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UConn's Kemba Walker has earned one-name status with postseason play
HOUSTON — The amazing thing isn’t the unprecedented five wins in five days that allowedConnecticut to win the Big East Conference Tournament, or the nine wins in 19 days that vaulted the Huskies into the Final Four.
Not if we toss a little perspective on it.
The team is comprised of 18- to 22-year-olds, most of them veterans of AAU tournament and pickup-game marathons, all of whom have had stretches where they’ve played four or five hours per day for 10 or 12 consecutive days. Their bodies have handled, and can handle, an [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]
The amazing thing is that we actually are amazed.
We shouldn’t be, considering the Huskies (30-9), who play Kentucky in the second national semifinal game Saturday night at Reliant Stadium, arguably have the best player in the nation, and absolutely have the best player in the NCAA Tournament, in junior guard Kemba Walker.
When a team has a player who’s capable of taking over halves and games, the possibilities are endless.
“Without question, I think Kemba is the most valuable player in the country,” UConn Coach Jim Calhoun said of Walker, who on Thursday won of the Bob Cousy Award, given to the top point guard in the nation.
And this season he has become one of the most valuable Huskies ever, joining the A-list of UConn stars headed by [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]
“I don’t want to leave any of the great players out, but around Connecticut when you say ‘Ray,’ ‘Rip,’ it will be very easy to say ‘Kemba,’” Calhoun said. “Not because of the uniqueness of his name, but because of what he has done.
“When you score 900 points in a year and you average six rebounds a game at 6 feet, when you change a game from a New York City easy pass — that’s what he was in New York City, he always penetrated and laid it up or passed the ball — to have a terrific midrange game along with a 3-point game, you’re pretty special.
“He’s cut from the same cloth as the other great players we’ve had. He’s in that category, just first name needed, nothing else.”
He has been in that category all season, but has climbed up to the platform of “sensational” during the [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]
During that five-game run to win the Big East Tournament, Walker averaged 26 points, 6.4 rebounds, four assists and three steals in 38 minutes per game. In four NCAA Tournament games he is averaging 26.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, seven assists and 1.5 steals in 38.5 minutes.
In the nine games he has accounting for 34.5 percent of the Huskies’ scoring, 45.7 percent of their assists, 31 percent of their steals — and at a generously listed 6 feet 1, he’s the team’s second-leading rebounder.
And despite shooting 27 percent from 3-point range (12-for-45), he’s at 45.6 percent from the field, including [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]
There’s no debating that no player in the nation has been better, longer, this season than Walker.
“I think I’m playing at the same level as earlier this season,” he said. “At midseason, I slumped a little. But I think I did a great job of picking it back up. But my teammates have done a great job of getting me open.”
He does that, too.
At some point Saturday, it will be Walker pulling up from behind the 3-point line, or driving to the basket and pulling up an impossible-to-defend fadeaway in the lane, or going all the way to the hoop for a tough layup.
Like he did against Kentucky in the Maui Invitational in November, scoring 29 points and dishing six assists in an 84-67 win.
“He killed us,” said Kentucky guard DeAndre Liggins, who’ll draw the defensive assignment against Walker. “He had a great game. It’s going to be a challenge for me. You can’t stop players like that. He’s going to make shots on you.
“He killed me (in Hawaii). He killed us. He got comfortable. If you let a great player get comfortable, he’ll kill [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]
Walker has been plenty comfortable, against multiple opponents, this season.
It won’t exactly surprise if he finds a comfort level again Saturday.
“I just go into games with a certain mindset,” Walker said. “Just play hard and great things will happen for us.”