Sean B. Fitzgerald It doesn’t go something like this, it goes exactly like this.

A real game takes six overtimes

Most of the time I stay up until the wee hours of the morning before I hit the hay. Usually, for no good reason. I should be working on papers and projects like a good student does, but I am too busy watching an episode of Scrubs I have seen thirty to forty times before. I can't help it though. That show is so damn funny and it's on every half hour on the half hour. Last night was different though, I had a reason. Well, a reason for me. Not a reason for my parents that I woke up at 11pm. Or a reason for my teachers that I didn't even touch my paper. It was reason for myself that justified the many times I continue to watch "The Tube" when I should have been tucked away in my bed with thoughts of sugarplums dancing in my head.

I have become obsessive for the Big East Tournament for the past few seasons. It has become one of my favorite sporting events of the year. Even though I attend Seton Hall University, I really do root for the entire Big East to do well. I mean, it's not like "The Hall" will  be interesting any time soon, so that rooting interest comes based off of necessity. Last year I went to the quarterfinals at the Garden with my uncle. I had a great time. Great seats. Great food (for a sporting event). Great games. Me and him were supposed to go this year but schedules clashed and such is life, things got in the way. C'est la vie.

But I digress. Last night's quarterfinal game between Syracuse and Connecticut rivaled any college basketball game I had ever seen. From the start, everyone knew The Orange were going to put up a fight. Every year, they hover around the rankings at #15-#25, occasionally winning a big game, then losing to an awful team. But as soon as the first round of the Big East Tournament begins, they turn into the 1996 Chicago Bulls. I said to my dad right after tipoff, "Syracuse is going to win this game". And to be honest, that is not exactly going out on a limb. Connecticut is a terrific team, but for a better part of the season, I considered them the worst #1 ranked of all time. I base that entirely off the fact their "best player" Hasheem Thabeet is softer than a pillow. I could not believe he was voted "Co-Big East Player of the Year" with Dejuan Blair. Both times the two squared off against eachother, Blair, who is eight inches shorter, took over the game and made sure Thabeet had little, to no impact. Sure, there would be times he would be dominant, but there would be games where he would have two rebounds and three points, or no points. I don't care if you have never seen a basketball before, if you are 7 foot, 3 inches tall, and you play at least 25 minutes a game, you should be pulling down ten rebounds and scoring fifteen points, by accident. When your knees are at other players' eyes, your team should never lose a game. But since Thabeet has the toughness of a baby panda, Syracuse prevailed in six overtimes last night, err, earlier this morning.

I used to support Syracuse when they had players like Gerry McNamara, Hakim Warrick, and even that fantastic one year with Carmelo Anthony. But someone like Eric Devendorf can eliminate all sorts of affection you had for a team. I have never seen a more insufferable college athlete in my entire life. From his tattoos, to his constant unwarranted trash talk on the court, I can't stand the guy. Not to mention his two run-ins with the law where he was accused of harming two people, one of which was a woman. The judicial board was going to suspend him for the entire year, but coach Jim Boeheim thought that was too severe. So there he was, playing in the greatest college basketball game of all time, yapping and strutting around like a jackass. But a little bit of the sting from the Syracuse win was taken away when Jonny Flynn, not Devendorf, single-handedly took his team on his back. If you do not enjoy watching him play, you do not enjoy sports. From the tipoff to the final buzzer of the sixth overtime, he maintained the same amount of intensity. When Thabeet fouled out in the fifth overtime, Flynn made the lane his home. Driving on essentially every possession, he either made the basket or drew the foul. When he got to the line, he didn't miss one free throw. And every single one was important being that Syracuse didn't take the lead in overtime until the sixth one.

It was an incredible game, and today is only the semifinals.