This is really getting pretty amazing. In fact, this UConn run may surpass the 2011 run -- even if the Huskies don't win on Monday night.

I mean, at least in 2011, you had the Big East tourney run as evidence that maybe the Huskies were getting hot at the right time (or, as many thought, maybe they would be burnt out by NCAA tourney time).

Really, how could you have seen this coming? The 34-point loss to Louisville a few weeks ago? The 10-point loss to the Cardinals in the AAC title game that really felt like a 20-point loss? Getting outplayed for most of regulation by St. Joe's in their opener before getting saved by a 3-point play by (of all people) Amida Brimah?

Go ahead and say you saw all this coming. You're lying.

My game column focuses on how UConn's Final Four win over Florida was no fluke -- the exact word used by CBSsports.com's Gregg Doyel in reference to the Huskies' Dec. 2 win over the Gators in Storrs.

Here's a couple of UConn players talking about the whole "fluke thing":





And here are a few notes from tonight's game:

UConn showed flashes of being a very good defensive team at times this season. But this is getting ridiculous.

The Huskies’ team defense was swarming and suffocating once again in their Final Four victory over Florida Saturday night. They held the Gators to 38 percent shooting, 1-for-10 from 3-point land. They forced them into 11 turnovers but, more to the point, made Florida look uncomfortable offensively throughout the contest.

It was similar to UConn’s 60-54 win over Michigan State on Sunday in the Elite Eight in which the Huskies turned the bigger, more physical Spartans into a perimeter team (29 3-point attempts) thanks to their choking defense.

The game plan was a little different this time around, according to associate head coach Glen Miller.

“(Florida’s) offense is really good when it can flow from one side to the other,” Miller said. “We just shut it down and kept it on one side, all their ball-screen actions, we kept it to coffin corner. They couldn’t change sides, they were uncomfortable, couldn’t get into their offensive flow. Even when we were struggling offensively early, we were still defending.”

Ryan Boatright led the charge up top, harrassing Florida point guard Scottie Wilkbekin into an awful (2-for-9, four points) night. Shabazz Napier had four steals, most notably one with just under seven minutes left, when he picked Wilbekin’s pocket and hit Boatright with a pass for a layup that gave the Huskies a 47-40 lead.

And though UConn’s big men were largely plagued by foul trouble, they kept the Gators from penetrating most of the night.

“This is the best we’ve defended all year,” said Miller. “A good defensive team has become a great defensive team in this tournament.”

Rodney Shows Respect

Rodney Purvis, the talented guard who has sat out this entire season due to NCAA transfer rules, arrived in Dallas on Friday and was in the locker room after the game.

“Nobody really had us making it this far,” said Purvis, who transferred from NC State last year. “I’ve been a fan, that’s the reason I came to this school. I knew what we can do. Not being able to play, it’s tough. But I’m enjoying my time sitting on the side, becoming a better student of the game by watching and learning from Shabazz and Boat.”

On Friday, UConn coach Kevin Ollie called Purvis “a Ferrari sitting in the garage that I can’t drive.” Purvis will be eligible to play next season, of course. But for now, he can’t dress with the team or sit on the bench, and his entire trip to the Final Four must be on his own dime. He and his mother came down, though Purvis is still spending time with his teammates.

“I’ve been hanging out with them, though,” he said. “They can’t stop me from that.”

No Pain Stuart

UConn may have dodged a bullet — at least in the minds of its fans — when the officials were announced for Saturday’s game. Or, more aptly, when a certain official wasn’t assigned to the game.

Mike Stuart, who famously ejected Kevin Ollie from the Huskies’ 76-64 loss to Louisville on Jan. 18 at Gampel Pavilion, was one of 10 officials in the pool to work Saturday’s Final Four games. However, he didn’t draw the UConn-Florida bout: John Higgins, Mike Stephens and Doug Sirmons drew the duty (with Mike Roberts as standby).

Stuart ejected Ollie about seven minutes into the second half of that game after Ollie ran up and down the sidelines, incensed that no foul had been called on a Niels Giffey shot attempt. He got hit with a technical by Stuart, then a second one just a few seconds later, ejecting him from the game.

