Garden Epic

Connecticut and Syracuse have squared off in some classic Big East battles, but nothing like what was just witnessed in New York City. On the Madison Square Garden stage at the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament, the Orange outlasted the Huskies in six, count them, six overtimes. The basketball game took nearly five hours to play spanning over two different days. There was a near game winner at the end of regulation that was a tenth of a second too late. Two Hall of Fame coaches were attempting to get the better of the other for the billionth time. The 'Cuse never led in any of the first five overtimes yet managed to keep the game tied at the end of all of them. Eight players fouled out and when it was all said and done UConn ran out of gas first.

There were great performances all around and some gut-wrenching moments. Syracuse's Johnny Flynn and UConn's A.J. Price were both outstanding. Stanley Robinson played at another level and Ben Routins made clutch shots at the most crucial moments. Meanwhile, the Huskies couldn't make that one last free throw to put the game away. Paul Harris couldn't make a wide open lay up if his life depended on it, but made his free throws at the end.

Price carried the Huskies on his back through the overtime periods. He took all the big shots and made all the key plays while playing with four fouls since the final minutes of regulation. UConn couldn't get anywhere near the basket against the Syracuse 2-3 zone except on offensive rebounds. Once big man Hasheem Thabeet fouled out of the game Syracuse had a distinct average offensively.

UConn's one man show couldn't keep up in the sixth and final overtime period. Syracuse was able to score inside against the Huskies depleted front line. On the other end, UConn continued to live on the outside shot and when the jumpers stopped going down the final moments of a classic contest became anti-climatic. Everything else about the game was an unforgettable, unbelievable reminder of why we love sports.