Well, it sure is a good thing they’re breaking up the Big East, eh? Wouldn’t want any more instant classics like Wednesday night's double-overtime UConn-Georgetown battle, would we?

“I thought I had seen it all,” Kevin Ollie said when it was over. “But I guess I haven’t.”

A truly amazing game (even if the first half was as ugly as many figured the whole game would be). A 3-point shooting exhibition by both teams in the second half. UConn rallies from 12 points down with 4 ½ minutes left in regulation and five down with as little as 11 seconds left to send the game to OT. Georgetown rallies from seven down with less than 2 minutes left in the second OT and four down inside the final minute.

Otto Porter being Otto Porter. DeAndre Daniels being better than Otto Porter, at least on this night (25 points, 10 boards, three blocks, strong ‘D’ on Porter most of the night).

Great stuff. Shame this rivalry could be over, in the unlikely event that the Catholic 7 somehow breaks off by next season.

Here are a few quotes (we’ll have some video up around 12:30 a.m.):

RYAN BOATRIGHT:

“It was a very, very, very emotional game, man. These losses are the toughest, because you fight so hard to win the game and you fall short. These are the toughest pills to swallow, but it’s basketball, you’ve got to move on.”

(on his final shot in double OT)

“I just tried to get it up the court as fast as I (could). When I made my initial move, he kind of knocked me off line and I lost the ball. I had to move myself and try to get to an open spot. I thought I had an open shot, but I ran into Smith-Rivera. Once I hit him, I knew I only had two seconds so I went right up with it.”

“It actually felt good coming out of my hands, but it fell short.”

OMAR CALHOUN

“I’m confident when I get the ball. That’s one thing I’ve always had.”

DANIELS:

(on why he seemed to play with extra passion on Wednesday)

“Just hearing a lot of people saying I can’t play with Porter, and all this other stuff. But this is a team game, I just came out, my teammates were finding me and I was able to knock down shots tonight.”

JOHN THOMPSON III:

(on the Hoyas winning at Gampel for the first time in four tries)

“Storrs, Hartford, Fairfield, wherever. That was a great game.”

(on UConn)

“The guys in the other locker room, they could have cashed it in … they fought and fought and fought.”

PORTER:

(on Daniels)

“He’s a terrific player. He was just setting ball screens, popping, and we were having miscommunication with that. He’s a tough kid. He was knocking down shots when they needed it. He was playing good defense, trying to make it hard for me, clogging up the paint.”

(on game-winning shot)

“First, we were just trying to get the stop. That’s what I was worried about. Once we got it, I just sprinted the lane. D’Vauntes (Smith-Rivera) was able to hit me and I saw Mikael (Hopkins) sprint to the rim. So I was able to use him to get to the rim.”

KEVIN OLLIE:

(on Boatright’s last shot)

“We weren’t loking for that shot, but Otto Porter got to the rim with (9.5) seconds on the clock. Ryan got the ball. You try to push it and get to the rim, see if we can get an offensive rebound, see if we can get a kick-out. They played good defense, they bottled him up in the corner and he just had to make the play.”

(on his team)

“I’m very proud of my guys. They fought … down 12, they just kept battling, kept fighting, showed character, showed perseverance and showed heart. And that’s what our team is all about. You can say we’re small, we don’t rebound. You can write whatever you want to. But I hope you all write that we’ve got heart … I will go to battle with them any day. All of them, even the walk-ons.”

Busy couple of days for Shabazz Napier. On Saturday, he publicly lambasted his teammates for lacking heart. On Sunday, he missed practice after re-aggravating a strained ligament in his right foot, and appeared "highly doubtful" to play Monday vs. Villanova.

About four minutes before the game, it was decided Napier could play. He didn't start the game, but he sure did finish it -- with a 30-foot 3-pointer that scorched the nets with 0.6 seconds left to play, giving UConn a badly-needed, 73-70 win.

All in a couple days' work.

Here's what Napier had to say about his injury:

“(Trainer James Doran said on Monday morning) it was highly doubtful (I'd play). I told him, give me some pills, some Ibuprofen, and I think I’ll be alright. It was still hurting, but I was able to play with it. I didn’t play at 100-percent, but I played enough.”

"I told my teammates, 'If I can get out there, no excuses.'"

