You would think a team that was a pre-season #1 would have their local media relieved that they finally lived up to the hype by winning the BET. Surely they wouldn’t consider it one of the greatest UConn wins ever — would they?

UConn has celebrated some magical moments at Madison Square Garden, but Saturday night may have topped them all.

Oh. This win has evoked a lot of memories for the media following UConn

With 30.4 seconds left on this memorable March night, he climbed into Ray Allen’s jersey and hit a runner in the lane over a wall of Pittsburgh Panthers.

The shot was a huge one. The moment was even bigger.

Eight years ago, in this same game in the big city, Allen’s runner had curled around the rim and dropped in to drop Georgetown for one of the greatest comebacks in UConn basketball history. As a snapshot, there are few more savored Polaroids in the Huskies’ scrapbook.

Allen’s Big East tournament winner in 1996 had come too late for Georgetown to recover. Pitt would have a solid last chance Saturday night and maybe it had to be this way for Ben Gordon.
…
The buzzer sounded. Gordon thought the game was over. He took the basketball in one hand and heaved it all the way to the Hudson River. No, it was farther than that. He threw it all the way to his hometown of Mount Vernon.

There could be no sweeter moment for a New York kid, especially one prodded for being timid, one prodded to take charge. Gordon took charge all right. He jumped up on the scorer’s table the way El-Amin did that afternoon in Pittsburgh during the 1999 national title run. Only this time, it wasn’t done as a response to the taunting of UConn’s biggest rival. It was done in unrestrained joy.

What? No reference to Donyell Marshall? They have made Ben Gordon a god.

Still, UConn found a way to win its sixth Big East championship.

Found a way because Ben Gordon made good on every bet that has ever been placed on him.

Most Huskie followers were just relieved Okafor left for foul troubles, not back spasms. And of course, there is love for the big men who filled in for Villanueva yesterday and Okafor the two previous games — a classic “what they did, doesn’t show up in the stat sheet” piece.

Then there is this.

Pitt could still land a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. With their physical style and terrific defense, they won’t be easy to beat in the postseason. But they must get past this disappointment first.

Apparently the writer is convinced that this loss is a total demoralizer for Pitt. I have a hard time seeing it like that. Nothing the Pitt players or Coach Dixon said indicates they won’t get past the game.