Ollie had to be escorted off the court by director of basketball administration Kevin Freeman, and had some choice words for both Stuart and fellow official Ted Valentine on his way out.

After the game, Ollie was apologetic for his actions, but didn’t back down from his belief a foul should have been called. A couple of days later, he said: “I did (overreact), a little bit, when I ran down the baseline. But, it happens. Hopefully, we can move on. Hopefully, Stuart can move on from the game and we can all be better from it.”

Stuart was on the whistle for Saturday’s other national semifinal bout between Kentucky and Wisconsin. It’s not yet known who will officiate Monday night’s championship game.

Rim Rattlings

• UConn is the third team to be a No. 7 seed or lower and reach the national championship game since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. No. 8 Butler advanced in 2011, and No. 8 Villanova in 1985. The Bulldogs, of course, lost to Kemba Walker and the Huskies.
• Ollie is the first coach to reach the national title game within his first two seasons since interim coach Mike Davis led Indiana to the 2002 title game.
• UConn is now 5-0 in Final Four games played in the state of Texas.

According to Kevin Ollie, it's "50-50" whether Ryan Boatright will be there for UConn's bout with Temple Tuesday night at the XL Center.

"He left and he said he wasn’t going to be back, but then we talked and he might be back," Ollie said. "I’m planning on him not being back, making sure Terrence (Samuel) is ready, Lasan (Kromah) plays a little bit of point guard. If Boatright comes back, it’d be great. But if he doesn’t, we say this all the time: next man up.”

It appears funeral services for Boatright's cousin, Arin Williams, are on Tuesday. Williams was killed by a gunshot to the head on Jan. 14. Perhaps that means he'll attend services, then try to fly back for Tuesday night's game, but that's not clear at this point.

When Boatright does return, Ollie hopes basketball will be a "sanctuary" for him.

“You go and get away from it a little bit," he said. "Hopefully, he understands that once he comes here, he has nothing but love. He has a brotherhood that’s got his back and is going to be here for him. Hopefully, it relieves him of that tension or thinking about his cousin, or the pressures of dealing with his family and the different dynamics of what’s going on. Hopefully when he gets on the basketball court, he can just think about basketball.”

*** If Boatright doesn't play Tuesday night, Samuel is ready for some more playing time. In fact, he seems to have been chomping at the bit for more PT.

“I’ve been ready to get in, show what I can do and help the team win," Samuel said. "I’ve been waiting for my time, I’ve just got to step in, make the right decisions.”

Samuel's played in just 10 of UConn's 18 games, averaging just 6.3 minutes per contest. He's played a grand total of six minutes in the Huskies' first five AAC games.

Samuel said the lack of action has been tough.

“It has, actually. At first, it kind of got to me a lot. I might have said, just stop working for a while, but I’ve still got to keep my work habits, keep working in the gym, get better, working on my shot and getting ready to play when my name’s called.”

He added: 

Said Ollie: “You never want somebody to lose or see somebody hurt, but if they go down, I’m like, ‘It’s my time, I’m ready to go.’ Hopefully Terrence, Omar (Calhoun), Lasan understand that. They might get that situation where they’re going to have the ball in their hand a little more.”

Ollie added that Samuel has been "getting better understanding the offense, the defense, the next play, not putting his head down as much, being confident in who he is. I see him being a terrific player here.”

*** Asked if he'd heard from any of his "mentors" after Saturday night's ejection, Ollie said: “I heard from my mother. She said calm down a little bit. That’s the best mentor of all.”

He hasn't heard from Jim Calhoun yet.

“Jim’s in Cabo, man," Ollie said with a smile. "He’s on a golf course. But I will hear from him. I know he’s seen the incident, but let him be on vacation. When he comes back, we’ll have our usual talks.”

He added that Kevin Freeman did a good job of escorting him back to the locker room.

