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But in a business where lazy journalists use words like "heart," "desire" and "passion" as throwaway lines, the 2008 Big East Tournament final went to the team who displayed those intangibles, the one who wanted it more. While Georgetown seemed intent on winning in a clinical fashion, the Hoyas quickly learned that a championship in this 16-team behemoth is won only by those who show the willingness to bleed for it.

Pittsburgh defeated Georgetown, 74-65, to win the Big East Tournament title on Saturday night, led by tournament Most Outstanding Player Sam Young's 16 points and senior Ronald Ramon's 17. Teammate Levance Fields added 10 points and six assists and earned All-Tournament honors as the catalyst for an offense that Georgetown, the nation's leader in field-goal defense, couldn't contain all evening.

"I think to be tired is a mental mindset," said Young after the game of his team's performance at the end of such a long week of basketball. "I don't think tiredness and fatigue come into play when you've got so much on the line and so much emotion involved."

The favored Hoyas took a 6-0 lead less than two minutes into the game and Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon immediately asked for time. For Georgetown, its quick start appeared to confirm the belief that the Hoyas were the better team and that the better team was bound to win, especially against a tired opponent.

But soon after falling behind by six, Pittsburgh began to exert its dominance on the glass, and it was there where the Panthers controlled the game and ultimately its outcome. Tyrell Biggs' pivot turnaround from the elbow gave the Panthers a 23-22 lead with 6:46 left in the first half, and, though no one would have believed it at the time, Pittsburgh would never trail again.

"They just played like they wanted to win," admitted Hoyas junior guard Jessie Sapp. "They made a lot of hustle plays, and you wouldn't have known that they played [four games] in four days."

The Panthers carried a 31-28 lead into the halftime locker room on the backs of 11 offensive rebounds, and the edge on the boards would not end at intermission.

"They hurt us on the boards," said Georgetown coach John Thompson after the game. "It was evident right from the beginning. You know -- who, what, when, where, why -- I don't know. I thought our guys fought and scrapped, but the rebounding was the key."

Sapp closed Pittsburgh's margin to 35-33 on an NBA-range 3-pointer three minutes into the second half, but the Panthers' grinding play would prevent Georgetown from getting even that close again.

Six minutes later, Georgetown still trailed by just four, but then Gilbert Brown, the unlikely first-half scoring leader with eight, hit a huge 3-pointer from the right corner to increase the lead to 46-39 with 11:06 to play.

Two minutes later, Sam Young instigated the signature moments of the game when he drew a blocking foul on Patrick Ewing. After an officials timeout, Young made the first and missed the second free throw. Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair squeezed through for the rebound, but his follow missed. Keith Benjamin grabbed the free carom and also missed. Blair got another shot. This time he finished and drew a foul on DaJuan Summers, who fouled out with 7:25 to play. Blair hit the resulting free throw -- a rare site in a game where Pittsburgh made just 22-of-44 from the stripe -- to give Pittsburgh a 53-42 lead. It was the second time that Pittsburgh had three offensive rebounds on the same possession.

"We had to outrebound them," said Dixon. "For whatever reason, I didn't think we were playing as aggressive as we need to, say, 10 games ago. But [since] we got all our guys back, we have just been more physical, more aggressive, and just more like we normally are. I mean, more like Pitt."

When the senior Benjamin, on the next possession, hit a turnaround jumper from 15 as the shot clock wound down, the Panthers led by 13 with 6:23 to play and the result was finally academic.

Georgetown lengthened the game by fouling and taking advantage of Pittsburgh's ineptitude at the line but closed to no closer than five. Young punctuated the victory when he took Biggs' feed on the press break and flushed it through with 32 seconds left.

This was hardly the story I thought I would write on this night. I had the lead prepared in my head: For four months John Thompson's team looked eminently beatable but still won the Big East regular-season title. Then his Hoyas came to Madison Square Garden and finally looked like an elite team, storming through this treacherous event for the rarest of double-doubles.

But, as always, the best stories are the ones that surprise. Georgetown wouldn't become only the second Big East team to win the regular-season and tournament titles in consecutive seasons. The 1998-99 Connecticut Huskies are still the only team to complete that unlikely feat.

Instead, Pittsburgh became the second team to raise the Big East Tournament trophy by winning four games in four days, duplicating Syracuse's run in 2006, a weekend that ended with the Orange beating Pittsburgh in the final.

The senior Ramon, the only current Panther who played significant minutes in that loss to Syracuse two years ago, scored the final point of the win on Saturday, and in a rare display of emotion, screamed with all his might at the final buzzer, standing at midcourt and showing anyone who wanted to look the "PITT" across his chest.

"I mean, we've been through a lot more than that this year," said Dixon when asked about having to win four games in four days. "We lost four guys in two weeks for the year. I mean, if we had only played three games, these guys would have found a place to play a pick-up game today in the gym somewhere. They would have gone somewhere anyways, so it's better than we're playing here in the Garden."

On a day in which Georgia won two games at the SEC Tournament to reach Sunday's final, and Pittsburgh took the Big East title by winning on a fourth consecutive day, fatigue was Saturday's real loser. The Panthers refused to excuse themselves from the ultimate goal, and ultimately their desire and will conquered the Hoyas' talent and depth.