NCAA Championship Game 2011: Which Cinderella Team Will Cut Down the Nets?

It is safe to say that this year’s NCAA Tournament has lived up to the nickname of March Madness.  

On Monday night, Butler and Connecticut will play each other for the national title in a game that very few predicted would ever happen.  For as different as these two programs are historically, Connecticut and Butler have had similar, yet improbable, roads to the national championship game. 

No one thought that UConn, the team that finished ninth in the Big East, would win five games in five days, sending themselves to the NCAA Tournament with a Big East Tournament Championship. 

After Butler lost their third consecutive game to lowly Youngstown State, many questioned whether the Bulldogs would even return to the tournament this year. 

Regardless of how each team made it to this season’s final game one thing is for certain, both teams believe that they can win tonight's game.

For Connecticut it will come down to who can help carry the scoring load with superstar guard Kemba Walker.  The Huskies have talent around him in Jeremy Lamb and Alex Oriakhi, but both have been inconsistent in scoring during the tournament. 

However, Walker’s teammates have been tremendous on the defensive end, shutting down prolific scorers Kawhi Leonard, Derrick Williams and Terrance Jones on their way to the title game.  Connecticut will need to continue to play strong defensively and crash the boards if they are going to beat Butler. 

Another key factor could be Coach Jim Calhoun’s experience in national championship games as he tries to become only the fifth coach to win three national titles.

This will not be the first national title game for Butler coach Brad Stevens either.  His Bulldogs lost to Duke in last year’s championship game by a mere two points. 

Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard are trying to erase the bitter taste of last year’s defeat with a victory over another elite East Coast team.  Mack and Howard have been beyond clutch in this year’s tournament, coming up with key plays at crucial times for their team. 

If Butler is going to pull off this Cinderella story, their role players will need to step up and hit shots when they are open.  The Bulldogs play a very unselfish style of basketball and will look to gain separation from Connecticut with plenty of screens both on and away from the ball. For Butler it has been their tough defense and timely shooting that has gotten them to this point and there is no doubt that they will need plenty of each to win the championship.

A lot has been said about the unlikelihood of the matchup in the national championship game, but there are not two teams in the nation playing better right now. Whoever wins tomorrow will be able to look back on their improbable run to the championship with pride knowing that they played their best basketball when it mattered most. 

Although the teams playing are not who most people thought they would be, the game should be extremely competitive and enjoyable to watch.  Both teams will be well prepared and come ready to play, but at the end of the night only one team will get to cut down the nets.