“He did his job. I wasn’t going to go punch anybody. I just wanted to get my money’s worth a little bit. Kevin did a good job restraining me, so I didn’t overreact – which I did, a little bit, when I ran down the baseline. But, it happens. Hopefully, we can move on. Hopefully, (Mike) Stuart can move on from the game, and we can all be better from it. That’s what my hope is.”

Then, he reiterated: “That was a foul.”

Louisville continued its hex in recent years against UConn with a 76-64 victory. OK, where do we start?

Ah yes, Kevin Ollie's first career ejection as head coach (he had earned a technical foul last season at DePaul for leaving the coach's box).

No doubt, Wayne Blackshear should have been called for a foul on Niels Giffey on the play in question. What happened next was pretty intense. Here's the reaction to Ollie's ejection, administered by ref Mike Stuart:

“I just thought it was a foul,” he said. “Niels is a pretty good shooter. He went up and, you know, got hit in the shoulder or the arm. Then, coming back, Shabazz (Napier) does the same thing later on and they didn’t call that foul. It happens, and we’re going to go from there.”

Added Ryan Boatright: “I was glad that he had our back. He fought for us, because some of those calls were ridiculous. The one that he got kicked out for was an obvious foul. It was crazy that they didn’t call it.”

In a statement, Stuart said Ollie was hit with “two unsportsmanlike Class A technical fouls. The first one was reacting to running down the sideline. The second one was coming on the floor to protest the call.”

Ollie admitted he earned the ejection -- sort of.

“I saw the replay, I think I jumped around a little bit, sprinted,” he said. “I don’t know if there was a warning or not, but I thought they gave me the first ‘T’ and I didn’t really have a chance to do anything and then the second one came.”

More Boatright: “He said he let his emotions get the best of him. He apologized for not being there when we needed him on the sideline. We just told him that we appreciated him for having our back, and really saying the things that we really couldn’t say. He showed how frustrated we were in not getting those calls. He’s a coach and he did the right thing.”

Rick Pitino's somewhat odd synopsis: "We were up (nine). I thought (the ejection) hurt us, actually, because we missed our free throws. We had momentum and let the crowd get in the game. Especially Kevin Ollie, you don't ever want to see him get thrown out. Jim Calhoun, you want to see get thrown out. I'm only kidding. Make sure you tell Jim that."

We would, but Calhoun -- perched in his usual seat on the press row baseline in the first half -- left the arena at halftime. No, he didn't join Ollie in the locker room after his ejection. Apparently, Calhoun left early because he's heading out on vacation tomorrow.

*** Bad call (or no-call) or not, UConn hardly deserved to win this game. The Huskies were outrebounded 45-30, with 16 of the Cardinals’ boards of the offensive variety. UConn also was outscored in the paint, 40-20.

“It’s not like they have Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar out there,” Ollie pointed out. “So, we’ve got to do a better job.”

*** DeAndre Daniels, fresh off a 23-point, 11-rebound effort in Thursday’s win at Memphis, picked up his second foul just over six minutes into the game and spent the rest of the first half on the bench. Without him, UConn had great difficulty penetrating Louisville’s active, 2-3 zone. The Huskies were forced into taking half their shots (14) from 3-point land, many of them late in the shot clock. UConn did hit six of them (three by Napier) to stay close and trail by six at the break.

Daniels finished with just three points for the game.

“Him sitting on the bench hurt our rotation,” said Ollie. “But, at the end of the day, he played the second half, and he’s got to play better. You’ve got to respond as a basketball player ... You get two fouls, I would’ve been boiling mad coming out at halftime. I would have got my third or fourth real quick on a charge, or throwing somebody out of the way. Something.”

*** Ollie said that Boatright will be heading back to Chicago on Sunday. It appears the funeral for Boatright's cousin, Arin Williams, is on Tuesday -- the same day UConn hosts Temple. But Boatright said he's not sure what he's going to do yet.

"I'm still contemplating if I want to miss Tuesday's game or not," he said. "I don't know exactly what I'm going to do."

*** The last time a UConn coach was ejected from a game was when Calhoun was booted from a Dec. 7, 2007 game with Northeastern by Wally Rutecki. Afterwards, Calhoun famously called Rutecki "incompetent."