Shabazz Napier, everyone.
On Twitter tonight, one of the UConn beat guys joked that they were running out of things to say about Napier. Napier certainly did his part tonight, putting Villanova on their heels with back-to-back-to-back three-point haymakers in the second half, not to mention coming back from a shin injury to make a tough layup in traffic with 2:17 left to push the lead to 9. Napier is becoming a Homer-esque epic hero, worthy of song and adulation and peeled grapes and other epic hero stuff. Concubines? I don’t know how this works. Whatever, he’ll settle for the win. And maybe the adulation.
The setting couldn’t have been better: playing an old Big East rival for the right to move on to the old Big East stomping grounds. Count me in. I’ve got UConn basketball fanfic on my hard drive right now that is basically that, verbatim.
It wasn’t just Napier, though. It can’t be. Not in March. Ryan Boatright and DeAndre Daniels each played OK, with 11 points, but with good defensive contributions and some tidy board-work. Lasan Kromah (12 points, 4 steals) made some monster plays, and Terrence Samuel had his best game at UConn, scoring a career-high 11 points, including a pressure-packed 7-of-8 from the line.
It’s hard not to feel good about this one. A Sweet Sixteen run feels like the old days, with a star player making waves, nationally. It’s even harder to not think about you-know-who, carrying the team through the 2011 tournament. But this feels different. This isn’t just Shabazz and friends. This is a team that can upset a the No. 6 team in the country with their best player missing large stretches of the first half with foul trouble. These guys all deserve a lot of credit. No matter what happens from here on out, gentlemen, we’re all proud of you.
But let’s keep going, eh?
So I’m totally on board with singing Bazz’s praises today, but something I haven’t heard anyone talking about since the game was the lineup Ollie used down the stretch last night. From about the 6 minute mark in the second half, he went with Bazz, Boat, Kromah, Samuel and Giffey. All quality ballhandlers. They broke Nova’s half court trap every time down the floor and that allowed UConn to set up their offense. They got lots of good looks coming down to the end and basically out-Nova’ed Nova. Napier and Giffey were getting enough rebounds to deny second chances. I say kudos to KO, whose in-game coaching has been the subject of let’s say trepidation at times. On to MSG!