First he congratulated Gonzaga. Once that was done on the day Connecticut advanced to the Final Four for the first time, coach Jim Calhoun remembered the players who were not quite so lucky.
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Three previous times in this decade, the Huskies lost regional championship games, one in overtime.
“The last 10 years we’ve had teams that have made runs toward the Final Four,” Calhoun said. “Every one of those kids who played for us, I love. They never gave me one ounce of disappointment. They gave me nothing but their best. And fate, and other good teams and players got in the way of us moving on.
“This is for them,” Calhoun went on, “and for this particular special team who wouldn’t allow itself not to go to St. Petersburg. I’m very proud of all my teams, but I’m particularly proud of the way we responded today, a day we couldn’t buy a basket–a lot had to do with Gonzaga’s defense–and we still found ways to win.”
Blocking the way: Ohio State junior center Ken Johnson has done it before. Twice in fact. But never in such a big game. Never with everything on the line.
Guards Scoonie Penn (22 points) and Michael Redd (20) were the most obvious offensive heroes of the Buckeyes’ 77-74 victory over St. John’s, but Johnson was a major factor on defense, tying his career high with seven of Ohio State’s nine blocked shots.
“I’ve got to give him credit,” St. John’s forward Lavor Postell said. “I didn’t know he was that good. He scored, pulled down rebounds and blocked a lot of shots. He played a great game under there.”
Johnson also scored 12 points and grabbed four rebounds and outplayed two of the Red Storm’s front-line players, forward Ron Artest (nine points, nine rebounds, five turnovers) and center Tyrone Grant (three points, seven rebounds).
“We thought we had a little bit of an advantage inside because of his (Johnson’s) size (6 feet 11 inches),” Ohio State coach Jim O’Brien said. “The first time we went to him, he looked real comfortable. They had trouble guarding him and once we established that, we went to him more. Ken played outstanding today.”
Hard to figure: Maybe free-throw shooting is overrated. Ohio State finished second in the Big Ten despite being the worst free-throw shooting team in the league. The Buckeyes made only 61 percent of their attempts. Against St. John’s, the Buckeyes were only 12 of 18 at the line. And in the last 44 seconds, they were 4 of 8.
“I don’t know what the problem is,” O’Brien said. “We’ve done stuff with psychologists, we’ve brought them in at 7 a.m. and shot lots of free throws. For the most part, it’s between the ears.”
Court talk: Kentucky forward Jamaal Magloire, who will face Michigan State in the Midwest Regional final Sunday at St. Louis, is known for talking trash to opponents. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said Magloire got on everyone against Miami (Ohio) on Friday, “including the (mascot).”
Spartans guard Charlie Bell wasn’t impressed.
“That’s bad for their school for one of their guys to do that,” he said.
Magloire saved most of his talking for Miami star Wally Szczerbiak.
“I was just trying to make Wally think more about what I was doing,” he said.