Joel Huerto is managing editor of One Man Fastbreak.net and a sports consultant with Opposing Views.com. He has been a member of the sports media for almost 20 years, which included nine years as a news editor at the Los Angeles Times. He will cover a variety of topics, from coach and player profiles to hot-button issues. Joel is also known as "maniLA ice" for his cool demeanor in the friendly confines of the YMCA hardwood. He loves to shoot the "tear drop" and prefers to play zone to hide his deficiencies on defense.
The game started on Thursday night and ended on Friday morning. It took six overtimes and nearly four hours of court time before Syracuse finally outlasted Connecticut, 127-117, at Madison Square Garden in the second-longest game in Division I history.
Only Cincinnati and Bradley played in more overtimes. On Dec. 21, 1981, Cincinnati defeated Bradley, 75-73, in seven five-minute overtime periods.
"I just got to tell you, I'm more proud of this team tonight than any team I've ever coached because we had nothing. We had nobody out there for a long time. Connecticut had their good players for a couple of three overtimes," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "The heart we showed coming back from six points down in one overtime, the plays we made ... I've never been prouder of a team than these guys tonight.
"It would have been a lot better had they counted Eric's shot and we would have gone home two hours ago," said Boeheim, referring to Eric Devendorf's apparent buzzer-beater at the end of regulation that was nullified after officials determined that the ball was still on his fingertips when time expired.
The good news for Syracuse: it advances to the Big East Tournament semifinals. The bad news: it has only 20 hours of rest and relaxation before it plays West Virginia tonight at 9:30 (Eastern).
UConn coach Jim Calhoun won't have to worry about game preparation after watching his team get eliminated.
"You put that much effort into something and you ended up shorthanded, you're not really going to feel great," Calhoun said at his postgame media session. "I thought we could have done a lot more with the situations we had, especially because we're a great close-out team this year. And tonight, we had close-out opportunity after close-out opportunity and we weren't able to take advantage of it."
The numbers were astounding: eight players fouled out, the teams combined for 208 shots and 93 free throw attempts, UConn guard A.J. Price scored 33 points and had 10 assists in 61 minutes, and Syracuse guard Jonny Flynn had 34 points and 11 assists while playing 67 out of a possible 70 minutes.
"I can't even feel my legs right now," Flynn said.
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