The Husky Basketball Double

English: University of Connecticut head women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma during a game against the University of Texas on March 23, 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For only the second time, the University of Connecticut's men's and women's basketball teams have won national titles.

The women's team was a bit more expected, completing an undefeated season with a 79-58 rout of Notre Dame (also previously undefeated) at the NCAA championship game in Nashville.  Breanna Stewart led the Huskies with 21 points and nine rebounds as the player of the game.  This was the ninth national title for coach Geno Auriemma, unprecedented in women's basketball and approaching John Wooden territory.

The night before, the men's team defeated Kentucky 60-54 for the national title in Arlington, Texas.  This was the Huskies' fourth championship, and the third in the state of Texas (San Antonio in 2004, Houston in 2011).  Shabazz Napier was the game's best player with 22 points.

You recall that Warren Buffett offered a million bucks to the one who got all the brackets to the NCAA men's tournament right?  Safest bet he ever made.  Absolutely no one got it right as upsets took down the top-seeded teams to the point where the championship game became a matchup of the lowest-seeded teams ever:  #7 Connecticut vs. #8 Kentucky.  Lower seeds with championship pedigree, that is.

The Huskies and the Wildcats both had something to prove Monday night besides the seeding.  For the Huskies, they were coming off an NCAA-imposed one year ban for lack of academic performance--a fact Napier tried to get across in his post-game comments before CBS cut him off.  For Kentucky, coach John Calipari tried to win another title using freshman players who are in college only because they needed a year before NBA teams can draft them.

Yes, basketball rules in Storrs, Connecticut, home to the University of Connecticut.  If they can keep it up in the classroom as well as on the court, they'll be the envy of everyone.  That includes both genders.

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The University of Minnesota men's basketball team couldn't overcome their mediocrity in the first season for coach Richard Pitino, having been passed over by the NCAA again for an invitation to their tournament.  But the Gophers made up for it by winning the National Invitation Tournament in New York, defeating Southern Methodist for the championship at Madison Square Garden.  How much difference it will make for next season remains to be seen.

The women's team has hired Marlene Stollings, who spent three seasons at Virginia Commonwealth (where, not coincidentally, athletic director Norwood Teague hails from), to be its new basketball coach.  Stollings replaces Pam Borton, who was fired after 12 seasons in a case of "what have you done for me lately".  The Gophers haven't seen the NCAA tournament in several years, and is in danger of Rachel Banham (the Big 10's leading scorer) going through her entire college career without a post-season to show for it.  Maybe Stollings can help do something about that.