Pitarresi:SU's classic win proves tourney is wide open

 

Syracuse’s dramatic, marathon, six-overtime, three-hour and 46-minute, 127-117, Big East Tournament victory over Connecticut Thursday night – and Friday morning – proved a lot of things.

 

Like, I don’t know much. I didn’t think SU could beat Connecticut, even though I usually think anybody can beat anybody. I think the Orange are very physically talented. I don’t think they are a mature team that plays situations well, although they’ve obviously played well the last couple of weeks.

 

The upshot is, SU has proved it has the heart to beat anyone. Can they win the Big East Tourney? Yes, although I’m not sure that is a good thing, because it means four days in four nights. Really, with the six overtimes, it means more than four and half games in four nights. There might be a fatigue carryover to the NCAA tournament. I think that is very real.

 

The other thing is that the game, besides being a stunning piece of basketball history, underlined the unpredictability of this basketball season. We’ve had top team after top team lose this season. Will that carry over to the NCAA tournament? I’d say yes. If you are a 4 seed or better, you’re a solid favorite. After that, I’d expect a lot of volatility. That’s bad for the so-called experts, but it will make for an exciting tourney.

 

The SU-UConn game reminded me that Niagara and Siena played a six-overtime game on Feb. 21, 1953 at the Albany Armory.

 

Niagara, one of the better teams in the country at the time, won 88-81. One of the Niagara stars, Eddie Fleming, played all 70 minutes. Larry Costello, later an NBA champion as a player and a coach and then the coach at Utica College, played 69 minutes. Fleming wore number 70 for the rest of his career and Costello wore 69. Those numbers are illegal today.