Why I'm Glad I Don't Have A Job To Get Up To Part 75

I have just watched the most interesting college basketball game that I have ever seen. I started watching at 11 and it is now 1:18 and there is still time left. I started watching with 10 minutes to go. In the second half. We are now in the 6th overtime, 1:15 left and with the Orange up 9 I now feel safe to write this. And then there’s a steal, and a three pointer. I’ll keep you posted.

And to think it almost never happened. With 1.1 seconds left Syracuse through the ball down the court and Debendorf through it at the basket and it went in. However in the only important controversial decision the referees had to make they got the call right, discounted the basket and started us on our odyssey. He, of course, celebrated by expending as much energy as possible. Bad call.

By the way I know nothing about the back story of this game, I know little about the players. Granted I know most of their names, but don’t expect me to get all the walk-ons right. Yes, there were walk-ons in this game. I also don’t promise you that these stats are correct. I’m not working for ESPN.

It’s over. Johnny Flynn played 67 minutes. He had 30-17-11-12-14 and just keep adding numbers onto that stat line. He lost his head band in the third over time. And he played 35 minutes last night/two nights ago in a win. He’s interviewing right now and apparently he has not lost the ability to talk and is talking faster than any man has spoken before.

Let’s recap- Syracuse 127- UCONN 117. 6 OT’s. 3 hours 46 minutes from tip to final buzzer. Matt Winer and Steve Levy started drinking around 12 because they needed the game to be over before they could get SportsCenter on the air.

In regulation ___ did a windmill dunk and in the third overtime he regretted it. UCONN’s best strategy was the fact that they couldn’t make foul shots. This was only good because Syracuse could not rebound. So foul, missed free throw, offensive rebound, foul, missed free throw… you get my point. This carried on until Thabeet fouled out and Uconn got too tired to jump.

The first five overtimes were very similar. Uconn would get a big lead, then Syracuse would storm back and tie it, never lead, but they would tie it. Usually right at the end. Then Uconn would miss a very close, sometimes very easy shot.

In the third over time Uconn got up 7, and still couldn’t figure out how to finish the game off. I’m pretty sure this is when the ref’s gave up and

In the fourth over time Thabeet fouled out. It took Syracuse four overtimes to get him his last foul. You would think that they would try a little harder to get him out. He is about 12 feet tall. He blocked a ton of shots. The Orange were pushing their teammates in front of them and handing them the ball so that they wouldn’t have to try a layup against the monster. There was one fast break where they were 3 vs Thabeet and they still screwed it up because they were so scared of him.

Harris, who had a great game for the Orange, developed a phobia of making layups. I could understand it when Thabeet was in, but after he fouled out this exceptional athlete still couldn’t make layups. He had them uncontested, he had them for the lead, for the tie, just for fun, and he couldn’t make them. Until the sixth overtime when he went up for a wide open dunk and jumped just high enough to slam the ball into the rim. The kind of dunk you see ninth graders and white kids try. The only good news for him was that he got the rebound, MADE the layup and got fouled. That was when I knew it was over.
In the fourth overtime Syracuse started to realize that only having 8 players was not such a great idea when you were playing in your fifth overtime. And I’m not talking about the fatigue setting in, although it was, I’m talking about attrition. When Huskies were fouling out left and right, they still had replacements. Maybe not so much at the end, but in the important parts they were fine. There third string center did remind me of a magi that lives in a cave, but still, he made a jump shot. The first sub they brought in who hadn’t played all night at least new to take his warm ups off, go to the middle and sub in. He had a little College Basketball experience. He just sat in the middle of the zone, caught and passed the ball, and tried not to screw up. My favorite player, Thomas, came into the game next. He decides that he needs to jump up and down and excite these men who have been playing since he woke up sometime in the second half. The only people jumping up and down are him and the people that have fouled out. Even the fans, who were there for the 7 pm game as well, are finally sitting down. Most of which are the college kids who made the run up to the Garden. Everyone thought the game earlier, where Nova won at the buzzer, was an exciting game.

This just in, Harris is on the mike thanking his strength and conditioning coach. Apparently post game interviews still happen at 1:54 am, even with tip off 19 hours away. Harris just said the game lasted so long because he missed that layup and Jim Boeheim asked him which one.

The reporters are now trying to come up with questions for the UCONN players, but it’s awkward. I’m waiting for, ‘So how do you feel?’ I’m pretty sure AJ Price would chuck his Nike through the reporter’s skull. Apparently it’s ok to tell Harris that he sucks, but complementing AJ is not a good idea right now.

In the sixth overtime Andy Rautinis decides that, ‘hey, I can make these three pointer things.’ He comes around screens and hits them, he shoots over people, he closes his eyes and eats a hotdog from the vendor while making them. And the Orange decide the game is over.

Bill Raftery and Jay Bilas look like they have been up waaay past their bed times. They have been here since noon calling four very tense games, chugging a Red Bull every ten minutes to keep awake, and then sprinting to the bathroom on TV timeouts.

In all due seriousness, this was one of the four longest games in NCAA history and the longest since the invention of the shot clock. Everyone fouled out, actually 8 players did. At one point Syracuse was shooting 37%. 93 free throws were attempted, Uconn was 23 of 54. They probably rebounded 16 of those. Now that my adrenaline has died down, I think I can fall asleep. This whole thing started because I was afraid to talk Melatonin again tonight, I hallucinated a little bit last night.