Uconn Huskies, Ncaa Men's Basketball Tournament | featured news

An 11-game postseason run that was equal parts stunning and historic ended with a championship as Connecticut defeated the Butler Bulldogs.

After their latest win on the road to an unlikely spot in the national title game, Connecticut's players talked about shocking the world. Butler's talked about unfinished business. That's what it comes down to in the closing act of a college basketball season turned upside down - a national final between a "power team" with one of the best players in the country that feels like an underdog and a "little guy" that thinks it should be there.

When the options boil down to winning or heading home, nobody's better than Kemba and Connecticut....

With Kemba Walker struggling, the Huskies showed they were far from a one-man team.

Derrick Williams scored a career-high 32 points and his Arizona teammates showed they're not just a one-man team, upsetting defending national champion Duke 93-77 Thursday night to reach the final eight for the first time since 2005.

North Carolina teammates Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson, along with Connecticut's Hasheem Thabeet, are among 11 players named to the John R. Wooden Award All American team. Hansbrough and Lawson will lead the Tar Heels against Villanova in Saturday's national championship semifinals. Thabeet and the Huskies play Michigan State in the other semifinal in Detroit.

Connecticut, the No. 1 seed in the West Regional, beat Missouri 82-75 on Saturday for the first team to qualify of the Big East's four that reached the regional finals.

The second berth was assured as soon as the East Regional semifinals were over on Thursday. Villanova earned the trip to Detroit with a 78-76 victory over top-seeded Pittsburgh in the final.

Hasheem Thabeet scored 15 points and had 15 rebounds, and Connecticut overcame a sluggish first half to defeat Purdue 72-60 in the NCAA West Regional semifinals on Thursday.