SUPER BOWL 2012

Plenty of blame to go around in this loss.

Kemba Walker tried to do too much down the stretch, and while he wound up doing a lot of good (27 points, his usual array of special plays) he did plenty of bad over the final two minutes of regulation and overtime. Walker took some ill-advised shots, had some ugly turnovers and dribbled the ball into double teams a few too many times.

"I (made) two big turnovers at the end of the game," the always accountable Walker said. "They doubled me, and I was careless with the ball ... I think I was trying to force the issue a little too much."

Of course, it would have helped if his teammates had provided some help for him and presented themselves to him while he was being trapped.

Said Jeremy Lamb: "(Kemba) still made a lot of big plays. I feel like I let the team down. I didn't hit shots I usually hit."

George Blaney also could have drawn up some more imaginative offensive sets. And, by his own admission, could have allocated his minutes better.

"I probably ran everybody too many minutes," Blaney confessed. "We needed to get a little bit more production, but some of the guys that came in and didn't get it done when they were asked to do it, so we stayed with the guys that were doing it."

Where was Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, who made his second start of the season, down the stretch? On the bench, given his inability to guard Jimmy Butler. Niels Giffey (9 points) did a decent job in his stead, but it was surprising how little run Coombs got in the latter part of the game.

Oh, and the 17 turnovers didn't help either. Neither did teh 36-percent shooting -- a remarkable number, considering UConn grabbed 28 offensive rebound and, ostensibely, had many point-blank shot attempts.

"I don't know if I've ever seen that before, to be honest with you," Blaney said.

Oh, and what exactly was Roscoe Smith thinking, putting up a long jumper off a rebound with 3 1/2 minutes left in OT?

Anyway, here's the game story: http://nhregister.com/articles/2011/02/24/sports/doc4d671631b2bd9969606032.txt
So if I'm a UConn fan, I'm a bit worried right now. But should you give up all hope? Nah, not with a group led by Walker and Jim Calhoun. It won't be easy the rest of the way -- the Huskies play at Cincinnati, at West Virginia and host Notre Dame in their regular-season finale.

They could easily lose all three games. But would it completely shock you if they won all three, or at least two of them? Not in this crazy season.