V-RECAP | NCAA Tournament — Championship Game | Monday, April 5
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SAN ANTONIO — It's no surprise to me that the Connecticut Huskies, my preseason No. 1, took home the national championship Monday night. Coach Jim Calhoun turned in another tremendous job as his players got to the winner's circle down in San Antonio.

Monday was all about Connecticut. Calhoun cut down the nets for the second time in six years, and the way the Huskies dominated was oh-so-impressive, baby!

UConn put on an impressive performance in defeating a gritty, gutty and determined Georgia Tech team 82-73. It was simply a matter of the Huskies' tandem of guard Ben Gordon and center Emeka Okafor being too much for the Yellow Jackets. Gordon was especially hot in the first half, hitting three trifectas in the first 10 minutes, while Okafor was a man possessed in dominating Tech center Luke Schenscher in the lane.

Okafor does so many things impressively: blocking shots, affecting the way teams try to penetrate in the lane and keeping people from scoring inside. Okafor and Gordon nearly outscored Georgia Tech by themselves in the first half, combining for 24 points in the first 20 minutes, just two fewer than Tech.

Coach Paul Hewitt's Yellow Jackets struggled all night from the floor. They could not get great shots and did not take advantage of an opportunity when Gordon committed his second foul. In fact, UConn extended its lead with Gordon on the bench.

Connecticut is so deep on that bench. Freshman big man Josh Boone did a great job on the boards throughout the tournament and developed into a star during this run. That depth and the Okafor-Gordon tandem were just too much.

Give Hewitt's team credit for a great season, though. Georgia Tech was picked to finish seventh in the ACC in the preseason polls, was unranked in the season's first top-25 poll and did not have a first-team All-ACC player, yet the Yellow Jackets found a way to get to the brink of a national title.

Schenscher should be able to build on his development during this tournament and be a future star, and with guards Jarrett Jack and B.J. Elder expected to return Tech should be ready for another solid season in 2004-05.

It's easy to second-guess Hewitt for not having his team shoot more 3-pointers or foul UConn sooner down the stretch in the second half, but the nine-point final margin was not the true margin of victory. The Huskies were totally dominating in building a 25-point lead but backed off and slowed the game down over the last few minutes.

Monday was all about Connecticut. Calhoun cut down the nets for the second time in six years. Just think about what he has done with the UConn program. The Huskies had made 13 NCAA Tournament appearances and won just four tournament games when Calhoun arrived in Storrs in 1986, but since then 12 tournaments have resulted in an incredible 34-10 record and two titles.

The way the Huskies dominated was oh-so-impressive, baby! Congratulations to the state of Connecticut, which could become the basketball capital of America if coach Geno Auriemma can lead his Huskies to a win over Tennessee in the women's championship game in New Orleans on Tuesday night (ESPN, 8:30 p.m. ET).

Dick Vitale coached the Detroit Pistons and the University of Detroit in the 1970s before broadcasting ESPN's first college basketball game in 1979 (he's been an ESPN analyst ever since). Send a question for Vitale for possible use on ESPNEWS.