Largest crowd in Final Four history

UConn knocks out Kentucky, setting up championship 'Dog fight

Kemba Walker raced out ahead of Kentucky in the second Final Four semifinal atReliant Stadium.
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Wildcats guard Brandon Knight never stopped believing that his team would win.

It fittingly came down to one last defensive stand, one more time when UConn needed to turn back the high-flying athletes of Kentucky to get to college basketball's national championship game.

With coach Jim Calhoun screaming from the sidelines, the Huskies would D Kentucky right out of the Final Four. The most important stop came with the Huskies clinging to a 54-52 lead with under 10 seconds left. Kentucky kept swinging the ball around, but couldn't find an open shot, settling for a contested DeAndre Liggins 3-pointer.

Clang. It's UConn-Butler in the national championship game.

Kemba Walker and his boys pulled out a 56-55 win that was made that close when Kentucky guard Brandon Knight hit a meaningless 3-point heave at the buzzer. The game really swung on that defensive stop and the two icing free throws UConn's fearless freshman Shabazz Napier hit with two seconds left to provide a four-point cushion for UConn, making Knight's miracle no matter.

"Our kids just didn't want to go home," Calhoun said. "We'll stick around for Monday night."

The largest crowd in the history of the Final Four (75,421 packed into Reliant Stadium) certainly got their dramas worth.

Walker (18 points on 6-for-15 shooting) wasn't at his best, but in a defensive muck of a game, he was still the best player on the floor.

The Monday night national championship is setup as a showdown between two of the hottest teams in the country — and as big power conference vs. the little guy if you want to paint it that way. UConn (31-9), part of college basketball's royalty, has now won 10 straight tournament games dating back to the start of the Big East Tournament. Butler, the mid-major from the Horizon League, has won 14 straight games overall, since it seemed to be in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament all together.

With Walker hurting Kentucky with his passing (six assists) as much as his scoring (nine points) in the first half, UConn took a 31-21 lead into the break.

But Kentucky scored the first six points of the second half and suddenly Reliant was as loud as it got all Final Four semifinal Saturday. The Wildcats had the largest contingent of any of the four teams — and it wasn't really close.

Every Kentucky basket produced a roar, every UConn blunder a delighted clap. Only the Huskies didn't make many mistakes.

With Jeremy Lamb (12 points, nine rebounds) playing off Kemba as a more than capable sidekick, UConn seemed to have enough. Mostly, the Huskies had Kemba. Like usual.

When Kentucky took its first lead of the second half. Walker cooly buried a 3-pointer from the corner.

Calhoun's already won two national titles, including one in Texas. Calipari is still searching for his validating first after three Final Four appearances have now gone for naught.

Cal's never had Kentucky in a Final Four before, never had the Big Blue faithful and all those fans at this back. Never had Brandon Knight before for that matter.

Knight missed 11 of the first 15 shots he took, but he never stopped firing, never stopped believing the next one would go in. Not enough of them did as Knight finished with 17 points on a 6-for-23 shooting clip.

UConn led by six points with two minutes left, but Liggins hit a three and the Wildcats could see another late-game comeback.

Until the Huskies turned up their defense. Until Liggins couldn't get another open look.

"I should have drove," he said. "It was a good shot ... but I should have drove."

Kentucky didn't need a three in that spot. Now UConn doesn't need to look back.

"We've got a heck of a challenge ahead of us," Calhoun said afterwards. "But it's beautiful to be playing on Monday night."

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Beyond the Boxscore

Houston in line to get more Final Fours after 2016: NCAA officials expect it tobecome a regular

The success of Bracket Town meant almost as much to the NCAA as the success atReliant Stadium.
Photo by Bruce Bennett
NCAA official Greg Shaheen praised Houston's Final Four efforts.
Kemba Walker wasn't the only one who flew high at this Final Four.
Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

When even NCAA officials are making jokes about the lowest-scoring NCAA Championship Game since 1949, you know they had a good time in Houston.

That's what happens in the Final Four wrap-up press conference Tuesday. Greg Shaheen — the highest-ranking NCAA official in the room — opens his portion with a crack about the offensive woes Monday night.

Shaheen notes that if more people had the motor shown by Houston Final Four Local Organizing Committee interim executive director Doug Hall then "we might have had a game last night where both teams scored 60 points."

"You were on overdrive," Shaheen says to Hall.

