Seven Quarters

My plans to write long and smart blog posts today was thoroughly derailed last night by a combination of a slightly sick SteelyKid (she's had a runny nose for a while because of teething, but it seems to have slid into a bit of a sinus infection) and an incredible basketball game. Syracuse and UConn played an extra thirty minutes, with Syracuse finally winning in the sixth overtime. The game started at 9:30 pm, and ended at 1:30 am, and in the final OT, both teams were playing walk-ons who were seeing the court for only about the tenth time this season.

This was a good old-fashioned Big East rivalry game-- I'm pretty sure that I saw somebody get hit by a board with a nail in it, with no foul called-- and both teams just pounded on each other. The last couple of overtimes were not what you would call a display of beautiful basketball-- especially not for Paul Harris, who went something like 1-12 from inside two feet-- but what it lacked in grace, it made up in intensity.

As a Syracuse fan, there was a lot to like: they never led at any point in the first five overtimes, but kept rallying back from four- and six-point deficits, including some amazingly clutch shots from Andy Rautins. And despite their epically bad team free-throw shooting, they actually hit their shots down the stretch-- Arinze Onuaku even hit two of them, bringing him to 3-20 over the last nine games. And Syracuse had three guys (Flynn, Rautins, and Devendorf) play more than a full game, led by Flynn's 67 minutes.

I have no idea how these guys are even walking today, let alone how they're play West Virginia tonight. But that was an unbelievable game last night, and one I'll never forget. It was worth missing sleep for.