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ARLINGTON, Texas -- Coaches and players left them. Others told them to go away. The guys who stuck around at UConn ended up with the last laugh and a pretty good prize to go with it: The national title. Shabazz Napier turned in another all-court masterpiece Monday night to lift the Huskies to a 60-54 win over Kentuckys freshmen and bring home a championship hardly anyone saw coming. "Youre looking at the hungry Huskies," Napier told the crowd and TV audience as confetti rained down. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is what happens when you banned us." The senior guard had 22 points, six rebounds and three assists, and his partner in defensive lock-down, Ryan Boatright, finished with 14 points. The victory comes only a short year after the Huskies were barred from March Madness because of grades problems. That stoked a fire no one could put out in 2014. Napier kneeled down and put his forehead to the court for a long while after the buzzer sounded. He was wiping back tears when he cut down the net. "I see my guys enjoying it," Napier said. "Thats the most special feeling ever." UConn (32-8) never trailed in the final. The Huskies led by as many as 15 in the first half and watched the Wildcats (29-11) trim the deficit to one with 8:13 left. But Aaron Harrison, who pulled out wins with clutch 3-pointers in Kentuckys last three games, missed a 3 from the left corner that wouldve given the Cats the lead. Kentucky never got that close again. One key difference in a six-point loss: Kentuckys 11 missed free throws -- a flashback of sorts for coach John Calipari, whose Memphis team blew a late lead against Kansas after missing multiple free throws in the 2008 final. The Wildcats went 13 for 24. UConn went 10 for 10, including Lasan Kromahs two to seal the game with 25.1 seconds left. "We had our chances to win," Calipari said. "Were missing shots, were missing free throws. We just didnt have enough." Calipari said he decided not to foul at the end "because theyre not missing." In all, Caliparis One and Doners got outdone by a more fundamentally sound, more-seasoned group that came into this tournament a seventh-seeded afterthought but walked away with the programs fourth national title since 1999. They were the highest seed to win it all since Rollie Massiminos eighth-seeded Villanova squad in 1985. Napier and Boatright now go down with Kemba Walker, Emeka Okafor, Rip Hamilton, Ray Allen and all those other UConn greats. This adds to the schools titles in 1999, 2004 and 2011. "When they say Ray, Rip, Ben, Emeka, Kemba -- theyll soon say Shabazz," said their former coach, Jim Calhoun, who was in the crowd along with former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and a father-and-son team whose dance to the "Happy" song got huge applause when played on the big screen at AT&T Stadium. The crowd was cheering for UConn at the end. A short year ago, the Huskies were preparing for their first season in the new American Athletic Conference after being booted from the Big East and not welcomed by any of the so-called power conferences. Calhoun, who built the program, left because of health problems. And most damaging -- the NCAA ban triggered an exodus of five key players to the NBA or other schools. Napier stuck around. So did Boatright. And Calhouns replacement, Kevin Ollie, figured out how to make their grit, court sense and loyalty pay off. "Its not about going to the next level, its not about going to the pros, but playing for your university, playing for your teammates," Niels Giffey said. "And Im so proud of all the guys on this team that stuck with this team." They were one step ahead of Kentucky all night, holding off furious rally after furious rally. Kentuckys biggest push started when James Young (20 points, seven rebounds) posterized Amida Brimah with a monster dunk to start a three-point play and trigger an 8-0 run. In the middle of that, Boatright, who shut down Harrisons twin brother, Andrew, most of the night, twisted his left ankle while receiving an innocuous-looking pass from Napier. He called a timeout. Got it worked on and came back out. "Ive got a lot of heart and I wasnt coming out," Boatright said. "We put in too much work all year for me to give up on an ankle sprain." Napier and Giffey made 3s on UConns two possessions after the timeout, and that one-point lead was back up to five -- fairly comfortable by this tight, taut, buzzer-beating tournaments standards. The big question in Kentucky is what will happen to all those freshmen. Julius Randle (10 points, six rebounds) is a lottery pick if he leaves for the NBA. Young and the Harrison brothers could be first-rounders. The big question is whether theyll want to leave on this note. "I think all these kids are coming back, so I think we should be good," Calipari deadpanned, getting big laughs. He called his group the most coachable bunch hes ever had. They were pre-season No. 1, a huge disappointment through much of this season. They were seeded an uninspiring eighth for the tournament and came on strong in time for a run to the final. But they got outdone by a team on a different sort of mission -- a team led by Napier, who stuck with the program even though he knew the 2012-13 season was for nothing but fun. But what fun 2013-14 turned out to be. Napier was named the Final Fours Most Outstanding Player and he earned it on both ends of the court, keeping a hand in Aaron Harrisons face most of the night and holding him to a 3-for-7, seven-point, no-damage night. He could also shoot it a bit -- including a 3-pointer in the first half when UConn was having trouble dissecting the Kentucky zone. The shot came from about 30 feet, right in front of the edge of the Final Four logo at Center Court, or, as Dick Vitale put it: "He shot that one from Fort Worth." They felt it back in Storrs, where they could be celebrating another title shortly. The UConn women play for the national title Tuesday. If they win, it will be the first sweep of the titles since 2004. The last school to do it: UConn, of course. Oleksandr Zinchenko Jersey . The 21-year-old Wickham headed Sunderland into a 26th-minute lead --to add to the double he scored at Manchester City and his strike in last weekends win at Chelsea -- and then sealed the win with a late header. Custom Manchester City Jerseys . Mako Vunipola was promoted from the reserves, with Matt Mullan called up to the bench on Thursday. "It is important that Joe is with his partner at this exciting time," England coach Stuart Lancaster said. http://www.tmancitysoccershop.com/c-36-b...