Stanford got its momentum back against the team that took it away.
Matt Lottich had 20 points, six rebounds and five assists, and second-ranked Stanford defeated Washington 77-66 Saturday to win its first Pac-10 tournament title and a berth to the NCAA tournament for the 10th consecutive season.
"You got to love Matt Lottich," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "He's got so much pride in himself and so much competitiveness. He made some huge shots, as always."
The Cardinal (29-1) are virtually assured of a top seed in the West Region when the pairings are announced Sunday, along with a trip to Seattle for their first game.
"You take a great deal of pride if we should happen to go into the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed," Montgomery said. "It also means zippo starting next week."
The Cardinal donned white caps proclaiming them champions while fans chanted "six more wins" -- the number Stanford needs to win the national championship.
"We wanted to win it to prove we're the best team in the Pac-10," Lottich said.
A week ago, Washington spoiled Stanford's bid for a perfect season with a 75-62 victory in Seattle. The loss knocked the Cardinal from the No. 1 ranking, which they're likely to regain after previously unbeaten Saint Joseph's lost to Xavier by 20 points in the Atlantic-10 quarterfinals.
"We wanted to avenge our only loss of the season," said Josh Childress, the Pac-10 player of the year and tourney MVP. "I was fired up. I'm definitely glad we got to play them again."
The second-seeded Huskies (19-11) desperately wanted to win their first-ever conference tourney title to get into the NCAA tournament without contention. Now, their fate lies in the selection committee's hands. But their chances appear good since they've won 14 of their last 17 games.
Stanford's size advantage inside, along with Lottich's perimeter shooting wore down the Huskies. The Cardinal controlled the boards 42-33 and held a 48-26 scoring edge in the paint.
"They don't make too many mistakes," Romar said. "In the second half, they really did a great job defending us. We hung around and hung around and just didn't have enough to get over the hump."
Childress added 14 points and nine rebounds. Justin Davis had 13 points and Kirchofer had 11 points and eight rebounds.
Big east
Ben Gordon had a game-winning shot, a tournament record, an MVP trophy and a smile that could be on his face for days.
"I don't have a lot of words to explain it. I'm just happy we won, and to get the MVP, this is the best moment of my life," Gordon said after his jumper in the lane with 30 seconds left lifted No. 9 Connecticut to a 61-58 victory over No. 6 Pittsburgh on Saturday night in the Big East championship game.
It was the third big game in as many nights for the junior guard who broke Allen Iverson's record for points in a tournament as the Huskies won their record-tying sixth Big East title.
Gordon was the star for the Huskies (27-6) in the first two games when center Emeka Okafor was out with back spasms. He struggled with his shooting in the championship game but it was his jumper in the lane with 30 seconds left that gave Connecticut a 59-58 lead and then he added two free throws with 0.5 seconds to play to cap the win.
He had 29 points in each of the first two games and set a tournament record for points with 81, two more than Iverson had for Georgetown in 1996.
Okafor played Saturday night and he had 11 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots, but it was Gordon who was selected MVP.
Okafor was also selected the Big East's defensive player of the year and its scholar-athlete. He averages 18.7 points, 11.5 rebounds and a nation-leading 4.5 blocked shots per game.
Big ten
Devin Harris didn't let his team's poor shooting affect him.
He scored 21 points, including back-to-back 3-pointers to start a late rally, and No. 10 Wisconsin beat Michigan State 68-66 Saturday to advance to the Big Ten championship game.
When the buzzer sound, a euphoric Harris dived to the floor in front of the Badgers bench, and his teammates piled on top of him in celebration.
"Some of the shots were toward the end of the shot clock, and I came off the screen, trying to make some thing happen," said Harris, the Big Ten's Player of the Year. "Toward the end of the game, if I get open looks, I'm going to take it, but I'm not going to force anything."
The Spartans had a chance to tie it after Wisconsin's Zach Morley missed the second of two free throws that could have sealed the game. However, Maurice Ager's runner in the lane caromed off the front of the rim as time expired.
Today, Wisconsin (23-6) will play No. 12 Illinois, the defending tournament and regular-season champion, for an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. The championship will pit the tournament's top two seeds, and Wisconsin will make its first appearance in the title game.
The Illini have won 12 straight since losing to the Badgers 76-56 on Jan. 24 in Madison, Wisconsin.
Illinois 74, Michigan 60
Deron Williams slammed Illinois into its third Big Ten title game. Illinois coach Bruce Weber believes the Illini have done enough to secure a high seed in the NCAA tournament.
Dee Brown scored 21 points and Illinois held off a second-half comeback to beat Michigan 74-60.
Michigan (18-11), a bubble team for an NCAA bid, cut a 15-point Illinois lead to two points midway through the second period, mainly with the 3-point shooting of Daniel Horton.
But Brown countered with his second 3-pointer, then added two free throws and another basket on a goaltend as the Illini pulled away for good. A dunk by James Augustine off one of Brown's five assists gave Illinois its biggest lead of the game at 72-56 with under two minutes to go.
Acc
Duke put on an impressive display of offensive efficiency Saturday to move closer to another Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title.
Shelden Williams had 20 points and 18 rebounds to lift the fifth-ranked Blue Devils past No. 14 Georgia Tech 85-71 in the semifinals of the ACC tournament.
Luol Deng scored 19 for the Blue Devils (27-4), who face the winner of the North Carolina State-Maryland game in today's final. Chris Duhon added 17 points and eight assists.
Duke has won a record 17 straight ACC tournament games, and is seeking to become the first team in the conference to win six straight championships.
Maryland 85, NC State 82
John Gilchrist hit just about everything to rally the Terps into the ACC title game.
The Terrapins engineered the largest comeback in ACC tournament history, overcoming a 19-point halftime deficit to beat No. 17 North Carolina State, 85-82.
The charge was led by Gilchrist, who scored 23 of his career-high 30 points to rally sixth-seeded Maryland (18-11) into today's final against Duke.
It's the Terps first championship appearance since 2000, and they'll be going for their first title since Len Bias and coach Lefty Driesell led them to the 1984 championship against the Johnny Dawkins-led Blue Devils.
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