 |  |  |
Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I will never forget watching this game. All season long I thought Duke was going to win the title, though the only team I felt that had a chance to beat them was UCONN. This was the title game I wanted all season long, and I was surely not disappointed. While rooting for Duke, I felt this UCONN team would be a worthy champion if the Huskies could pull off the upset. As Khalid El-Amin said before the game, "We're going to shock the world." It's safe to say I was shocked as UCONN led at halftime. I remember my buddy Rich calling me at the half and saying that he thought Duke would still win. I felt the same way, though this UCONN team would not be denied. I'll never forget the end-game sequence as Trajan Langdon tried to dribble up court, falling down and losing the ball. I always thought Coach K should have called a timeout here. Anyways, I remember finishing my term paper about Jack the Ripper after this game as it was due the next morning. When I finished that around midnight, I decided to rewatch the title game on my VHS recording. I believe I ended up going to sleep around 3 a.m. that night. To this day, UCONN's victory is one of the bigger title-game upsets that I can remember. I am still shocked this Duke team with Elton Brand, Shane Battier, Chris Carrawell, Landgon, William Avery and Corey Maggette lost this game, though this UCONN team of Richard Hamilton, El-Amin, Ricky Moore, Kevin Freeman, Jake Voskhul, Albert Mouring and others was truly special. I don't think I would have ever expected UCONN to win five more national titles since this first championship in program history. It's clear to say that UCONN has been the best program in all of college basketball the past quarter-century.
RSS Feed