OK, let’s get the facts out of the way first: The #2-ranked UConn Huskies are the champions of the American Athletic Conference in Women’s Basketball - again - after beating the UCF Knights 66-45 in the conference championship game at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

UConn is now 120-0 against everyone else in The American since the league started in 2013.

Napheesa Collier was the unanimous selection for Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, finishing with 25 points on the night.

The line was UConn -20.5 (according to 5dimes). UConn won by 21. They don’t even let you have that.

Alright, that’s done.

Let’s give some credit to UCF, who seemed remarkably self-aware of the situation they were up against, and celebrated heading home with the runners-up trophy:

This is nice to see. So is this:

Things You Should Know

1. UCF is going dancing. Barring an injustice beyond comprehension, UCF will see their name on the bracket when it’s revealed next Monday at 7 p.m. Charlie Creme, ESPN’s Women’s Basketball Bracketologist, has them as a 10-seed. They’re not done yet.
2. This is still the best season in UCF women’s basketball history. 26-6 is still the best record in program history. Can’t take that away.
3. Some things happened in this game that were good:

• UCF outscored UConn 30-27 in the second half and 14-9 in the third quarter.
• UCF’s bench outscored UConn’s 35-0.
• UCF cut the UConn lead, which was as much as 28, down to 17 with 3:44 left.

Afterward, Geno Auriemma looked ticked at Coach Abe for how UCF played down the stretch of this one (about 2:45 of the highlights above). Post game:

Whatever, dude.

So UCF did pretty much all they could, and UConn won. Because they’re UConn. That was expected. And we might have re-ignited the ConFLiCT in the process.

But the best part is they made lemonade out of lemons, smiled their way off the court and held their heads remarkably high. That may not have been expected, but it’s one way of looking forward to what comes next, because they’re not done yet.