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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. Theoren Fleury Jersey . Down 2-1 after Rick Nash scored on a penalty shot, the Oilers ran off four unanswered goals in the remainder of the second period on the way to a 6-3 victory on Sunday. Johnny Gaudreau Jersey . 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Bozak left the bench and went down the tunnel early in the second period, returned to play a handful of shifts and then did play in the third.Omaha, NE (Sports Network) - Adam Plutko pitched into the seventh inning and Eric Filia had a two-run single to boost UCLA to a 3-1 win over Mississippi State in the opener of the College World Series finals Monday night. Pat Valaika drove in the other run for the Bruins (48-17), who are trying for their first NCAA baseball title in program history. The Bulldogs (51-19), in the CWS finals for the first time, entered Monday without a single national championship in a team sport. UCLA has a record 108 team titles. Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Tuesday night. UCLA is appearing in its second College World Series Finals in the last four years. The Bruins lost to South Carolina in 2010. Plutko (10-3), a junior right-hander, allowed four hits and a run over six- plus frames. James Kaprielian and Zack Weiss combined to throw 1 1/3 hitless frames. David Berg recorded the final five outs for his 24th save of the year to set a new NCAA record. That eclipses the old mark set by Jack Krawczyk of USC in 1998 and Tyler Roger of Austin Peay in 2013. "At this point it doesnt really matter. Records are meant to be broken, but titles are what matter," Berg said. "So if we all win a national championship, Ill enjoy that. But right now I dont think about it at all." Trevor Fitts (0-1) was lifted after only 1 1/3 innings in the start. Chad Girodo pitched the final 7 2/3 innings and had nine strikeouts for the Bulldogs. Fitts fanned three batters in the first inning, but Kevin Kramer reached safely on a wild pitch after striking out. Following Filias double to left, Kramer scored on Valaikas line single up the middle. The Bulldogs kept it a one-run deficit when first baseman Wes Rea made a diving stop and flipped to Fitts for the final out of the opening frame. Fitts was pulled from the game with one out in the second inning. Mississippi State caught a break later in the frame when Kramer was called out at first on a close play despite replays showing Girodo got to the bag late. UCLA put two runners on base in the third, bbut Shane Zeile grounded out to end the threat.dddddddddddd The Bruins took advantage of an error in the fourth inning to expand their lead to 3-0. Brenton Allen singled to left with one out and Brian Carroll put down a sacrifice bunt. Catcher Nick Ammirati threw low to first base. Rea and Carroll knocked knees together and the ball trickled into foul territory. With men on first and third, Kramer struck out before Carroll stole second. On a 3-2 pitch, Filia hit a soft liner to right field to drive in both runners, but he was caught in a rundown to end the inning. MSUs first hit came on a ground ball up the middle off the bat of Alex Detz with one out in the fourth inning. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with another single and a hit batsman before C.T. Bradford walked with two outs on a 3-2 pitch that was high to force in a run. Trey Porter then lined out to right field. Filia made a running catch in the right field corner on a ball hit by Ammirati to start the bottom of the fifth, but Detz lined out to second to leave a runner in scoring position. The Bulldogs wasted a golden opportunity in the seventh. Porter singled and was removed from the game for a pinch-runner. Kaprielian relieved Plutko, but walked Ammirati. Demarcus Henderson then grounded into a 4-6-3 double play and Adam Frazier grounded to out to cap the inning. Berg came in from the UCLA bullpen to induce a double play in the eighth and got out of a jam after putting two men on base in the ninth. Ammirati flied out and pinch-hitter Jacob Robson grounded out to end the game. "You have to make your luck in this game," MSU coach John Cohen said. "They made the most of their opportunities. Sometimes you get the pitch you want and everything doesnt happen for you. We had sequences and we had opportunities. We still have a great chance to come back and win the series." The Bruins are 9-0 in the postseason, the longest postseason winning streak in school history. The Bruins have outscored their opponents by a 36-14 margin in the postseason. ' ' '