The Connecticut Huskies defeated the Louisville Cardinals 69-66 to win their seventh Big East tournament title and officially punched their ticket to the big dance. UConn's seven Big East tournament wins ties them with Georgetown for the most ever and Jim Calhoun's seventh moves him past John Thompson Sr for the most all time. The Huskies certainly took the hard road without a bye in the tournament, which means they won five games in five days. They are the first team to ever do that in any conference tournament.
Kemba Walker showed why he was the deserving recipient of the player of the tournament award on the pivotal possession of the game for UConn. With just 34 seconds left and UConn down one, Walker got the ball drove the lane against three Louisville Cardinals but wisely decided to dish the ball off to Jeremy Lamb, who was wide open for an easy layup to give UConn a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Walker averaged 26 points per game in the tournament and scored 130 total points, which is a Big East tournament record.
Just to illustrate how competitive the Big East has been, UConn became the sixth different team in the past six years to win the tourney. En route to this title the Huskies beat the #3, #12, and #14 teams in the country. As the ESPN guys said after the game, they won't even have to beat teams that good to reach the final four.
In the end, both schools were already headed to the NCAA tournament win or lose tonight. The only real losers tonight was anyone who stayed around long enough to listen to Nick Lachey's Big East anthem called "Last One Standing" that they played at the end of the broadcast. I'm not joking about that either. It's real, It happened. And it's as bad as you think.
Actually worse. Here's just a little taste of the awesomeness. Try not get too hyped up.
I got my back against the wall but you won't break me!
It's time to see how far these tired legs can take me!
Stride for stride blow for blow no one's giving up no one's letting go.
Through all the tears and pain one question remains...
Tell me Who's the last?
(when it all comes down to)
Who's the last?
(Is it there inside you?)
Who's the last?
(When it's time to pull through)
Who's the last... The last one standing!
I won't let the victory slip through my fingers
I'm gonna raise the trophy let the feeling linger
I'm charging down a one way track never giving up never turning back
So much is left to prove not gonna lose noooooo
Tell me Who's the last?
(when it all comes down to)
Who's the last?
(Is it there inside you?)
Who's the last?
(When it's time to pull through)
Who's the last... The last one standing!
No doubt that Kemba Walker and his crew are just blasting this in the locker room, slapping high five.