A national champion was crowned in college basketball Monday night in Houston.

A champion that was a part of the greatest Final Four in recent memory and maybe ever. But, I’m here to tell you why Connecticut’s national championship doesn’t matter.

I’m not saying the Huskies’ victory isn’t significant, because clearly it is. UConn beat Butler in a muddy, defensive showcase that left casual fans groaning at all the missed shots and basketball purists remarking at the stellar defense and rebounding.

What I’m saying is that once UConn, Kentucky, VCU and Butler made the Final Four, there was going to be a great or compelling story behind an NCAA title for any of the teams.

Let’s start with the overall picture of the national semifinal: zero No. 1 seeds for only the third time in the history of the tournament. Before this season, it happened only in 2006 — when No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 LSU and No. 11 George Mason made it — and in 1980, when No. 2 Louisville, No. 5 Iowa, No. 6 Purdue and No. 8 UCLA made it.

The 2011 version, No. 3 Connecticut, No. 4 Kentucky, No. 8 Butler and No. 11 VCU, was the highest combination of seeds to ever make up the Final Four, and featured a team in VCU that comes from the new First Four, which is the new set of play-in games that now constitute the first round of the tournament.

VCU’s improbable run to the Final Four started with a nation of sports commentators and analysts ripping the committee for selecting the Rams over a team such as Colorado, who many believed were much more deserving of a bid. Then their coach, 34-year-old Shaka Smart, became the hot, new coaching attraction, much like Brad Stevens of Butler did last year.

Butler’s path to the semifinal is overshadowed only by VCU’s. The fact that a midmajor with no real NBA prospects made not one but two trips to the national championship game is — and I know this term is overused in sports — unbelievable.

The Bulldogs were once again forced to watch another team celebrate, and while they can and should be happy just to be there, second place clearly isn’t good enough for Stevens’ group. Logic and the odds will say they likely won’t get another shot like this for a long time, but no one thought they’d get back this year, so who knows.

I told a friend last year after Butler made it that I’d rather see four No. 1 seeds in the Final Four than four Cinderellas because those watching would see the best basketball being played with the former rather than the latter. But in watching VCU versus Butler, as well as Butler throughout the entirety of the tournament, I realize how wrong I was.

Whereas teams like UConn and Kentucky play a more pro-style game with Kemba Walker and Brandon Knight acting as focal points of the offense, VCU and Butler play a truly team game where fundamentals are the focal point.

Those who watched VCU versus Butler saw the best basketball played all tournament. That’s not to dismiss what Walker or Knight did, which was sensational, but the quality of play was outstanding. Butler’s defensive prowess was showed even further in Monday’s game, when Kemba and Co. weren’t able to do offensively what they normally do.

In UConn-Kentucky, we all saw several future NBA players — and maybe a star in Walker. We also saw two teams with improbable runs of their own.

For UConn, it meant they got 10 wins straight and a Big East title on its way to the national championship in 20 days. Riding a wave of momentum that was not to be denied, the Huskies got to the title game despite everyone saying they’d ultimately get worn out and falter.

Kentucky made the Final Four a year after they were supposed to. Using John Calipari’s system of one-and-done players, the Wildcats returned one of the most storied programs in the history of college basketball to the semifinal for the first time since they won it all in 1998. They also have the ever-present threat of possible NCAA violations hanging over their heads.

College basketball fans were treated to one hell of an NCAA tournament in 2011, and unless Butler and/or VCU make a Final Four run again next season, it’s the best one we’ll see for a long time.

So yes, UConn winning it all is a great story. An almost impossible story.

It just wasn’t the whole story.