2011 NCAA Championship: Who Was Worse, Shelvin Mack or Kemba Walker?

Well, the season is in the books. The UConn Huskies completed an improbable postseason run by beating the Butler Bulldogs 53-41 to win the national championship.

Going into the game, most fans were looking forward to seeing the matchup between two dynamic point guards: Kemba Walker and Shelvin Mack. To say that the two players disappointed is completely unfair; they both played hard and did what they could do to help their team win.

However, anyone that watched the game can probably agree that the matchup between the two guards wasn't as flashy as most had anticipated. The two guards had very poor nights on the offensive side of the ball.

Which one of the two guards played worse?

The easy answer to the question would be that Mack played worse because he lost the game.

The entire game Mack struggled to find his shot. He shot just 4-of-15 from the field; all of his baskets were three-point shots. He did pull down nine big rebounds for a Butler team that struggled to compete on the boards, so that was a big bonus for the team. Mack finished with just 13 points and one assist to go along with his nine rebounds.

So question answered right? Walker played much better.

Oh, if only Lee Corso covered basketball as well: "Not so fast my friend."

It is well knows that Walker is an incredible player. He led this UConn team to a National Championship and did so in incredible fashion. He got the win, but he had by far his worst game of the entire tournament.

Walker shot just 5-of-19, finishing with 19 points. He didn't have a single assist on the night. But, he didn't need to fill out the stat sheet like he normally does because of the shooting woes of Butler.

Neither point guard played well, and an argument could be made that either one outplayed the other.

But as bad as Walker was against Butler, he did still get the win.

The difference between Walker and Mack in this game, was that even though Walker played one of his worst games of the season, he did it like a winner. His demeanor, his leadership, his defensive presence and a few key shots were enough to get the victory for the Huskies. Unfortunately for Butler, Mack didn't do quite enough.

(To be fair, Mack was the best player on his team, they all struggled mightily.)

Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird all had bad nights. But their bad nights were still better than their opposition. Walker was the same way tonight. Even though he struggled, he struggled like a star.

As an avid Jimmer Fredette fan and follower, I always watched Walker play with a bitter eye. I enjoyed watching him play, but I always hoped that when he had a big night Fredette would have a bigger night.

Now that the season is over and UConn has been crowned champion, I think it's safe to admit that I will thoroughly miss watching Walker play. Fans will argue about who the best player in the country is for days on end, but all fans can agree that both Fredette and Walker were the faces of college basketball this year.

Congratulations to the UConn Huskies. I hope to see Kemba Walker continue his success at the next level, and that is exactly what I think he will do.