even if we didn't) and relished the opportunity.
 
Another thing Kromah did to ice that game. He rebounded Giffey's miss and got it back to Napier just under two minutes. Huge O rebound while almost going out of bounds.
 
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I felt pretty good after the Kromah offensive rebound, but it wasn't until he nailed the two FTs with 25 seconds to go that I felt we had it.
 
Just because of KY last second buzzer beaters in the tourney I felt really good after they missed their first shot as they were scrambling at the end. The clock kept running and I was thinking that even if they made their second or third shot it would be too late. As it turned out they made NONE!!
 
dogpause said:
In fairness to KY's players, I think they were nervous about the moment, not about playing us. The stage was a bit too big, the lights a little too bright.
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That's exactly what my wife said as she placed her wager on the Huskies. She was calm all night. I was a nervous wreck. But as Scoe mentioned, I also loved it when KO came right back at the halftime interviewer with his "We'll we're a second half team, too! That was fantastic. It was a thrilling ride for two weeks straight.
 
When we came out of the gate throwing haymakers I had a good feeling that we would win, but I never count my chickens before they hatch.

I didn't know we would win until Boatright squirted out of the scrum with the ball with five seconds left. That final play felt like the 2011 Arizona game; I stopped paying any attention to the clock and just sort of held my breath. A quick three by UK would have made it a one possession game, and if that happened I figured they would try for a steal on the ensuing inbound play rather than fouling. I kept envisioning everything that could go wrong, but before I knew it it didn't matter, because Boatright had the ball and it was all over.
 
The opening tipoff. We had veterans and the best player on the floor.
 
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