How could he not be tired?

The Huskies (No. 19 ESPN/USA Today, No. 21 AP) won their seventh Big East championship by winning five games in as many days. Forget conference tournaments, nobody could find any team playing that rigorous a stretch in the early season, midseason or postseason.

Walker shattered the tournament scoring record, getting 19 points in the ninth-seeded Huskies' 69-66 victory over No. 14 Louisville on Saturday night.

Three of the first four wins were also over ranked teams.

"Suffice it to say this is a very special night for us and a tremendous week for us," said Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, whose seven titles broke a tie for the most in conference history with Georgetown's John Thompson.

"He is as special as any player I've ever coached. No one's going to surpass him. They may equal him but no one is going to surpass him. ... Five games in five days, he's amazing."

Walker, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, took home the most obvious MVP award in any conference tournament. He finished the five games with 130 points, 46 more than the previous record. It wasn't just the points he got for the Huskies (26-9). He grabbed so many big rebounds, made so many key passes and clutch steals, all while exhibiting leadership good enough to take a team loaded with sophomores and freshmen to the championship.

"What these kids have accomplished this week has been as moving for me as anything I could possibly think of. Whatever was asked of them, they did," Calhoun said. "Their heart took over, their determination to win, and their skill level. I couldn't be more proud of them."

Preston Knowles had 18 points for the third-seeded Cardinals (25-9) and his 3-point attempt at the buzzer bounced off the rim, setting off a well-deserved celebration by the Huskies.

"It was a good look and I thought it was going in," Knowles said. "They made plays, they deserve it. I thought we deserved it, too, but that's not the way it went."

When the Huskies ended the regular season with a home loss to Notre Dame, few gave them much chance at winning the tournament considering they would have to win five games to do it.

Nobody should have discounted a team with Walker.