2011 NCAA Tournament Final Four
#3 Connecticut Huskies vs. #4 Kentucky Wildcats, Reliant Stadium, Houston, TX
Saturday, April 2, 2011, 8:49 pm Eastern, TV: CBS
Opening Line: Kentucky -2
Current Line: Kentucky -2.5
Opening Total: 142
Current Total: 140
Money Line: Kentucky -145 / UConn +125
The West Region champion Connecticut Huskies (30-9) and East Region champion Kentucky Wildcats (29-8) meet for the second time this season on Saturday in the Final Four at Houston’s Reliant Stadium, with the winner expected to be favored in Monday’s national championship game. The fourth-seeded Wildcats (-2.5) beat the top two seeds in the East in helping head coach John Calipari make it to his third Final Four with his third different team while the Huskies will be going for their third NCAA title game appearance under head coach Jim Calhoun.
Calhoun’s teams have gone on to win the championship two of the previous three times they have made it to the Final Four, with the exception coming two years ago when UConn lost 82-73 to Michigan State. The Huskies and leading scorer Kemba Walker have been an amazing story this year, starting from the point they beat Kentucky 84-67 in the title game of the Maui Invitational last November 24. Walker scored a game-high 29 points against the Wildcats and has helped his team go a perfect 12-0 on neutral courts this year, including an incredible five wins in five days en route to the Big East Conference tournament championship just three weeks ago.
Connecticut’s only real flaw this season was finishing ninth in the Big East during the regular season with a mediocre 9-9 record. However, the team has not lost a game outside the conference and is an impressive 16-6 against the spread away from home this year.
Kentucky was not a good road team during the regular season at 4-7 but has also excelled on neutral courts. The Wildcats have gone 10-1 straight-up when playing at neutral sites and 7-4 against the spread. The lone loss came against UConn when they were 4-0 and still learning how to play together. Freshman point guard Brandon Knight struggled to score six points on 3 of 15 shooting from the field in that game, going 0 for 8 on his attempts from beyond the 3-point arc.
Since then, Knight has excelled and become as good as any first-year player in the country. He was named East Region MVP after leading his team to a 76-69 win over #2 North Carolina in the Elite Eight and hit game-winning shots to knock out #1 Ohio State (62-60) and #13 Princeton (59-57). Knight is averaging 15.8 points, 4.3 assists and 3.8 rebounds in the NCAA tournament.
Walker’s numbers have been far superior at nearly 27 points and seven assists per game, but he also has been forced to carry Connecticut’s offense for most of the season. Freshman Jeremy Lamb has stepped up to support Walker in the Big Dance though, averaging over 18 points in the first four games after scoring more than 18 just once in the previous 14 games.
The Huskies have seen the UNDER cash in four of their last five games after the total went OVER in each of their previous four. They saw their streak of eight straight covers end with a 65-63 win over #5 Arizona in the Elite Eight, falling short of the 3.5-point spread. The UNDER is also 4-0-1 in Kentucky’s last five games and 7-1-1 in the team’s past nine. The Wildcats are 5-1 ATS in their last six games overall and have covered two of the last three meetings with UConn.
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