Conference player of the year Shabazz Napier

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Rick Pitino switched from coach to lobbyist the moment his Louisville Cardinals won their third straight conference tournament title. Of course, Pitino thinks the defending national champs deserve a No. 1 seed, even if he knows they likely wont get one. Montrezl Harrell had 22 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, and fifth-ranked Louisville beat No. 21 Connecticut 71-61 Saturday for the inaugural American Athletic Conference title in the Cardinals lone season in the league. Pitino said hes extremely biased. "But Im very impressed with our guys," Pitino said. "What theyve done to win a regular season, conference tournament the way we have done it, in the fashion we have done it fits the eye test. I cant talk about the strength of the league. If you want to blame anybody, blame football. Dont blame us." The Cardinals (29-5) clinched their 40th NCAA tournament berth in style with their 19th overall tournament title. They took the last two in the Big East and added the American to go with their share of the regular-season title with Cincinnati. They will play next season in the Atlantic Coast Conference. "To win a regular-season championship and a tournament championship back to back is not easy. You have to have special players, and these two epitomize exactly that," Pitino said, praising Russ Smith and Harrell. Smith, named the tournaments most outstanding player, scored 19 points. He also had five steals to move into a tie for Louisvilles career record with 254. Chris Jones added 11 points. Smith said he thought a year ago that he had done almost everything a college athlete can, but he wanted to enjoy being a senior on campus and work on his game. Now he has another title to enjoy. "I have a lot of fun being at Louisville," Smith said. UConn (26-8) came in looking for an eighth tournament title to go with seven from the Big East. It was barred from post-season play a year ago, but is a virtual lock to return to the NCAA tournament this year. The Huskies left Memphis with a third loss this season to Louisville -- all by double digits. "Louisvilles playing great basketball," UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. "They won the championship last year, they went to the Final Four the year before. They got pretty much their whole team back, an experienced bunch, they play hard and well coached. But this tournament is wide open. Its a one-game elimination. Somebody can get hot, and hopefully that team will be us." Ollie also looked ahead to a conference that will be losing Louisville and Rutgers and adding teams like Tulsa. He said UConn plans to continue being at the top of the American. "This conference is going to be great," Ollie said. DeAndre Daniels led the Huskies with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Conference player of the year Shabazz Napier had 16 points on 4-of-12 shooting, and Amida Brimah finished with 14. UConn outscored Louisville 32-28 in the paint, but the Cardinals turned the Huskies 13 turnovers into 13 points. Louisville also outrebounded the Huskies 38-33 and enjoyed a 14-6 advantage on second-chance points. Louisville routed UConn 81-48 a week ago on the Cardinals home court. But the Huskies were a confident bunch heading into the final, coming off victories over No. 19 Memphis in the quarterfinals and No. 13 Cincinnati in the semis. The Cardinals grabbed an early lead and controlled the action for much of the game. Harrell scored 10 points in the first half and was a blur at times, blocking Brimah twice on one possession. He also swooped in for a dunk off a Smith assist that looked more like a layup that just missed the basket short. UConn stayed within six of the Cardinals down the stretch, but Louisville finished the half on a 10-2 run that included 3s by Terry Rozier and Luke Hancock. Smith also had a steal and a pass ahead to Rozier for a fast-break layup that gave the Cardinals their biggest lead yet at 37-23 going into the break. "We just didnt find our rhythm," Napier said. "They did play good defence. Once we got into the middle, guys had open shots, and we just couldnt knock them down." The Huskies tried to take advantage of Louisvilles shooting woes to open the second half. The Cardinals missed their first five shots, but Harrell had big three-point play for a 45-28 lead. Louisville went up by as much as 20 a couple times, the last at 52-32. Guillermo Ochoa Jersey . In the second game of their day/night doubleheader at Minneapolis, three Blue Jays pitchers, Steve Delabar, Sergio Santos and J. Edson Alvarez Jersey . On paper, it looks a little like Andre the Giant taking on a midget wrestler. It has all the makings of a rout with the Americans adding an eighth win in nine outings of this biennial event. The Yanks have eight players in the top 15 in the world while the Internationals have just one. http://www.mexiconationalshop.us/Jesus-Molina-Mexico-Jersey-Soccer/ . The Marlies centre set up three goals, including the game-winner, as Toronto cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Oklahoma City Barons in American Hockey League action. Custom Mexico Jerseys . Head coach Corey Chamblin announced on Monday that Avon Cobourne had been hired as the defending Grey Cup champions new running backs coach. Giovani dos Santos Jersey . Or, for that matter, the aged.Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Victor Oladipo and Nikola Vucevic both posted 33 points to lead the Orlando Magic to a surprising 121-114 road victory over the Chicago Bulls. Vucevic added 11 rebounds in his fifth straight double-double while Oladipo shot 11-for-17, including 3-of-4 from behind the arc, to help Orlando snap its six-game losing skid. Vucevic finished a point shy of his career-high 34, which was set in Portland last Saturday. Seven Orlando players scored between five and 10 points in support of Vucevic and Oladipo. Its interesting seeing our team grow, Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn said. Tonight we saw it come to fruition. Pau Gasol continued to dominate in January, though the Bulls fell to 4-3 in the month. Gasol posted 28 points and 14 rebounds, the fourth time this month that hes collected at least 27 and 14. Derrick Rose added 18 points and seven assists as Chicago fell for the third time in four games on the heels of a 10-1 stretch. Were not sharp right now, Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau said. Win one, lose one. You cant go anywhere like that. Strong first and third quarters, which Orlando won by a combined 15 points, gave the visitors a comforrtable 15-point margin heading into the fourth.dddddddddddd The Bulls made a game of it with six straight points from Nikola Mirotic midway through the period. Mirotics three-point play, which came 38 seconds after his 3-ball, had the Bulls within six points, 102-96. It was down to five two minutes later following a pair of Gasol free throws, but Chicago never got closer than that. Aaron Brooks missed a 3-pointer, Joakim Noah failed to hit two free throws and Rose was off the mark from deep on Chicagos next three touches. Oladipos layup and a short Channing Frye basket pushed the lead back to nine. Oladipo sealed the win with two free throws with 12.3 seconds to play. Vucevic scored 12 points in the first quarter. Orlando shot 60.9 percent as a team and led 29-21. The Magic then built on a 63-55 halftime advantage behind Vucevic and Oladipo, who combined to outscore the Bulls 25-23 in the period. Game Notes Elfrid Payton had 10 points and seven assists for Orlando ... The Magic shot 48-for-81 (59.3 percent) from the floor ... Orlando outscored Chicago 58-40 in the paint, though the Bulls held a 19-2 advantage in second-chance points. 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