After Six Overtimes, Syracuse Sleeps The Sleep Of The Just

At some point during the sixth overtime of the Syracuse-UConn game, my cable box interrupted to inform me that without further action from me it would be going into sleep mode.

It was a not-so-subtle reminder that it was too late to be up watching basketball. Yet, for everybody involved it was also too late to turn back. Yes, both teams would likely be going to the NCAA Tournament no matter the outcome and the victor would probably have little energy or interest in playing two more games to try to win the Big East tournament, but they kept playing anyway and I kept watching and it may not have meant anything but it meant everything. There may be better games before this college basketball season is over, but few will be quite as memorable.

And to think it all could have ended in regulation if Eric Devendorf's fingers were just a touch shorter. (Or if Arinze Onuaku wasn't the worst free throw shooter on the planet.) Even if it had ended that way it still would have gone down as a legendary finish. But it couldn't end that way. It had to keep going. Every missed free throw, every player who fouled out after playing an extra half of basketball, even every one of Paul Harris' misadventures near the rim had to happen for that game to become what it was. I just hope your body and your cable box held out long enough to see it.

Syracuse and UConn put on a show for the ages [ESPN] 'Cuse, UConn stage instant classic [Fox Sports] A Final Tally (and Exhale) After 6 OTs [New York Times] UConn gets deep-sixed [Boston Globe] Syracuse Orange/Connecticut Huskies Box Score [Yahoo]