Yes, there is a whole lot of love in the room when the Houston LOC and the NCAA meet for the last time before this 2011 Final Four becomes part of the record books — and thoughts begin to slowly turn to the 2016 Final Four that will be held in Houston and the 2015 regional at Reliant Stadium before that.

It does not figure to end in 2016 though. Shaheen — the NCAA's interim executive vice president of championships and alliances — tells CutureMap he expects there will be even more Final Fours in Houston in the future.

"I don't see any reason why Houston wouldn't become a regular part of our rotation," Shaheen says.

Shaheen would be the first to say that the NCAA's Basketball Committee will make the final call like usual on future sites, but he says the committee is thrilled with Houston's performance.

"This is what a showcase event should look like," Shaheen says of a Houston event that set the Final Four record for total attendance (145,747 at the two nights of games) and also drew an estimated 140,000 to the Big Dance Concert Series (the concert figure is based on an "approximation" of the number of people who came through Discovery Green during all three concerts that lasted several hours each) and another 49,000 to Bracket Town at the George R. Brown Convention Center. "This is what a national championship should feel like.

"It should be exhausting the next morning and be a seamless effort."

Later Shaheen quips, "UConn is not the only winner here."

Instead, Texas might be the biggest winner of all. For the Lone Star State has emerged as the NCAA's big event darling. Texas will host three Final Fours in a six-year stretch (Houston in 2011 and 2016, Dallas in 2014). And that type of dominance is not expected to end anytime soon either.

"In the modern era, for both the men's and women's championships, I don't know that any state has emerged like Texas," Shaheen says. "And I think you have to include San Antonio (host of the 1998, 2004 and 2008 Final Fours) in that equation as well. There are a lot of things Texas offers the championships that are unique."

Standing off to the side in the ballroom at the Hyatt Regency — which served as the headquarters for the coaches convention during Final Four week, housing all the big names who weren't coaching in the games — Robert Dale Morgan is sure of what makes Houston such a lure.

Morgan, the president and executive director of the 2011 Houston Final Four LOC, held a similar position for Houston's 2004 Super Bowl and many credit his vision with helping the city see its big sports event potential, with a Super Bowl, Major League Baseball All-Star Game, NBA All-Star Game, Major League Soccer All-Star Game and now a Final Four all having been held here since 2004. Not that Morgan wants that recognition.

He chooses to sit in the crowd rather than on the stage at the wrap-up press conference. He probably could have blended in to, wearing a Houston Final Four hat with his suit, if so many people on the stage didn't point him out. Bob Beauchamp, chairman of the Houston Final Four LOC, calls Morgan, "the best in the business."

"Having six million people who care," Morgan says in explaining how Houston's positioned itself as the host city with the most. "Having a dozen Fortune 500 companies. And oh by the way, we have really great weather 300 days out of the year."

Trash Talk Between Friends

Houston hands off the Final Four to New Orleans, next year's host. The transition is a bit of intentional symbolism by the NCAA which wants to recognize how closely the two cities are linked and the Bayou City's role in helping after Hurricane Katrina.

This will be the fifth Final Four that New Orleans has hosted and the city's LOC executive director John Koerner can't help but point out to Houston, the new city in "the rotation," how great every one of the NCAA Championship Games held in the Big Easy has been.

"New Orleans has hosted some of the most memorable finals ever," Koerner says. "We had Michael Jordan's shot, Keith Smart's shot, Chris Webber's infamous timeout and Hakim Warrick's block at the buzzer."

And from its first Final Four, Houston has? Well, a whole lot of clangs — and Butler's record-low 18.8 percent shooting.

Not that anyone in the NCAA is holding it against the Bayou City. The organization credentialed 1,387 media members for this Final Four, loved the visibility brought about by having it in one of the America's biggest cities. Even if you have to wonder how much everyone was into it locally. The TV rating in Houston for the unsightly Butler-UConn national championship game only ranked 30th out of the 56 major media markets.

Shaheen's not dwelling on that. Instead, he's sticking around Houston to take in more of the city without the pressures of the mega event.

"I don't have a flight home," Shaheen says, knowing that Southwest Airlines' grounded jets have made it much harder than usual to land one last minute. "So I'll be staying here two, three, four, five more days. I may be looking to get an apartment and just become a resident."

Shaheen laughs. Who says NCAA suits don't have a sense of humor?

When they are happily in Houston, they sure do.