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

[dogpause]

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.

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.

 

[dogpause]

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"

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.

 

[upstater]

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.

 

[DogMania]

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.

 

[Vuce]

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!!

 

[Nostical]

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.

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.

 

[RyMaN600]

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.

 

[Huskybass]

The opening tipoff. We had veterans and the best player on the floor.

 

[HuskyJJ]

Gampel when we "knew we would win"

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