Calhoun's calm evident once again

How does Emeka Okafor's back look now Jay Mariotti?

Or, should I ask how your "remarkably clean" bracket looks now?

Mariotti, sports writer for the Chicago Tribune, had gloated all week about how great his bracket looked and how Duke would handle Connecticut.

Mariotti kept saying things all week like:

* Duke's coach Mike Krzyzewski couldn't be out coached a fourth straight time by Calhoun.

* Okafor wouldn't be healthy enough to lead the Huskies to victory. * Foul shooting, which has been the Huskies bug-a-boo all year, would haunt them in a close game.

Sorry, Jay, but let's have a look at those points.

First, Okafor dominated the last 10 minutes of the Duke game like the best player in the country.

He played so well, that he looked like a possible top three NBA pick, which he will probably become.

Okafor scored 18 second half points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two shots after playing just three minutes in the first half due to foul trouble.

Meanwhile, it was foul shooting that kept the Huskies in the game. Connecticut was 21-32 from the line, while Duke was just 14-23.

As for Coach K -- how about the decision to put Sheldon Williams in with two fouls and six minutes remaining in the first half?

As he has been prone to do, Williams picked up quite a few cheap fouls in both the first and second half, but his third foul with under five minutes remaining in the first half cost Duke in the long run.

As an astute Paul Hewitt pointed out in the TV broadcast at halftime during the game, "Coach Calhoun must be pleased being down seven with Okafor only playing three minutes, plus he didn't pick up his third foul."

Not picking up his third foul turned out to be vital for Connecticut in the long run.

As CBS announcer Billy Packer said to start the second half, "Whoever picks up their fourth foul first will be on the losing team."

This, at the time, was at the very least uncertain, for Duke had controlled the game since midway through the first half.

In the end, Okafor took over when he had to, showing all of America why he is the best player in the nation.

His offense sometimes is maligned, but there did not seem to be anything wrong with the arsenal of moves and shots he made down the stretch of Saturday's game.

Perhaps the most important free throw of the night came from Okafor, whose Huskies' team was up by three with just over three seconds remaining, when he made one free throw to seal the win.

When it mattered most, Okafor was on the floor controlling the game. The credit for this goes to Calhoun who had the guts to sit his best player on the bench for nearly 17 minutes in the first half, which turned out to be the most pivotal of the entire game.