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Six months ago when the 2010-2011 college basketball season began, the UConn men’s basketball team was not ranked in any pre-season poll, but the women’s team was still the odds-on favorite to win a third consecutive title and continue on its winning streak.

Even after Jim Calhoun’s young team and its unquestioned leader, Kemba Walker, signaled that they could be a contender by running through the EA Sports Maui Invitational, there were still doubters when the Huskies lost four of their last five regular season games.

And with its record 90 consecutive wins, Geno Auriemma’s young team and its incomparable leader Maya Moore remained on track in its march toward another title, despite one loss and a narrow margin for error.

Yet after all of the bracketology, sports talk radio, columnists, and office pools that are part of March Madness, the games still had to be played. But not many expected what happened after both teams reached their respective Final Four games this past weekend.

In the end, Notre Dame had more fight than the Huskies in the women’s semi-final, winning the fourth meeting this season between the Big East Rivals 72-63, ending Moore’s remarkable career one game sooner than preferred.

And then after Calhoun’s young Huskies had stormed through the Big East, winning an unprecedented five games in five days, and pushing through the Western Bracket of the NCAA Tournament, the men’s team won its third one-and-done tournament of the year Monday night in Houston to give Calhoun his third NCAA Championship by defeating Butler 53-41.

The Men

“Butler gave us everything we could handle,” said Calhoun, the Hall of Famer who at 68 became the oldest coach to win a basketball title. “They’re a magnificent opponent. We just happened to be a little better tonight.”

“The credit deserves to go to UConn,” said Brad Stevens, whose Butler squad was held to 18.8 percent shooting in their second consecutive championship game. “They guard you so well when you get a few open ones, you’re not comfortable. We’ve done that, but not at that level. They’re a brutal team to play against when you’re behind.”

The first half was a bruising defensive struggle, with both teams missing shots and the Huskies sending Butler into bonus foul shots with nine minutes left in the half, with four players committing two fouls each. UConn took a five-point lead at the 12:34 mark after a Walker layup and a free throw after he was fouled. The game was tied at 19 with 4:15 remaining on a three-point shot by Shelvin Mack, who would lead Butler with 13 points and 9 rebounds, and both teams continued to struggle until the buzzer, when Chase Stigall hit his second three-pointer as the half ended, giving Butler a 22-19 lead.

UConn opened the second half with a 20-6 run over the first nine minutes, for an 11-point lead that would eventually stretch to 14, and Butler never got closer than 8 points with 1:41 left.

Sophomore Alex Oriakhi scored 11 points and pulled down 11 rebounds as part of the Huskies’ domination in the paint, where they outscored Butler 26-2. Freshman Jeremy Lamb, scoreless in the first half, finished with 12 points and 7 rebounds, and Walker, the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, had 16 points and 7 rebounds.

“I thought our inside game was a little too much for them,” Walker said. “Our guys are extremely long. I thought we did a great job of keeping them to one shot.”

Butler senior forward Matt Howard said his team was frustrated by their poor shooting.

“We kept telling each other shots are going to go in. That belief is always there,” he said. “This one’s pretty frustrating. It was just one of those days. We had our chances there.”

Added Stevens, “Sometimes shots don’t go in. That’s basketball. UConn had a lot to do with that. They were scoring off pin downs and screen-ins. It wasn’t stuff we hadn’t seen. If you would have told me Lamb and Walker combined for 28 shots, I would have felt pretty good.”

With a third championship banner to hang in Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Calhoun joins the elite group of coaches who have won three or more NCAA Championships: the legendary John Wooden (10 NCAA titles) and Adolph Rupp (4); Mike Krzyzewski (4), who is still coaching at Duke; and former Indiana coach, now an ESPN analyst, Bob Knight (3).

Calhoun repeated something he has said over the years when asked by reporters to assess his legacy: “My father told me years ago, ‘you’re known by the company you keep.’ That’s awfully sweet company.”

The Women

The women’s basketball team fell short of its goal of a third consecutive NCAA Championship after taking a 32-26 halftime lead, which held up until 13:47 remaining in the game, when the Fighting Irish took the lead for good, 41-38, before building a 10-point margin. During an exchange of baskets for the rest of the game, UConn could get no closer than three points, with Moore scoring 16 points in a row.

Notre Dame was led by guards Skylar Diggins, who scored 28 points, and Natalie Novasel, who scored 22 points. The Huskies were led by Moore, who finished with 36 points, and freshman Bria Hartley who had10 points and was the only other Husky in double figures.

Following the game, Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma said he would remember seniors Moore and Lorin Dixon for the totality of their time in Storrs, and the lessons they learned.

“I know how difficult it is for Maya and for Lorin. I just wanted to remind them in the locker room that when they were freshmen the same thing happened to them,” he said. “They end their senior year with the same outcome … but what happened in between only the really, really fortunate can ever experience. What Maya and Lorin experienced in the two years between their loss in the [2007-2008] Final Four and tonight, that’s what I’m going to choose to focus on when I think about those two, especially about Maya – the best player in the Big East, maybe the best student athlete in the history of college basketball. I’m not going to let her be defined by what happened tonight.”

Said Moore, “I loved my whole time here. I can’t pinpoint a moment. A lot of people would think the national championships, but there’s so much that goes into a national championship, it is just the whole journey, the fact that I have a whole new family that I didn’t have four years ago is probably the highlight.”

Answering reporters’ questions, Auriemma reflected on how even after all the success this season, he still was concerned about the narrow margin for error that his young team faced during each game.

“I think some of our players got caught up in the bigness of the game,” he said. “That’s why I said at the beginning we’re a vulnerable team because you’re asking players to do things they’ve never done before. One great player can’t beat a really good team, not this time of the year. Whether anybody is disappointed that Stanford and Connecticut aren’t playing Tuesday night, that’s irrelevant. The two teams that played the best today and the two teams that deserve to play Tuesday night are playing Tuesday night.”

Bringing it Home

The men’s basketball team is expected to return this afternoon to Bradley International Airport at approximately 3:45 p.m. Upon arrival at Bradley, there will be a short public event – rain or shine. The team will then return to Gampel Pavilion in Storrs for a Championship Pep Rally. The doors to Gampel Pavilion will open at approximately 5 p.m. and the team is expected to arrive in Storrs at approximately 5:30 p.m. The event at Gampel is free and open to the public. The program will include the introduction of the team and also include brief comments from Coach Calhoun and other individuals.