Yesterday I pointed out that if UConn was to earn a bye in the Big East tournament, winning today was paramount. At the time, the Big East standings looked like this:

6. Cincinnati 9-6
7. Georgetown 10-7
8. Villanova 9-7
9. Marquette 8-7
10. UConn 8-7
11. West Virginia 8-7

Well, UConn did what it had to do and dispatched the Bearcats 67-59 today. I was not able to see the game, so I can't give you a full breakdown, but based on the box score alone, it looks like Kemba Walker, Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier were all crucial to UConn's win. Even better, now the Big East standings look like this:

6. Georgetown 10-7
7. UConn 9-7
8. Villanova 9-7
9. Marquette 9-7
10. West Virginia 9-7
11. Cincinnati 9-7

Now, UConn can certainly still play itself out of a bye and right into a first round game, but their win has put them in a good position to avoid doing that, and if they can win Wednesday at West Virginia (a big if), they might just have the bye locked up.