An Instant Classic with All the Game-Winning Misses You Can Handle
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - So people are going a little overboard with their instant reaction to Syracuse’s six overtime thriller. Some are saying it’s one of the most memorable college basketball games EVER. Had the game ended with Eric Devendorf’s last second three beat the buzzer in regulation, we’d be talking about a great ending. But instead, it was a lot like watching “Watchmen,” decent buildup with a lot of characters you know, but way too long and with a horrible ending (actually, this game was 30 minutes longer).
Madison Square Garden has been the stage of some incredible Big East Tournament heroics over the years. Cuse vs Ewing’s Hoyas in ’84, Iverson vs. Ray Allen in ’96, and Gerry McNamara’s ridiculous 2006 run just to name a few. Sean McDonough already proclaimed that last night’s game, the second-longest in NCAA basketball history, might be the best of all BE tourney games. But for a non-NCAA tourney college basketball game to be truly legendary, shouldn’t there be at least one buzzer beater? The game devolved into one team answering sloppy, erratic play with the exact amount of sloppy erratic play of their own. Let’s take a look at the final plays of each overtime period:
1st OT Kemba Walker taking and missing a horrendous deep three-point attempt
2nd OT Flynn misses on one end, UCONN with a chance to win, but instead gets it in Walker’s hands again. He misses from way out, it’s his seventh missed three in as many attempts.
3rd OT A.J Price figured his 3-12 from deep must have been a fluke, so he chucks up another, Jeff Adrian gets the follow-up attempt and misfires.
4th OT Paul Harris gets hacked and misses from point blank range twice
5th OT Price figures his 3-13 from deep must have been a fluke, so he chucks up another (I’m guessing the second highest paid employee in the state of Connecticut probably would have drawn up a better play), Adrian gets a last ditch attempt from about 10 feet on the baseline and can’t connect
So six total OTs and a combined zero memorable moments. And in four hours, Eric Devendorf couldn’t even muster one cheap-shot? How is that a transcendent game? Johnny Flynn was pretty spectacular and further cemented that he’s a goner. You can’t name one thing Mike Conley could do better – and he was the fourth overall pick!
So definitely a classic game, but did it really have that many memorable moments? Perhaps we were given a biased first hand account by McDonough, who will never complain about watching 10 sweaty college boys run up and down the floor in shorts for four hours (and if your familiar with Syracuse, you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about).
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SportsboyTony has broken this one down pretty far already, but let me go next level with you.
As our Webmaster points out, there were no buzzer beaters at the exact
end of regulation or in any of the over times. He’s not counting
Devendorf’s bomb at the end of regulation, as well he shouldn’t
because as the replay showed it was still on the tip of his fingers by
the length of Rossitron’s writing ability. But I argue thusly: it went
in, the refs signaled it good, and if we were living before the age of
6 angles of ESPN HiDef replays, then it would have ended the game. A
really exciting play, he hit a fiercly contested shot from deep,
seemingly before the buzzer. We’re arguing over less than a tenth of a
second here, that’s Micheal Phelps out touching Milorad Cavic close!!
Had it counted, it would have been a better play than Laettner’s.
Just because there technically weren’t any buzzer beaters, that doesn’t
mean anyone watching the game didn’t fall off the edge of their seat 5
or 6 times. There were still some big time shots worthy of making this
the best Big East tourny game ever. I give you these nail bitingly
nerve wracking plays that set up the non buzzer beaters.
2nd Half: Kemba Walker’s tieing put back leaves Syracuse with just 1.1 seconds for Devendorf’s near make.
1st OT:Rick Jackson recieves a heads up pass from Johnny Flyn and slams
home the dunk to tie it up leaving UConn with just 4.7 seconds to go
the length of the court with out a time out. This isn’t football so
that’s not like Elway’s Drive, but an exciting sequence non the less.
SportsboyTony points out that Walker threw up a horrendous three, but
he was facing a tight double team, so I’ll choose to admire the good
defense rather than dwell on the miss.
3rd OT: Local Syracuse boy Andy Rautins comes off a screen and knocks
down an NBA range three ball with two defenders in his face, one of
them being 7’3” Hasheem Thabeet, tieing the game with just 11.7
apparently useless seconds for the cold shooting hand of A J Price.
Memorable moments? asks SBT. I say yes. Highlights that will look
flashy on highlight reels for the the next 50 years because they came
at the exact second the game clock ticked to zero? No. But those reels
are made for the folks that didn’t watch this game LIVE. If you saw it
LIVE, then you’d be with me in arguing that it WAS a legendary game.
While there was no game winning shot, there were many, many clutch shots that were hit. Syracuse was down in every overtime and had to make big shots (thank you Andy Rautins)to extend the game. Jonny Flynn only gets to leave if they win the title this year.
This game although exciting will be nothing more than a statistic. it will be a sports center stat line next time a big east tourny game goes into overtime. aaronjmac you are a moron. daddy out
So ONE shot is what makes a game great? Brilliant.
A game going long does not make it spectacular.
Did you hear Jimmy B after the game say “we wouldn’t have gone to one “F’ing” overtime without J-Flynn.
basketball is my favorite sport, i like it when they dribble up and down the court
Frank, Thanks for your intelligent analysis, effective use of punctuation and correct capitalization, and name calling in an effort to prove your point.I’m sure your mother would agree with me when I say, “If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say it at all.”Sports provide us with wonderful theater, along with the chance to engage in friendly debates, formulate opinions and even to make potentially outrageous claims of greatness. Unfortunatly it also attracts it’s fair share of individuals like you.
I just heard Jay Bilas talk about how great it was to see exhausted athletes performing. If I wanted to be entertained by tiredness, I’d watch the “Machinist” again.
A classic example of a team unable to make free throws. ^ ots does not make it a great game. exciting yes. great no. well played no.
Apparently the author doesn’t play defense when he plays. Defense ruled these overtimes, on both sides, until only bench players were playing & all of UConn’s height had fouled out. This was the best college hoopos game I’ve ever seen. No buzzer beater…who cares. One shot does not a game make.
Bad offense and a lack of execution makes defenses look really good.
A lot of overtimes does not make a game great either. A nail biter. Kentucky-Duke THAT was a great game.
aaronjmac….my incorrect use of puncuation and or miss spelled words is of no consequence. it was a post and i pointed out very effortlessly that you are a moron….I know more than you are capable of sports…you seem like the kind of pencil neck bitch who never played sports, and talks as if he understands what it takes to have the dedication to play sports….oh and by the way…you also sound like the kind of kid i used to beat up….thanks and goodnight