WASHINGTON -- The most improbable of Big East champions is flying the league's banner in the NCAA tournament, even as the contingent from the supposedly oh-so-powerful conference keeps shrinking.

The Big East finally landed a team in the round of 16 on Saturday night, but only by beating up on itself. Kemba Walker scored 33 points, including 16 over the final 10 minutes, as Connecticut knocked off conference foe Cincinnati 69-58.

"Watching all the games, all the Big East teams were getting knocked off one by one. It did worry me a little bit," said UConn center Alex Oriakhi, who had 11 rebounds as part of the Huskies' 35-25 advantage on the boards. "But I'm happy we got to the Sweet 16 and hopefully we'll get more wins."

Third-seeded UConn (28-9) advanced to play second-seeded San Diego State in the West regional in Anaheim, Calif., on Thursday, while sixth-seeded Cincinnati (26-9) became the seventh of the Big East's record 11 NCAA tournament teams to be eliminated. Another one will exit Sunday when Marquette plays Syracuse in the East regional.

UConn will join the Marquette-Syracuse winner and possibly Notre Dame (which plays Florida State on Sunday) as the conference's only teams to advance to the regional semifinals.

"I think all of us root for each other," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. "It was really hard for me to watch the Louisville game. I watched the end of the Pitt game and have never seen anything like that in 39 years of coaching. But we think we're going out there to represent UConn, and obviously we're a Big East team.

"The conference has beat itself up in many, many ways. Twenty-five years in the Big East, I don't have a tattoo or anything with the Big East on it, but nevertheless that's my neighborhood."

It only makes sense that the Huskies are one of the teams still alive, given their unprecedented five victories in five days to win the Big East tournament. Calhoun said his team still has the momentum from that busy week, and it made a difference late in the game against Cincinnati.