SUPER BOWL 2012

I've been hearing a lot all day about the matchups in tonight's national championship game. Can Ronald Nored shut down Kemba Walker? Who matches up with Matt Howard? Can the Huskies control the boards? Who matches up with Jeremy Lamb? Can UConn stop Shelvin Mack?

It all makes nice conversation, and certainly some of it bears watching. But in a game like this, with history on the line, I more or less throw the matchups out the window. I look at tonight's game more like this: Will Kemba be denied? And, with all due respect to Brad Stevens, is he really the coach who stands in the way of Jim Calhoun being added to college basketball's coaching Mount Rushmore?

I don't think so, on either count.

I like the Huskies tonight. I think Butler will put up a good fight, and is more than capable of winning. But I don't think it will. I think UConn wins its third national title.

There's a quiet confidence about this team right now. Not cockiness, just supreme confidence, beyond its years. I think the Huskies legitimately respect Butler as a very tough opponent. But I also think they realize that something very special is right there for the taking, and it's hard to bet against guys like Walker and Calhoun.

UConn, 67-63.

Greetings from Reliant Stadium, a giant monolith right next door to the old Astrodome. Not much else in this vast city is right next door to each other, but these two structures are.

We'll have some notes 'n quotes from UConn and Kentucky's interview sessions later this afternoon. For now, here are some relevant numbers surrounding this year's Final Four:

2,900: The championship game will be the 2,900th all-time game in the NCAA tourney.

68: Jim Calhoun's age.

68: Combined age of Butler's Brad Stevens and VCU's Shaka Smart.

66: Age of Kansas's Phog Allen when he won the NCAA title in 1952. Calhoun would surpass him as the oldest if Huskies win it all.

41: Number of games UConn (or VCU) will have played if either reaches the national finals, most by any team since Oregon played 45 in 1945.

32: Age of Bob Knight when he took Indiana to 1973 Final Four -- youngest of any coach born before 1972 (Stevens and Smart are second and third).

26: Accumulated seeds of this year's Final Four, most ever. Previous high was 22 in 2000 (No. 1 Michigan State, No. 5 Florida, No. 8 North Carolina, No. 8 Wisconsin).

14: Final Four appearances by Kentucky.

7: National championships for Kentucky, second only to UCLA.

4: Final Four appearances by UConn and Jim Calhoun.

3: Final Four appearances by John Calipari, with three different teams.

2: Final Four appearances by Butler; national titles for UConn.

1: "Official" Final Four appearances by Calipari. His first two were vacated by the NCAA.