5 most amazing one-man March Madness machines

2. Kemba Walker – 2011 UConn Huskies

Won National Title — 24.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.5 steals per game (6 games)

The 2011 NCAA Tournament was a bit of a slog, a year where chaos reigned and we ended up with one of the least compelling NCAA Title Games of the last decade. That made the tournament the perfect storm for Kemba Walker’s legendary performance in guiding UConn to the title even more memorable. Walker’s run started in the Big East Tournament, where he hit a game-winner against Pitt on Friday:

Then on Saturday, he put up 33/12/5/6 in an overtime win over Syracuse, and he capped off the run with 19 points in a win over Louisville in the Championship. Then came the Big Dance, where he continued his epic performance: 18/8/12 vs. Bucknell, 36 points against San Diego State in the Sweet 16, and a calm and collected 19/6/7 to beat Kentucky in the Final Four.

That UConn team didn’t have a ton of firepower outside of Walker and Hornets teammate Jeremy Lamb, so they built a meat grinder of a team, setting massive Alex Oriakhi in the paint on defense, and letting Kemba dictate the show with slow, methodical isolation play on the offensive end. They won extremely ugly, but they won, because Walker’s ability to create off the dribble and open passing lanes for his teammates with his stellar handle and pull-up shooting opened just enough doors for their offense to match their defensive play. That Walker is by far the smallest player on this list made the story even sweeter.

Does Walker’s 2011 run happen in most iterations of the NCAA Tournament, where there’s more talent at the top and UConn runs into more than just a series of rock fights? Maybe, maybe not. But we do know that his performance was THE story of this tournament, and that for 11 games, Walker carried a UConn team that didn’t have much else in terms of talent to a surprise title run. He’s the best player to make that claim of the past 30 years. But there’s another name that even better personifies the One-Man Machine.