Thursday night’s contest between UConn and Syracuse in the Big East tournament was one of the best conference tourney games of all-time — I have no doubt. I remember a great Baylor game (against Texas A&M?) that went three overtimes. This one went six. I was thinking to myself when they reviewed the play of Eric Devendorf hitting what would have been the game-winning three pointer at the buzzer in regulation that the fraction of a second his release was late shouldn’t have been significant enough to disallow it. Almost like the argument that if you saw it with the naked eye you don’t need replay for it. Well, the play was reviewed, he released the ball a hair late as you can see in this video, and the ball didn’t lie as Syracuse went on to win it.
I think this is one of those games that you remember where you were when you watched it. I’m guessing lots of sports fans have a memory similar to mine in that they remember where they watched part of it, but it wasn’t until much after the fact that they knew what they had been witnessing. For instance, I saw the beginning at work, the end of regulation at home, and the first two overtimes at the gym. After it went to the third overtime, I decided it was time to go from the cardio area where they have TVs at the gym to the weights area, figuring I would just find out the score later. Sure enough I had finished my whole routine only to return to the cardio area and see a big crowd of people huddled around the TV, with a “six” next to the letters, “OT.” I was stunned. Literally shocked. With all of Syracuse’s big men fouled out, I thought for sure UConn would take it. Boy was I wrong. And the clock didn’t lie, giving Syracuse the win they deserved in regulation.
