Quick Post: One shining moment

That's all folks.  Season's over.

The validation of the one-and-done philosophy is complete as Coach Cal and Kentucky have their title.  It played out exactly as I expected.  Kentucky kept Kansas away from the rim, got some easy transition baskets, and generally kept KU at bay for most of the game.  A late Kansas comeback notwithstanding, the Wildcats dominated for 40 minutes.

Deserving champs.

The story, of course, was the play of freshman sensation Anthony Davis.  The Chicago native (!) struggled offensively, only scoring six points, but still managed to dominate the game.  All told, the probable #1 pick in this summer's NBA draft provided 16 rebounds, five assists, six blocks, and three steals in his MVP-worthy performance.  That only extends the fact that, throughout the tournament, he blocked or altered 18.2 percent of opponents' 2-point field goal attempts.  The way he can affect a game without scoring is incredible. 

Kudos to Kentucky, they were the best team all season, and rode that potential to a title.  It's a shame that we'll never see any of those players play another minute in college, but that's life.  At least the hoops world got one season of them together.

--

Stray observations...

- "There were times early in the season when Self and his old buddy and mentor, Larry Brown, would stand around at practices and wonder whether this was a team that could even make the tournament. It did. Won its eighth straight conference title, too." (-link)

That's a nice pile of revisionist bullshit that Bill Self has spun.  Kansas was a top-15 team in preseason polls, and early "set-backs" include neutral site defeats to Duke and Kentucky.  Hardly the resume of a non-tournament team.  Kansas is Kansas, and they'll always have the level of talent required for a Tournament berth.  If anyone wearing a goofy-looking chicken tells you KU overachieved this season, kick them squarely in the balls.

- CU made One Shining Moment; this year continues to amaze.  Check out the 1:50 mark of this video:

Carlon Brown is awesome.