My heart is still in my chest? Really? Awesome. UConn 84 - Villanova 75

Wow. After a year of hearbreaking and headscratching losses, UConn finally won when it needed to. The Huskies knocked off #3 Villanova, grabbing UConn's first road win of the year and (thanks to Texas' slide) the best win on the team's resume.

I do not have the slightest idea what to think of this team at this point, not that I did before either. I (mercifully) missed the Cincy game, so I came into this relatively hopeful from the way the team looked against Cuse, but even I was surprised at just how well the Huskies played tonight. 

In particular, Kemba Walker deserves credit for what is certainly the best game of his season and probably the only game he has played that has come close to the Elite-8 performance that made us instill so much hope in him. His final line? 29 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 turnover, plus he added 3 threes. Awesome. (Other notable performers: Dyson, who had 6 assists to 3 turnovers while scoring 15 and Coombs-McDaniel who hit two big threes. I'm going to do Stanley Robinson the favor of not dwelling on his 10 turnovers.)

Still, this win leaves UConn with more questions than it provides answers. As you can see in the end of TheOpenThread, the win seems to have vaulted the team from no chance at the NCAAs to the having a slim-to-none chance at making the big dance.

Eternal optimist that I am, I'd love to say that this is the st art of something great, Cal is back in full force and UConn will run the table. I actually think that would be enough to get UConn into the tourney (maybe even with one not-awful loss along the way) because the committee loves teams that are hot late and we have a big name/sympathy from the 'Cuse loss. Still, as much as I'd love to say that, I can't bring myself quite that far. As Meacham said, after this win you can probably mark UConn down for a loss at Rutgers on Saturday. This team has broken my heart too many times for me to trust them again. Tonight was great, it was the UConn team we all hoped we'd see when the year started. I just hope we get to see it for the next three weeks, if only so the seniors can go out in a way that is representative of their talent.