Just call 'em The Midnight Huskies, chiming 12 times to send one Cinderella after another home for the evening. First came Iowa, running on the emotion of Dr. Tom Davis' impending firing, only to become a 10-point loser to UConn. Then Gonzaga, everyone's favorite upset-minded underdog, who hung tough with the Huskies but ultimately lost by a 67-62 score.
Okay, so on paper top-seeded UConn (32-3) didn't have the toughest path to get out of the West Region: a 16 seed, followed by Nos. 9, 5 and 10. But the opponents, particularly the last two, were motivated, gritty fighters who badly wanted to wear the glass slipper in St. Pete. The Huskies, however, were on a mission of their own: getting the program, and particularly coach Jim Calhoun, its first Final Four berth.
"I wanted him to go to the Hall of Fame the right way," said guard Khalid El-Amin. "Not as the best coach never to get to the Final Four, but as one of the best coaches in history."
Calhoun paid homage not only to this year's Huskies team, who he said "wouldn't be denied a trip to the Final Four," but to the teams of years past. UConn had previously been 0-3 in Regional Finals.
"All those teams before, I loved them, and I love this team," Calhoun said. "I can smile a lot.... Every one of those kids I love. They never gave me any disappointment. Fate and other good teams and players got in the way and we didn't move on. This is for them."
UConn very nearly died on the doorstep again, as El-Amin was a dreadful 0-of-12 from the field against Gonzaga and the game went back and forth throughout. But clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch and key rebounds by forward Kevin Freeman paved the way for the Huskies to claim a spot in the national semifinals.
"I'm not sure we had to work any harder for a victory all year," Calhoun said. "We didn't play our great game, but we played our heart game."
Now in St. Pete, the Huskies, the nation's No. 3 team, will need more than their heart game while taking on another team that could call itself a Cinderella: Ohio State, which is on a surprising run to its first Final Four since 1968. The game will feature an intriguing matchup in the backcourt, where El-Amin and Ricky Moore go up against South Regional MVP Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd.
In the frontcourt, Freeman is joined by All-American and West Regional MVP Richard Hamilton, who is averaging 21.3 points per game in the tournament, and Jake Voskuhl, who played like a man possessed in the second half against Gonzaga. UConn outrebounded the Zags 47-33, and will look to dominate the boards again against the Buckeyes.
The Huskies are 1-3 lifetime against OSU, including a 78-55 defeat to the Buckeyes in the second round of the 1992 NCAA tournament.
But for now, the moment is being treasured by the team, enjoying unparalleled success for a program which has finally gotten a monkey off of its back. Watching Calhoun in the closing seconds against Gonzaga, dancing up and down the sideline as the buzzer sounded, one could realize the pressure the man was under to take this talented, top-seeded squad where the Huskies had never gone before.
"He's a tough person," Freeman said of his coach. "But it's moments like these that let you know why he's such a great coach and why he should continue to do the things the way he does."
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