When the press conference ended, Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun was asked by a league official to sign the 2011 Big East tournament championship banner.

It has been seven years and a lot of setbacks since that had happened.

Since winning its last Big East tournament title in 2004, Connecticut won a grand total of one tournament game over the next five seasons. The rumor mill was working overtime:

Calhoun has lost his way. The program wasn’t what it used to be.

The rumor mill was condemned last night, condemned by a fiery coach and his willful team, which made history by beating Louisville, 69-66, in the Garden. The Huskies won five games in five nights, four against ranked teams to claim their seventh tournament, all under Calhoun.

“It means a lot to him,” Most Outstanding Player Kemba Walker of the Bronx said. “He’s been through so much, the cancer, the NCAA investigation. I know this win means something extra special for him.”

Recently, the NCAA suspended Calhoun for the first three Big East Conference games of next season for a violation of rules pertaining to excessive telephone calls to a recruit and an association with a former team manager who became an agent.

Calhoun, the ultimate competitor, initially threatened to fight the suspension but recently has decided against it. He said he wanted to concentrate on coaching his team.

His team, a No. 9 seed, cut down the nets. No other Big East coach has won seven Big East titles. In the team’s 76-71 overtime win over Syracuse in the semifinals, Calhoun posted his 600th win at UConn.

“He’s the ultimate fighter, the ultimate competitor,” assistant coach George Blaney said. “He has instilled in this program a refusal to lose. He just refuses to lose. So for him not to experience success recently was hard. That’s why this one is special.”