UConn Victory a Surprise, but Not All Are ‘Shocked’

Connecticut’s victory over Duke in the NCAA championship game was a shocker only to CBS’ Jim Nantz and the oddsmakers. The latter favored the Blue Devils by an insane 9 1/2 points.

It certainly wasn’t as big an upset as some others in recent NCAA title games, such as North Carolina State over Houston in 1983 or Villanova over Georgetown in ’85.

I was pretty sure Duke would win, but I never considered it a slam dunk.

The Huskies, after all, were No. 1 for 10 weeks, finished 34-2 and lost one of those games when playing without two starters, Richard Hamilton and Jake Voskuhl, because of injuries.

Anyone who believed they might be intimidated didn’t see them play Stanford in February. They went to Maples Pavilion without Hamilton and won easily, 70-59.

Nantz called the victory over Duke a “shocker,” but his telecast partner, Billy Packer, prepared viewers for it before the game started.

He pointed out that Duke beat St. John’s in overtime, while the Huskies beat the Red Storm by 19 in the Big East tournament.

But maybe Packer was just biased against Duke. That was Grant Hill’s claim after watching the Blue Devils’ semifinal victory over Michigan State.

“Because he couldn’t get into Duke and he had to go to Wake Forest,” Hill said.

If there was an upset, it was UConn guard Ricky Moore’s offense.

No one should have been surprised when he forced Duke’s Trajan Langdon into a traveling call in the final seconds in the game’s decisive play. Moore is one of the nation’s best defensive players. But who would have thought Moore, who averages 6.6 points, would score 13 in the first half?

As exciting as the title game was, the best thing about it was that the finalists played their way into it. They weren’t determined by New York Times or Sagarin computer rankings or the writers’ and coaches’ polls.

Maybe the NCAA should consider that for its Division I football teams.

*

When you talk to college basketball coaches around the country, you get the impression that many were disappointed in the job done by Steve Lavin this season. . . .

They, like most UCLA fans, expected more from the young coach who took his teams to the Elite Eight and the Sweet 16 in his first two seasons. . . .

It’s difficult to argue based on how the season ended, but they’re not being entirely fair considering his players’ inexperience and injuries to Dan Gadzuric and Baron Davis. . . .

A better time to judge Lavin will be at this time next season. . . .

He’s still in the running for one of the nation’s top recruits, Carlos Boozer. But you have to wonder if Boozer won’t be swayed by the success another Anchorage product, Trajan Langdon, had at Duke. . . .

The way Henry Bibby runs players in and out of his program, he must think USC is a CBA team. . . .

Needing a point guard to replace defectors Kevin Augustine and Quincy Wilder, Bibby is targeting Verbum Dei’s Marlon Parmer. . . .

The NCAA’s silver anniversary women’s team included USC’s Cheryl Miller and UCLA’s Ann Meyers Drysdale. . . .

Elton Brand is expected to receive the John Wooden Award on Friday at the L.A. Athletic Club. . . .

I don’t say that just because the club’s sports bar is named “Duke’s.” . . .

*

The worst thing about the college season ending is that it leaves basketball fans only with the NBA. . . .

That comes from someone who before this season, maybe until Sunday, preferred the pro game over the college game. . . .

The headline over a column about the Laker-Knick game in Monday’s New York Times said it all: “Hopes Keep Fading for a Pair of Pretenders.” . . .

In the column, the newspaper’s NBA expert, Mike Wise, wrote: “ . . . fighting for the right to be the [NBA’s] most overrated team was pretty good theater.” . . .

Yeah, so is Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Road Dog Jesse James. . . .

Second-best line about the game: After Chris Dudley angrily heaved a ball that hit Shaquille O’Neal in the back at midcourt, NBC’s Doug Collins said, “Here’s a guy who can’t make a free throw, and he hits Shaq from 47 feet away!” . . .

Best line: After 17-year-old Andy Runyon won a contest to become a Laker for a day, Chick Hearn told him: “One thing about the contract--you’ve got to be on time for practice and you can’t miss any games.”

*

While wondering if the Dodgers are in their final days at Vero Beach, I was thinking: Silver Charm has been too much of a champion to be allowed to linger beyond his prime, nobody is looking forward to playing the Mighty Ducks in the playoffs, so Duke will win it next season.

Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com.