-fc-jersey.aspx. Louis Cardinals continued their offensive tear with a 9-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a four-game series. Manchester City Jerseys . And follow TSN.ca right through Deadline Day for all the updates. From Pierre LeBrun While Anaheim GM Bob Murray said earlier this season he was not going to trade Jonas Hiller despite the fact hes an unrestricted free agent on July 1, some sources have told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun that Murray might be willing to move another goalie. Raheem Sterling Jersey . "Im proud, obviously. Its been a long day, but now Im a Crystal Palace player, Im very happy," Bannan said. "The seasons been started now for a couple of weeks and Ive not featured at Villa.If you were still playing in the NHL today, what team would you want to play for?Being from Toronto I would want to play for the Maple Leafs. Its like being on Broadway, everything you do matters. Id want to be good though! I couldnt play here if I wasnt very good. #83217388 / gettyimages.com (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)When did the nickname Cujo start? And who came up with it?I was in St. Louis and it started the very first year of my career. A guy by the name of Robert Dirk couldnt really pronounce my name so he shortened it to Cujo, which is the first two letters of both names.Have you ever read the 1981 horror novel Cujo by Stephen King, or seen the movie?Ive seen the movie, but Im sure the book is better. Its awesome! Its a great nickname for me and I ran with it. Kids of all ages loved it and they had to have their mask painted like Cujo. Im very fortunate that I had a great nickname, and still do.Heres a close-up of the famous Cujo mask: #83217370 / gettyimages.com (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)You lost your temper a few times in the heat of battle, what do you think was the moment in your career where you were the most upset?Visibly you saw some of them, and theyre in the Sportcentre Top 10 highlights. Its a game of emotion, I tell my kids that. I tell my boys, listen, its okay to celebrate and its okay to be mad at a call, just dont take it to the extreme. Certainly its a game of emotion, and if you play with passion thats a good thing. Who is your closest hockey friend from your career?Oh, thats hard! I cant pick just one of them. Certainly with the phones these days and Instagram etc. its easy to follow them and their lives through pictures or whatever it is. Its nice to keep in touch with guys that are still playing and continuing their career. I met a lot of great people. The best men that I have ever met have been through hockey.Hockey players can be known for locker room fun and games, what is the best prank youve ever witnessed?There are a lot of different things. We used to fly commercial in my first ten years probably, and wed be on a commercial flight, played the night before, and everybody would be sleeping before the plane took off. Guys would get shaving cream out from the trainers and pile as much shaving cream in a circle on top of a guy sleeping, right on top of their head. And the people who just bought their tickets and happened to be on our flight would be laughing and dying. Guys would hang things from their lips, so theyd be pretty much a Christmas tree and wake up with all this foam all over their head. They were fun pranks. #53122202 / geettyimages.ddddddddddddcom (Joseph and Martin Brodeur lounging in Team Canada van. Photo by Michael Desjardins/ Getty Images)Is there a player who always tried to mess with you personally? Maybe a teammate during practice shooting extra shots at you when you werent ready?Theres always a guy on each team, and playing for nineteen years… yknow what, it was usually the tough guys! It was always the tough guys that were the pranksters on the team. Maybe they didnt play enough and they had too much time on their hands, but it was always the tough guys who would be pulling these pranks. I wont mention names but I remember one tough guy, a friend of mine got him back. This tough guy was trying to be in style and his shoes looked like bowling shoes, so my friend wrote 9½ on the back of them like the bowling shoes. It was pretty funny. The tough guys, they were pranksters for sure. #164995547 / gettyimages.com (Photo by Tony Brock/ Toronto Star via Getty Images)Do you ever wish you got to play out of the net in the NHL?Oh ya! I wanted to be a player, but because I couldnt skate I had to be a goalie, and then it was too late to change in my late teens. I definitely liked to get out of the net. One year I had 9 assists and I used to bug a guy on my team telling him I had more points than him. I was a closet passer and a set up man.What was your most embarrassing moment on the ice? Probably knocking over Mick McGeough. I wouldnt say that was embarrassing, because I was passionate about it, but I fell. I slipped and slid right into him and knocked him over, and I was too mad to be embarrassed in the moment, but now that Im older and I see the Top 10 Lose It Moments on SportsCetntre, and that moments up there, its embarrassing.What was your favourite thing about being a goaltender?My favourite thing was having a great game and being able to shut out the other team. Winning games that maybe you werent supposed to win…. if you were able to steal a game as a goaltender, any goalie will tell you theres no better feeling than contributing that at the NHL level, especially in the playoffs. When you can contribute and steal a game you werent supposed to win its a great feeling.And finally… what was the most memorable game you ever played in?Thats hard to say, I always say its like asking who is your favourite child… and uh, I cant say. But definitely the games where the most was on the line, Olympics or playing game 7s of series, I played in many game 7s and those are the highest risk, and most reward. Winning game 7s and winning the Olympics were all great, memorable experiences. 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