Which is Better?

The Connecticut Huskies hoops team won the Big East conference championship last night after beating DePaul, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Louisville on five consecutive nights. As monumental tasks in college basketball go, that is tough to top.

Yet, as soon as the final buzzer sounded on Saturday night, the talk immediately turned to how UConn's run would impact its chances in the Big Dance. Conventional wisdom is that the Huskies' grueling gauntlet in the conference tournament would leave them prone to an early flameout in the NCAA Tournament.

I agree. But so what?

Here are two scenarios for readers to consider. Let's say that in one UConn lost in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament to Pittsburgh, then made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament as a 5 seed, beating 12 seed Gonzaga and 4 seed BYU before losing to 1 seed Duke in the Sweet 16. Alternatively, UConn wins the Big East tourney in the fashion that it did this past week, but gets upset in the opening weekend of the Big Dance.

Which would you consider a better achievement? Are there any lessons for the college football postseason debate here?