NCAA Basketball: Top 25 NCAA Tournament cinderellas since 2000
By Adam Childs
9) 2011 UConn Huskies, No. 3-seed
Record: 32-9, National Champion
Beat: (14) Bucknell Bison, (6) Cincinnati Bearcats, (2) San Diego State Aztecs, (5) Arizona Wildcats, (4) Kentucky Wildcats, (8) Butler Bulldogs
Like the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets earlier, you wouldn’t think of a No. 3-seed as a cinderella, but no one has ever done what the UConn Huskies did to end the season and then into the NCAA Tournament.
The Huskies would not lose a game outside of the Big East during the year, but somehow would go just 9-9 in conference play and finish in ninth place. This includes losing four of their last five games. The poor finish would force UConn to have to play on the first day of the conference tournament. And to win it, the Huskies would have to win five games in five days.
That is when the legend of Kemba Walker would start. The Huskies would become the first team ever to win five games in five days to win the Big East Tournament and raise up to a No. 3-seed. They went from maybe dropping to a No. 6 or a No. 7-seed to a No. 3. Even with their incredible run through the Big East Tournament, UConn still wasn’t thought of to be a national title contender.
Walker had other plans. The Huskies would beat the Bucknell Bison by 29 in the first round and the Cincinnati Bearcats by 11 in the second. Walker would score 33 points in the game against the Bearcats to lead the Huskies.
Walker was just getting started. He would throw in another 36 points against the San Diego State Aztecs in the Sweet 16 to help UConn to a seven-point win.
UConn slipped by the Arizona Wildcats in the Elite Eight by two to make their second Final Four in three years. The Kentucky Wildcats were waiting and it would be an ugly game. Neither team shot the ball particularly well and the final 56-55 was an abnormally low scoring semifinal.
After their win over Kentucky, the only thing standing in UConn’s way of an improbable national title was a Butler Bulldogs team that barely lost to the Duke Blue Devils the year before in the national championship.
The ugliness continued in the title game, but that was okay with the Huskies. They held the Bulldogs to a title game worst 18.8 percent shooting for the game. They would outscore Butler by 15 in the second half to erase a three-point deficit and turn it into a 13-point win.
Walker would lead all scorers with 16 and did just enough to get the championship for the Huskies. UConn may have been a No. 3-seed, but they still went on a cinderella run.