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New York • There was so much to reflect on just minutes after the last championship game of the Big East Tournament as we know it.

Louisville became just the fourth school to repeat as champions, beating Syracuse 78-61 on Saturday night in an incredible game that saw the fourth-ranked and second-seeded Cardinals turn a 16-point, second-half deficit into an 18-point lead.

There were moments to remember over this being the final Big East Tournament as has been familiar for the last three decades with the seven basketball-only schools leaving to form their own conference. There had already been so much conference realignment with football-centric schools such as Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia leaving and others to follow.

While Louisville cut down the nets, there was quite a bit to think about.

"Obviously, it's a real special night for the University of Louisville," Cardinals coach Rick Pitino said of the school's third Big East title. "The final minute of play, first thing I thought of is what an incredible group of guys I'm coaching.

"Then I thought how happy I was for my family, and then immediately I thought of [Big East founder and first commissioner] Dave Gavitt and what he formed, and all of us in some way or another flourish because of Dave Gavitt.

"This was a special, special night."

There couldn't have been many in the sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden who would have thought early in the second half that this game would be anything more than a spectacular exit for Syracuse, which is headed for the Atlantic Coast Conference next season.

The 19th-ranked and fifth-seeded Orange had a 45-29 lead with 15:50 to play. It seemed to be a matter of watching the clock wind down and thinking of a celebration for Syracuse's sixth title.

But the Cardinals turned up the fullcourt pressure and started playing the kind of defense that had them win 10 straight games.

Suddenly the Orange (26-9) couldn't buy a basket, and the Cardinals didn't miss. The run was 27-3 and when it was over Louisville had a 56-48 lead with 8:51 to play. In 7 minutes everything had changed.

"Our press is pretty much like controlled chaos," said Louisville's Peyton Siva, who joined Georgetown's Patrick Ewing as the only repeat tournament MVPs. "We're going to press. We're just going to run and trap, run and trap, and Coach P is like, 'No, you've got to do it in a smart way.' For a minute there, we were running around the court with our head cut off and got a couple of steals.

"For us to really battle like that, it really shows a lot." —

No. 4 Louisville 78, No. 19 Syracuse 61

R The Cardinals become the fourth school to repeat as Big East Tournament champions thanks to a 27-3 run midway throught the second half.