PHOENIX – OK. So this is why everyone who knows what color a basketball is picked the Connecticut men’s basketball team to win the national championship.

In the latest of No. 2 UConn’s four dominating performances in the NCAA Tournament, the Huskies whipped No. 8 Alabama, 87-71. Forty-eight hours earlier, ‘Bama had eliminated Syracuse to advance to the Elite Eight. UConn placed its foot squarely on Alabama’s throat early in the game and never took it off, shooting 58 percent from 3-point range and holding Alabama (21-13) to 42 percent shooting.

If the Huskies (31-6) play in San Antonio next weekend like they did here, they’ll turn college basketball’s marquee event from competition to coronation. Whether or not the Huskies, who outscored opponents by 36 points this weekend, will capture the national title isn’t the biggest question. Rather, it’s how did they lose six games this season? ‘By not doing what we did (Saturday),’ UConn All-America center Emeka Okafor said. ‘We learned.’

It’s a hard lesson for the rest of the nation.

For the second straight game, unheralded guard Rashad Anderson was automatic from 3-point range for the Huskies. Anderson and All-America guard Ben Gordon shot 3s like they were lay-ups, converting a ridiculous 9 of 10 from beyond the arc in the first half.

‘That was the best half of basketball anyone’s played against us all season,’ Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried said.

After Anderson finished off the 3-point onslaught with 14 seconds left in the first half, he streaked down the sideline and blew on his fingers as if to cool them off. By the time the teams retreated to the locker rooms at halftime, the Huskies had singed Alabama to the tune of 53-29, Anderson and Gordon combing for 40 points. For the game, Gordon poured in 36 and Anderson scored a career-high 28.

‘Rashad is instant offense,’ UConn head coach Jim Calhoun said. ‘And I mean instant offense. Sometimes he takes his first few shots before he leaves the scorer’s table.’

As smoldering as Gordon and Anderson were, Okafor might have been the most dominant player on the floor. Alabama wasn’t bashful about attacking Okafor – and the All-America center made them pay for it. Despite battling a stinger in right shoulder, Okafor made five blocks in the first half. With only two points, Okafor controlled the game.

‘If I don’t block, someone’s scoring buckets on me,’ Okafor said. ‘It’s a pride thing.’ Behind Okafor’s brick-wall defense and Anderson and Gordon’s Nintendo-like shooting, UConn had ended Alabama’s season 20 minutes early. With the way it played, perhaps UConn ended, for all intents and purpose, the NCAA Tournament a shade early, too.

‘When we play like this,’ UConn point guard Taliek Brown said, ‘there ain’t nobody that can stop us.’

‘We made the Final Four,’ Okafor said. ‘Now, we might as well win the whole damn thing.’

Published on March 28, 2004 at 12:00 pm