Yes you read that headline right. 6 overtimes. 6 different times the clock hit zero and the scoreboard was tied.
The amount of amazing and ridiculous that oozed out of this game was worthy of the lofty title and pedestal we put on March Madness.
Where do you start with a game like this? How about the fact that Syracuse never led in the first five overtimes. Essentially they were on the ropes for 25 straight minutes in overtime alone.
Or maybe the most incredible moment in the game, at the initial end of regulation which saw Uconn tie the game with 1.1 seconds left only to have Syracuse seemingly win the game on a buzzer beater three.
After a bazillion replays and lots of premature celebration (below), the game winning shot was taken off the board as replays showed the shot was about a trillionth of a second after the buzzer. It honestly was a trillionth of a second.
A typical basketball game is 40 minutes long and is played in a 2 hour time frame. Tonight’s game was 70 minutes (almost double a normal game) and took nearly 4 hours to complete. I watched the first half as I came home from work around 6:30.
I drifted away to watch the Daily Show and The Office only to come back to the fact that this legendary game was just settling into its epic homestretch for the ages.
Each overtime allowed each team a chance to end the game. Uconn could not capitalize in the first, third, and fourth. Syracuse couldn’t break a tie in the second and fifth. Players fouled out (8 i think), walk-ons and the most mocked bench warmers found their way into the game and have a story for the ages to tell their kids.
Those who managed to stay in the game teetered on the edge of exhaustion only to find spurts of energy time and time again.
Adding to the epicness of the win is the fact that Uconn was a substantial favorite as the number three team in the country and that Syracuse had played the day before while Uconn had not played all week.
Conference tournaments are typically the only time when teams are forced to play games in consecutive days. Syracuses’ prize for winning this marathon game is now a third game in as many days.
There are hundreds of amazing things about this game that will be noted and called out as remarkable. There is no doubt, that this game will be on ESPN Classic sometime soon. Yeah, you know what happens but you really have to see how it happened to fully appreciate it.
I doubt I will ever see a 6 OT D1 or NBA basketball game in my life again. If I do it won’t be two ranked teams and it won’t be in March. It was a one time thing, and I am glad I caught most of it.