On his game-winner:

“I looked up, I saw Jeremy had his hands up in the air, but I was like, ‘I’ve gotta take this last shot.’

"I had a flashback. I used to do that a lot in high school, a lot of game-winners. Usually I hit them from real, real deep. I just shot it, and I was able to make the shot."

“In that situation, you don’t take the best shot, you take the most open shot. (Dominic) Cheek was playing me far back. If I got a little closer, he might have come up.”

And, of course, on how his teammates reacted to his postgame quotes:

“They react in their own way. They understood where I was coming from. I probably said too much, and you guys (the media) probably led it to a different point, but I understand. I just want my teammates to go out there and give there all. Today, they did. I can’t complain. We had a lot of problems today, and we stuck with it.”

Never good when we're called "you guys." But I digress ...

His teammates didn't completely understand where Napier was coming from.

“At the end of the day, we definitely didn’t need that from Shabazz, or from anyone," said Roscoe Smith. "But, I kind of think he knew that he messed up. But, as a team, as a unit, we didn’t have any type of judgment on him. We still accept him with open arms, continue to keep our heads up.”

Added Jeremy Lamb: “The team looked at it as, ‘Let’s just respond.’ We didn’t try to dwell on it.”

Asked if Napier's criticism was accurate, Lamb simply said: "Not sure, not sure.”

Said George Blaney: "Shabazz speaks a lot, all the time. (His teammates) knew, in most cases, he was probably right."

*** Lamb, obviously, steppe dup big time with a career-best 32 points, including 10 of UConn's 13 in overtime.

"I think No. 3 was just OK tonight," Blaney dead-panned.

“Jeremy played terrific,” Napier said. “I think he could play like that most of the time. Today, he had to go the extra step, because I wasn’t 100-percent. Once he saw that, I think he really went at it and had to be an offensive threat.”

Roscoe Smith finished with seven points and five rebounds but dozens of hustle plays, including a huge play with 25.8 seconds left in OT when he fought Pinkston for a rebound and knocked it off the Villanova forward out-of-bounds, keeping the ball in UConn’s possession after a Ryan Boatright missed free throw. Lamb followed by knocking down a pair of freebies to give the Huskies a 69-66 lead.

Andre Drummond added eight points and 11 boards for the Huskies.

It’s worth noting that Villanova (11-16, 4-11) was without the services of its leading scorer, Maalik Wayns, who’s out with a sprained MCL in his right knee. The short-handed Wildcats had squandered a 20-point lead to Notre Dame two days earlier, also losing in overtime by a 74-70 tally.

It’s also worth noting that the first 12 minutes of the game were unquestionably UConn’s worst 12 minutes of its season.

At one point midway through the opening half, UConn went 11 straight possessions without scoring – 10 missed shots and three turnovers. Villanova scored 12 points during that span, opening up a 26-8 advantage, and it appeared the Huskies had hit rock-bottom.

But Lamb converted a conventional 3-point play to finally end UConn’s 7 ½-minute drought, and the floodgates opened. The Huskies outscored Villanova 22-4 over the final 8:06 of the half – keyed by 10 points from Lamb – and somehow found themselves tied at the break.

The 18-point deficit was the largest UConn has overcome to win a game this season, trumping a comeback from 13 points down to Coppin State back on Nov. 20.

*** With about four seconds left in the first half, Drummond grabbed a defensive rebounded and unleashed a fullcourt shot. Though there was about a five-second difference, it conjured up images of Roscoe's fullcourt heave with about 10 seconds left in regulation at Texas last season.

His teammates let Andre know about it.

“Someone said, ‘Yeah Roscoe, yeah Roscoe,'" Napier reported. "He didn’t see there was a lot of time left. Then, when he got the ball at .9 seconds, he didn’t want to shoot it. It was like, ‘Why didn’t he shoot that one.’ It was a funny moment.”

*** The Committee on Academic Performance met on Monday but didn't come to a conclusion on whether it will use APR scores from 2010-11 and 2011-12 (rather than 2009-10 and 2010-11) to determine whether teams can qualify for the 2013 tournament.

According to NCAA director of public and media relations Erik Christianson, the committee will continue the dialogue at future meetings. It next meets on April 23-25, and it may meet by conference call before April.