So who knows what's going on? The Connecticut Huskies went from perennial "oh-so-close" to the best in the country. They were able to do the impossible - knock off the Number 1 Duke Blue Devils. Richard Hamilton again played a huge game, and Khalid El-Amin came up big for the Huskies, who played with heart against a seasoned Duke team which was thought to be the best in the country.
Don't get me wrong. Duke is an excellent team. Victory was certainly expected. Elton Brand, despite a so-called "off night", managed to own the glass although his teammates were not crashing the boards. Trajan Langdon, the fifth-year senior, in the last game of his career, hit five huge treys which kept Duke alive. But it just wasn't enough. With all of the hype about whether the Huskies could stop Brand, most neglected the abilities of first-team All-American Richard Hamilton, the Big East Player of the Year (shared title with Miami's Tim James). Chris Carrawell, who some believe is the best all-around defender in the country, had the burden of guarding "Rip". Instead, Hamilton found seams in the defense all night long and most of the time, was unstoppable, scoring 27 points. But the story of the tournament has been Ricky Moore.
In this year's NCAA tournament, one man has proven himself more than any other. Ricky Moore, the lone senior on this starting lineup, came into the season as a solid defender who could handle the ball pretty well. At the end of the year, he was known as the best defender in the country who's main job was to smother the opposing team's best player. He did a pretty good job at it too. This season, Mateen Cleaves, Vonteego Cummings, Arthur Lee, Erick Barkley, Scoonie Penn, and a host of other extremely talented guards have run into a wall this season. Moore, in the biggest game of his career, did not have his best defensive showing of his career. Trajan Langdon scored 25 points. But Moore scored 13 points, twice his average, and all in the first half, when the Huskies were looking for answers against a Duke team which forced mistakes early. Later, Moore all but made former Augusta, Georgia teammate, William Avery, work on offense, as the sensational Blue Devil was struggling. Finally, with a chance to win the game, Trajan Langdon tried to put a move on Moore but traveled, making that the biggest defensive stop in Moore's career.
