Are We Sure That Wasn't High School Basketball?

Last night's national championship game had all the makings of a memorable night: the overachieving underdog searching for redemption from last year's almost-victory, arguably one of the greatest runs college basketball has seen beginning with the Big East Championship and riding that momentum to the national championship game, a player of the year candidate in Kemba Walker, the rising star coach in Brad Stevens battling the gritty, weathered Jim Calhoun for supremacy.  How could fans be disappointed in the matchup?

While the matchup didn't fail them, the expectations of the game certainly did.  I believe I owe Butler and UConn a thank you for reminding me why I cannot stand watching college basketball.  That was, without a doubt, one of the worst college basketball games that I have ever watched.  Believe me, I have a fairly large basis for comparison too.

Turnovers, poor shot selection, missed open shots.  You name whatever horrendous outcome could happen on a possession and I guarantee you that it occurred at least once.  18.8% and 34.5% from the field?  Is that a joke?

Announcers were quick to praise the defensive efforts of both teams, especially UConn, but it doesn't exactly take stellar defense to get a team to take an open three with 25 seconds left on the shot clock.  UConn's "lockdown" defense wasn't exactly causing Butler to miss every one of their three point attempts.  How many baskets inside of five feet did Howard and Smith miss?  Well they were a combined 3-16 from inside the three point line, so that should give you an idea.

Six assists for UConn and five for Butler.  None for Kemba, the one player with more discernible talent than anyone else on that court.  I swear to you, strip the names of the colleges from their jerseys and place them in a small gym and nobody in their right mind would think that those were the two best college teams in the country.  I doubt that most would even think they were watching a college game, let alone the national championship.

I don't care what the tournament says; those were not the two best teams in the nation.  Were they the best over the five games that they had to be?  Clearly they were, but it would take a massive stretch in logic to conclude that that abysmal performance represented the best that college basketball had to offer its fans.

So thank you, Butler and UConn, for guiding me back to my rightful domain: caring and following the NBA.  A slap in the face reminder like this is exactly what I needed.