In claiming its fourth national championship, Connecticut must have set a Final Four record Monday night with its hard-fought, 60-54 win over Kentucky before 79,238 at AT&T Stadium.What other champion could have ended its regular season with a 33-point loss? That's right, Connecticut (32-8) was destroyed 81-48 by Louisville.Well, destroyed isn't the right word because the Huskies picked themselves up and went to work."I knew we were going to fight," UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. "When we got back on the bus and we got back to practice, I could see the look in their eyes. The dark times, that's what promotes you."We stayed together."Since the NCAA Tournament adopted seeding in 1979, a championship game had never had the combination of seeds this high, with No. 8 seed Kentucky (29-11) vs. the seventh-seeded Huskies. But this was a battle between two of college basketball's bluebloods,The big question and the title match lived up to the hype.
Although Kentucky never led, the Wildcats stayed within two to three baskets for much of the second half and cut their deficit to 48-47 on a pair of free throws by swingman James Young with 8:13 remaining.But Connecticut All-American Shabazz Napier answered with a 3-pointer. A 6-foot-1 senior point guard and one of the smallest players on the court, Napier blew past Kentucky defenders with his speed and finished with a game-best 22 points. He was voted the Final Four's most outstanding player.Until the day before she left, nobody knew Anne Lawrence was in a physically abusive marriage. She was 33 years old and working as an account manager for a brand design company when she walked into work one day feeling like she was having a nervous breakdown.