The National Championship

The season finale is upon us with the UCONN Huskies looking for its 5th National Championship while San Diego State is playing for its 1st.

We are on an incredible run right now. After watching these teams all season it was expected but now we must keep it going. Come tip-off on Monday night our record on the season is: (177-168-3) 51% including NCAA Tournament record of (39-28). Let’s get after it!

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• 8:20pm cst: San Diego State vs. UCONN Huskies (-7.5) & (-4) 1H

After such a great NCAA Tournament with storylines and entertainment galore we are finally ready to tip-off for the National Championship. Although, those on the east coast will have to wait until damn near midnight to watch. Each of these teams have had two polar opposite journeys to the title game. San Diego State had a tough 1st round game against College of Charleston but escaped in the final minutes. The SDSU defense overwhelmed the underdog Furman with its physicality and size. The Aztecs then had a street fight against #1 Alabama in the 3rd round where they sent home the likely Top 3 NBA pick Brandon Miller and the Crimson Tide against with its defense. Then there was the Elite Eight game where there was very dicey officiating the entire game and the officials decided the game handing the Aztecs free throws on a phantom shooting foul call. In the Final Four the Aztecs were getting beat by FAU pretty easily until the Owls failed to make layups and rebound on FTs - SDSU capitalized. It led them to a game winning shot with no time left. Celebrations broke out. There were tears of joy, amazement as if that was the end. The National Championship. Not so fast, Aztecs. They still have to bow up with the juggernaut UCONN Huskies.

If you’ve followed us all season you know that during Big East play we faded UCONN because they had all the talent in the world but played terrible. The last month of the season that surely changed. UCONN finally figured it out. The one area where they are susceptible is their ball handling - too many turnovers. This is the only opportunity SDSU has to keep this one close. But, it’ll have to be a lot of turnovers. UCONN has the size to matchup with SDSU and will definitely be the bigger team. Andre Jackson basically sat out the whole first half & Andre Hawkins played sparingly with the flu. UCONN still held Miami, one of the best offenses in the country to shoot 32% from the field and 35% from 3PT range. San Diego State isn’t in the same atmosphere offensively (on paper) as Miami. So, how are they gonna take down UCONN tonight?

Sunday afternoon was filled with discussion and complaining about the officials taking over the game in the Women’s National Championship. From what I watched, the frustration was legitimate. Officiating took control of the last two men’s Elite Eight games with the ending of the Creighton vs. San Diego State game and Texas vs. Miami where the Hurricanes shot 35 FT to UT’s 15. Many of the fouls on Texas were extremely ticky-tack and some were phantom calls. Blind whistles. Because of these factors be prepared to see a gang fight in this one with the officials keeping their whistles around their neck. 1.) It’s the only way for SDSU to really stay in the game (avoid a prime time blowout for as long as possible). 2.) The NCAA does NOT want the officials to be the face of the title game like we saw in the LSU vs. Iowa women’s game. The thing is, UCONN is a Big East school and they welcome physicality. I was surprised when I saw them face Arkansas and UCONN towered over some of the Razorbacks’ wings that will be in the NBA and dominated them physically. The Aztecs better lace um up tight tonight and eat their orange slices. It’s gonna be a long night.

If UCONN goes into this game like they have every game in this tournament not losing focus they will be successful. The UCONN wings didn’t have a great game against Miami in my opinion. The big men and role players stepped up in a huge way. Adama Sanogo and Clingan rotate in and out and will try to wear down the Aztecs in the post. Will the SDSU big make the fade away jumpers like they did against FAU? It’s doubtful. I like SDSU’s defense but it’s their offense I’m worried about. They will exert too much energy and effort on defense leaving them with very little to make plays on the offensive end. This happened in the Alabama game but PG Trammell bailed them out by carrying the team on his back. UCONN grinds teams down into submission and the Aztecs are its new target.

Just like Miami found out the hard way: when the lucky breaks aren’t going your way any longer and you gotta man up - play straight up against your opponent without looking around for the officials to bail you out - the better team will always prevail. This will be a gang fight until UCONN grinds this team down and it opens up into an up and down game. I think the Huskies will jump on them early the way FAU did. UCONN is just so good in every facet except for turnovers. SDSU was able to stop Alabama because their offense was just ISO with Brandon Miller and score in transition. I had SDSU winning that game and they did. The Aztecs will need to play a perfect game to win and near perfect to keep it close. I feel that using so much energy on defense is going to wear out the Aztecs and they will gradually lose control of this game. SDSU also shot 59% from the FT line. Not ideal.

I like UCONN -4 1st half because this number is too short. I made it 5.5 before I even looked at it. Also, I will be on UCONN -7.5. I made this number 8 before it opened and thought they would go to 9 or 9.5 to try and draw Aztecs money. Good luck however you play it and let’s end this season on a high note!

Thanks to those that took the time to read. Follow along on our socials and good luck to us!