"Hall Pass" - The Official Ironmen Blog of Ryan Hall

Last nights game between my alma mater Syracuse and the University of Connecticut was easily the greatest college basketball game in history. For those of you who didn't watch or have been living under a rock today let me just fill you in... This was the quarter final of the big east tournament in which #20 Syracuse faced off against their big east rival #4 Connecticut. Both teams are projected to make it into the NCAA tournament and in an earlier meeting this year UCONN won 63-49. Well that was not the case last night. The Orange pulled out an unbelievable and unforgettable victory winning 127-117 in the 6th overtime! That's right 6 overtimes. I have never seen anything like this before in any sport. The initial tip off was around 9:36 pm east coast time and by the final buzzer it was 1:22 am, 3 hours and 46 minutes long! Eight players (four from each team) had fouled out and in the final overtime Syracuse had a walk-on and another player on the court who had a combined playing time this year of 21 minutes. I am not taking anything away from Connecticut because both teams played their hearts out and left nothing on the court. I can't imagine how either team had any gas left in the tank but fortunately for us we were able to squeak out the win.

Now I am blogging about this for a couple of reasons. First and foremost I went to Syracuse so obviously I am a fan. On Wednesday night I dragged Tim O'Neil, his girlfriend Liza, and my roommate Evan McNeley to the Madison Square Garden for the second round games of the big east tournament. We bought some tickets off a guy on the street and watched as Syracuse knocked out Seton Hall. I had to do some convincing in order to get Timmy, Liza, and Evan to go with me. Tim went to St. Johns so he was interested in the tournament but not so interested in seeing Syracuse play. Evan went to Oregon State and I figured he would be interested to see what a real basketball team looks and plays like. In any event everyone was willing to go and we ended up having a great time. The crappy part is that we decided to go on Wednesday instead of Thursday and ended up missing arguably one the greatest college games ever....

I also want to point out all the "haters" out there. Throughout the entire game I was receiving numerous text messages from everyone and their mother. Those who know me know that I am proud of my alma mater and support them in every sport. Usually when one of their game is televised it gives former teammates and friends the chance to do a little trash talking especially if Syracuse is losing. Its all in good fun and I have no problem firing back about whatever teams (college or pro) they support but now its my turn :) Here is a list of those who were texting me.....

Jon Ball (former teammate)
Brian Farber (former teammate)
Aaron Susi (former teammate)
My brother (can you believe that?!?)
C.J. Marentette (high school friend)
Paul Nagy (former teammate)
John Archibald (Director of Communications with the Ironmen)
Antonio Sutton (former teammate)

Just thought I would get a little shot in while I could. Next up the Orange play West Virginia in the big east semi finals. The game is tonight at 9:30 and I don't know how Syracuse is going to be able to play after last nights game but we shall see! I am planning on attending the game, so if anyone wants to meet up at MSG let me know! Go Orange!!!!!