Kevin's Take: Meet Me in St. Louis
Updated 8:25 AM EDT, Mon, Apr 6, 2009
The St. Louis Cardinals will play the Pirates closer than the Stanford Cardinal played the Huskies tonight. Another UConn game, another blowout, but this win means more than the other 37 for the perfect 38-0 Huskies.
It avenges a loss to Stanford in last year's Final Four and sends the Huskies to the National Championship for the 6th time. Does upstart Louisville have a shot Tuesday night? Please.
UConn already beat the Louisville Cardinals by 28 and 39 points this season. It has been a great tournament run for Louisville, but it ends Tuesday night.
Yes, when it comes to the Final Four and the Stanford Cardinal and Louisville Cardinals, wins are in the cards for UConn. As for the St. Louis Cardinals and Pirates, I couldn't tell you. I just snow the game may be played in the snow. That's outside. Inside, nobody is hotter than the Huskies.
It's deja vu all over again. I am quoting Yogi Berra since I am now in the home city of the Yankees legend and because it really feels that way.
For starters, I was in Detroit last night for the men's Final Four and less than 24 hours later I am covering the UConn women.
The men's game was something I will never forget. 72,456 saw it--the largest Final Four crowd ever. The Huskies made no excuses for the loss and gave Michigan State all the credit. I do too. The Spartans were even better than advertised--tough and physical--feeding off of their wonderful coach Tom Izzo.
But back to the crowd. It did make an impact. It was basically homecoming weekend for Michigan State. They will give North Carolina a game monday night and just might be the surprise National Champion.
It was certainly a sad lockerroom. But the Huskies should be proud. They overcame tons of adversity. They won 31 games and they became just the third UConn team to reach the Final Four. At some schools, that would be cause for a celebration. That's not the case at UConn. We've all become a little spoiled by success. It's too bad. A run to the Final Four is a great accomplishment.
So was that Jim Calhoun's last game?I don't think so, but he did say afterwards that given all he has gone through in the last year, he will contemplate his future more in the next few months than he normally does.
So now I am getting ready to cover the UConn Women and Stanford. My last and only other trip to St. Louis was also bleary eyed and memorable--the 2004 World Series when the Red Sox broke the curse and beat the Cardinals.
I expect a similar fate for the Huskies except Geno makes sure UConn fans don't go 86 years between titles. But as Yogi would say, it ain't over 'til it's over.
First Published: Apr 5, 2009 3:45 PM EDT
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