In the #8 Sports Moment of 2009, I briefly mentioned the North Carolina Tar Heels NCAA National Title win as one of the moments that made ’09 the year of anti-climatic power-house championships. The #6 Sports Moment of 2009 was anything but anti-climatic, although it did feature two of the power houses of the Big East.  In honor of their 6 overtime game, I pick the Syracuse-UConn Big East Quarterfinal Game as my #6 sports moment.

It might not have been the NCAA National Title Game. It might not have been a Final Four matchup. In fact, it wasn’t even an NCAA Tourney game at all. But the Syracuse-UConn Big East Tournament Quarterfinal matchup was the best college basketball game…..ever.

The two schools went into battle for the Big East title in Madison Square Garden on March 12, 2009 and neither team wanted to go home.

The game went into SIX overtimes. It lasted 3 hours and 46 minutes, making it the second longest basketball game in history. It didn’t end until 1:22 a.m.!  (Gameclock was 70 minutes; 2 2ominute halves and 6 five minute OTs)

The Crazy Stats:

• The teams combined for 244 points. Most college games top out at 70ish points per team.
• 102 points came after regulation
• Eight players fouled out, four from each team. So a lot of unknowns finished the game
• Johnny Flynn played 67 out of 69 minutes of the game
• Six players had double-doubles
• Syracuse never led in OT… until they won.

The game become one of legends and will be talked about….forever. It also kicked off the March Madness season and wet our appetites for buzzer beaters, OTs and well, Madness!

I am going to give an honorable mention to Villanova and Scottie Reynolds’ last second shot against Pittsburgh. Villanova defeated them 78-76 with that desperation shot and sent the Wildcats to the Final Four for the first time in to 24 years.

About the author: Jennifer Taglione is the owner of this fabulous website Stiletto Sports. Despite writing well over 500 posts, she still maintains that she is not a sports writer! She is however a huge fan of Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Mark Sanchez, the Celtics, and totally kicks butt on March Madness brackets! Connect with her by following her on Twitter @StilettoSportsJ and subscribing to her weekly newsletter. For more info check out the About the Editor page!

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