A Bookend Championship for Napier and UConn

Shabazz Napier started his collegiate career by winning a national championship back in 2011. Now, Napier finishes his collegiate career with another championship. The 7-seeded UConn Huskies defeated the 8-seeded Kentucky 60-54 last night for the NCAA Division I Championship in Dallas, Texas. Napier led his team with 22 points and knocked down four three pointers in the win. He also added in 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. The senior from Roxbury, Massachusetts won the Final Four MVP for his performance in the upset win against Florida and in leading his team to sweet victory over the Wildcats of Kentucky. He recorded 40 points in the two wins and stole the ball seven times between the two games. He finishes his illustrious career averaging 18 points per game and knocking down 40 percent of his three-pointers. He also finished with a career high in points, rebounds, steals and blocks. He should be a sure 1st round pick in this year’s upcoming draft.

Kevin Ollie led his Connecticut Huskies to an impressive 32-8 record and a 12-6 record in the American Conference.
Credit: sportzedge.com

Head Coach Kevin Ollie did a terrific job coaching in his first NCAA tournament. He is a perfect 6-0 in the national tournament! His team pulled off a lot of upsets during their tournament run, especially over Florida and then Kentucky (two SEC power-houses). The UConn Huskies were very impressive in their championship game, making 10-10 free throws and causing Kentucky to turn the ball over 13 times. They also never fell behind in the game, leading the Wildcats every minute.

In other college basketball news, Doug McDermott of Creighton won the Wooden Player of the Year Award. McDermott finished his career with 3,150 total points, fifth on the all-time scoring list. He eclipsed 3,000 points in his final home game. He was the third player in history to record 3,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. He was the only player in Creighton history to score 750 points in a season, and he did it three years in a row. Gregg Marshall won Coach of the Year for his work at Wichita State. They were the only team to finish undefeated in the regular season. People would be guessing what could have happened if the Shockers defeated Kentucky in that round of 32. Oh well, you can’t win them all I guess. So what’s going to happen next year? Well that’s the most exciting thing about sports: we don’t know. This was a fantastic tournament with a lot of upsets and surprises along the way. It just goes to show that you can never predict anything that happens in these types of games. One thing is for sure though: it was a good season of college basketball and I can’t wait for next year.

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Doug McDermott Lifting Creighton to a Whole New Level

The senior from Ames, Iowa has been doing great lately. Just recently, he scored a season-high 39 points including the game-winning three-pointer against St. Johns to lift the Creighton Bluejays to their 18th win of the season. In that game he also had six rebounds and shot 5-9 from beyond the arc. After that game, he moved up to 18th on the al-time scoring list or Division I basketball right behind former Duke standout J.J. Reddick.This year, he’s been averaging 25 points and 7 rebounds a game. He also has four double-doubles this season.There’s no doubt he will be a first-round pick in the upcoming NBA draft. The team that gets him will have a big man who can knock down threes. That’s pretty rare nowadays! McDermott has had some great coaching done by his father Greg McDermott over the last four years.

Doug with his father Coach Greg McDermott.
Credit: rushthecourt.net

Looking back at when he first played basketball, he was teammates with Harrison Barnes at Ames High School in Iowa and together they won back-to-back state titles in their junior and senior years. McDermott was originally going to play for Northern Iowa, but when his father moved from Iowa State to coach Creighton, Doug followed his daddy to play for him. In his freshman year, McDermott earned first team all-conference honors averaging 14.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. He was the first player to do that in the Missouri Valley conference since Cleo Littleton of Wichita State did it back in 1954. McDermott also set a conference record for most points by a freshman with 581. His sophomore year was unbelievable. He was named to the first team All-American list and averaged 22.9 points per game, as well as a career-high 8.2 rebounds per game. He also became the first Creighton player since Kyle Korver to win the conference player of the year award! His 801 points, 307 field goals and 48.6 percent shooting accuracy from three-point range were all school records for a single-season. In his junior year, he averaged 23.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, and1.6 assists per game and shot a career-high 49 percent from beyond the arc. All his years, McDermott has been improving in every area of his game. There’s no doubt that he is the greatest basketball player Creighton has ever had.