Yankee In Exile

Syracuse vs. Uconn (March 12-13, 2009) 

3 Hours and 46 Minutes 

That’s how long, cumulatively, it took to play the six overtime 2009 Big East Tournament quarterfinal matchup between Syracuse University and the University of Connecticut. The longest Big East game ever played and the longest college basketball game of the shot clock era. This may not seem like a long time to some, but allow me to put these hours and minutes into perspective. The average college basketball game in 2009 took about 2 hours and 11 minutes to play. So, if you sat down in front of your TV on that fateful night in Mid-March and expected to be in bed within a couple of hours, you were sadly mistaken. In fact, the average marathon runner can run ¾ of their 26.2 race in that time. Think about it, many people could have ran 20 miles instead of watching Syracuse beat Uconn. If that thought doesn’t sound appealing to you in any way, allow me to explain to you everything else anyone watching said Big East quarterfinal game could have been doing with their time…………. 

In 3 hours and 46 minutes, you could binge watch just about 4 episodes of your favorite show on any given streaming service. You could jam out to 53 different songs (factoring in the average song length in 2009) on your playlist. You could watch 99.99999% of movies that have ever been made. Notable exceptions would be Gone with the Wind (1939), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Cleopatra (1963) and Once Upon a Time In America (1984). Hell, in the time of the aforementioned contest, you could drive most of the distance between the University of Connecticut’s campus in Storrs and Syracuse University’s campus in upstate New York. The point is that in 3 hours and 46 minutes, one can consume almost any form of media, complete most tasks and find many other means of enjoyment a few times over. However, on that fateful March night, scores of die-hard Syracuse and Uconn fans (both at home and at Madison Square Garden), as well as  announcers and media personnel, spent all of this time watching, calling, and taking in one, single, college basketball game. 

Fourth Game of the Day

 Attending the Big East tournament quarterfinal day is one of the most exciting sports experiences that I have ever had. However, consuming four games in one day is exhausting. This date sees four games played back to back with only 30-minute breaks in between each. Usually, the action runs nearly from noon to midnight. Imagine the stamina of attendees at the 2009 edition of the quarterfinals. It’s a fact that’s nearly forgotten today, but Uconn and Syracuse played the fourth and final game of the day on March 12th. The first three games saw number one seed Louisville easily defeat Providence 73-55, Villanova narrowly beat Marquette 76-75, and West Virginia (led by current Celtics head coach Joe Mazzula) upset hated rivals Pittsburgh 74-60. In fact, it was thought that the preceding third game was going to be the one to steal the headlines on ESPN the next morning. How wrong that school of thought turned out to be. 

Gametime 

The Uconn-Syracuse matchup started a little late to begin with because the WVU-Pitt game went over its scheduled time. So, at 9:36 pm Eastern Standard Time, the number three ranked Connecticut Huskies faced off against the 18th ranked Syracuse Orange. It was the Orange’s second game in as many nights, seeing as they beat Seton Hall 89-74 about 24 hours earlier. ESPN carried the game and, calling their fourth matchup of March 12th, were Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas, and Bill Raftery. The referees were John Cahill, Bob Donato, and James Breeding. Both Syracuse and Uconn were coached by two absolute legends of college basketball: Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun, respectively. Some casual fans , including myself, were settling into bed while beginning to watch the game, and many (also including myself) fell asleep not realizing we would be missing out on history in the making. 

The Buzzer Beater That Wasn’t 

Even though any description will never do this legendary encounter justice, allow me to give you the CliffsNotes. Uconn led 37-34 at halftime, and Syracuse opened up an 11 point lead at one point in the second half. Despite those advantages, the game was tied 71-71 when Eric Devendorf (anyone remember him?) hit what appeared to be a buzzer beating game winning shot as time ran out in the second half. That would have been it. The matchup would have ended there. During regulation. No overtimes. No going past midnight. I’m sure in some alternate universe, that is what happened and Devendorf would have left the hero. However, in the reality we currently live in, the shot was reviewed and then waved off because Devendorf did not release the ball from his shooting hand before the clock read 0:00. The referees made a decision that sent the game to overtime and paved the way for history to be made. 

The First 5 OTs 

Believe it or not, Syracuse never led at any point during any of the initial 5 overtimes. Not even for one second. The first overtime saw the Orange tie the game on a dunk with 4 seconds left. In the second OT, Connecticut got off four shots in the final 35 seconds but somehow failed to score, and the game stayed tied. Eventually, both teams became so exhausted that neither scored in the final 1:51 of overtime number four. Players also began to foul out. Eight total players were disqualified for five fouls, four from each team. Things got so desperate for the “Cuse” that Boeheim had to play a walk-on named Justin Thomas in the 5th period of extra time. Also in overtime five, Uconn, again, had two chances to win it within the final 15 seconds, but missed them both. That sent the game into territory that had only been entered on two previous occasions (both before the shot clock era), a sixth overtime. 

1:22am 

That’s the time this drawn out game did what had seemed impossible: end. In this version of overtime, Syracuse finally led. As a matter of fact, they scored the first eight points of the period and never looked back, finally winning this game of gargantuan length by the score of 127-117. In the end, 244 total points were scored (102 of those were scored in overtime), easily the most in Big East Tournament history. There were 66 combined fouls, 93 free throw attempts, and 43 overall turnovers. Cuse’s Johnny Flynn was the game’s top scorer with 34 points and also the top assist man with 11. He also led each side in minutes played, being on the court for 67 of the 70 available. A.J. Price led the way for the Huskies with 33 points and 10 helpers. Devendorf, who was the tournament’s leading scorer, had 22 points before fouling out. It was Jim Boeheim’s 796th win in his fabled career. The matchup began on Thursday, March 12th and concluded on Friday, March 13th. Despite the calendar, Boeheim and Syracuse must have considered themselves very lucky indeed. 

Aftermath

With Uconn eliminated, the Orange marched on to the semifinal round the very next night. One would think Boeheim’s men flopped against West Virginia, but, instead, they found the strength to dispatch the Mountaineers 74-69 in a game that also went into overtime. So, if you’re keeping track, Syracuse played 7 overtime periods over the course of two days. Louisville finally put a burned out Orange to rest in the final, winning 76-66 and ensuring head coach Rick Pitino his first Big East Tournament Championship. Up in Storrs, Uconn recovered fully two years later when they not only won the Big East Tournament, but the NCAA Tournament as well. That year, they were led by an incredible junior who played in the 6 overtime game as a freshman: Kemba Walker. 

And Now Some Big East Nostalgia!

Are you feeling nostalgic yet? Honestly, writing this blog has made me miss the “good old days” of the Big East. Back when the conference was the most powerful in the country, bar none. In 2009 alone, there were six nationally ranked teams in their conference tournament. Nowadays, however, the conference is simply not the same, and neither is the Uconn-Syracuse rivalry. At the time of writing, the two schools have not met since 2018, and have no future meetings scheduled, due to conference realignment. One could argue that the Syracuse basketball program, itself, is not the same as it once was. They haven’t made the NCAA tournament since 2021 and have recently fired their head coach, Adrian Autry. I miss the days of legendary coaches like Calhoun and Boeheim. I also yearn for the generation where most players stayed multiple years at a school and grew with one program, like Kemba Walker and Eric Devendorf. Perhaps I’m just feeling sentimental, but researching this article has made me appreciate the way the Big East once was and, maybe, the way college basketball as a whole once was.