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. . Lineup news, Fantasy and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES St. Louis Blues – After rolling the San Jose Sharks for seven goals, for the second time in a week, the Blues have a bunch of players on hot streaks. .Lets go back to the Avs, who have become one of the funnest teams to watch in this years playoffs.
http://www.cheapsteelersjerseyssale.com ... ersey-sale. Having won the first leg 1-0 in Barcelona, Madrid entered the match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium already in control and quickly sealed its place in the semifinals when Jese Rodriguez scored in the seventh minute. . -- Phil Mickelson came to the St. . The Mercedes duo of three-time Canadian Grand Prix champion Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg has won all six races to start the season, finishing one-two in the last five.ATLANTA -- Freddie Freeman insists the Atlanta Braves have no special insight when playing the Washington Nationals. "I dont know if its about getting in their heads," Freeman said. "You just want to go out there and win series. It doesnt matter who its against." Freeman and Justin Upton each hit a two-run homer off Gio Gonzalez and the Braves completed a three-game sweep of the Nationals with a 10-2 victory on Sunday. Beating Washington for the 18th time in the last 25 series matchups, Atlanta is hoping to use another fast start against the Nationals to win a second straight NL East title. The Braves have won five of six against the Nationals this year. "We have a 19-game stretch against division opponents," Freeman said. "This is where you can get off to a good start and get off to a good lead and hopefully well keep playing well when we get to" Philadelphia to begin a four-game series Monday. Washington began the day by placing third baseman Ryan Zimmerman on the 15-day disabled list with a broken right thumb. Hell be out four to six weeks. With Zimmerman and leadoff hitter Denard Span sidelined, the Nationals lineup managed just five hits off Aaron Harang (2-1), who allowed one run, one walk and struck out five in six innings. Gonzalez (2-1) continued his struggles against the Braves, giving up nine hits, six runs and four walks and striking out six in six innings. Despite ranking second in the majors among left-handers with 34 wins since the start of 2012, Gonzalez is 2-7 with a 5.31 ERA in 10 starts against the Braves during that span. He hasnt received more than one run of support in any of his seven winless starts against Atlanta. "We were catching bad breaks," Gonzalez said. "We were making some big mistakes, and as a starting pitcher youve got to learn to adjust and keep the ball down." Harang, making his 322nd career start and third with the Braves, improved to 2-4 with a 3.72 ERA in 10 starts against Washington. Gus Schlosser, Atlantas fourth pitcher, gave up Adam LaRoches third homer in the ninth to make it 10-2. Ross Detwiler, Washingtons second pitcher, allowed four unearned runs in the eighth on Freemans RBI double and Andrelton Simmons first homer, a three-run shot that put the Braves up 10-1. Gonnzalezs struggles began in the first.dddddddddddd. After walking leadoff hitter Jason Heyward, Gonzalez made an errant underhanded throw to first baseman LaRoche on B.J. Uptons bunt single. The ball rolled away from LaRoche, allowing Heyward to advance to third and B.J. Upton to second. Freemans sacrifice fly scored Heyward, and Justin Upton homered to make it 3-0. Over his last six games, Justin Upton is hitting .590 with four homers in 22 at-bats. "We know what were capable of and what we want to achieve," Justin Upton said. "If everybody can contribute every day, I think well be fine." Atlanta added three more runs in the second. Tyler Pastornicky led off with a triple and scored on Heywards RBI double. Freeman followed with his fourth homer to give the Braves a 6-0 lead. Washingtons first run came on Jose Lobatons RBI groundout, scoring Kevin Frandsen from third to make it 6-1 in the fifth. Freeman, who has hit .470 in his last 34 at-bats, avoided a scare in the fourth when Gonzalezs 92 mph fastball hit the outer right side of his right hand. Like the rest of the day, everything seemed to go Atlantas way. "It pinched my pinkie into the bat," Freeman said. "It was more a scare than an injury. I got really lucky. I think if I didnt choke up, Im done. By choking up, it got some fat right there. I kind of lucked out, I think." NOTES: Washington RF Jayson Werth returned after a sore groin forced him from the lineup on Saturday. Werth went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and stranded three runners. ... Simmons hit in the No. 5 spot for the first time in his career, going 2 for 5 with three RBIs. ... Nate McLouth was supposed to start in CF and bat second for Washington, but manager Matt Williams said he tweaked his left knee while shagging flyballs during batting practice and was held out. ... Nationals LF Steven Souza Jr. made his major league debut in the seventh as Frandsen moved to second base and Danny Espinosa left the game. Souza struck out in the eighth. ... The Nationals called up INF Zach Walters from Triple-A Syracuse to take Zimmermans spot on the 25-man roster. Walters struck out as a pinch-hitter to end the game. ... Span, on the seven-day DL with concussion symptoms, missed his second straight game. ' ' '
