March Madness is fun from any angle

Here, as promised on the Tonawanda News Web site, is my column about the many sides of March Madness. If you came across this column first, click here to see my story.

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Since I started filling out NCAA tournament brackets in college in the late 1990s, the first thing I would do was pencil Syracuse in for six victories and the national championship.
They made the finals in 1996, the year before I enrolled at SU, and were traditionally among the nation’s top teams. They’d sometimes win a couple games, but by the second weekend of the tournament my bracket’s sole purpose generally was to keep the recycling bucket from floating away.
Then came 2003 and a phenom freshman by the name of Carmelo Anthony. The one-and-done superstar led my beloved Orangemen (now just Orange, as if the nickname couldn’t get any weirder) to the promised land — and me to the office pool co-championship.
I finally stopped this practice a couple years later, not letting my fanhood get in the way of a potential three-figure prize payout. But college basketball’s March Madness remains one of my favorite times of year, both because of the usual dominance of Goliath schools such as my alma mater and the David institutions who slay many a giant just to enter the tournament.
I got a first-hand look at the latter perspective two years ago while I was the education beat reporter for the Niagara Gazette. I followed the Niagara University men’s basketball team for a fantastic week and a half, from after they’d clinched the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title to gain a tourney slot until Selection Sunday — when they were “sentenced” to the play-in game — and to Dayton, Ohio, to cover their victory in said play-in game.
I’d always taken a tournament slot for granted (although after the Orange’s hard luck the previous two seasons, I won’t anymore) so seeing a smaller school such as NU revel in their team’s success was one of my career highlights. Students who couldn’t even define a full-court press waved purple pom-poms and wore permanent smiles, and for about 10 days everyone in the Niagara region was a Purple Eagles fan. The Eagles were crushed by top-ranked Kansas in their subsequent matchup, but by that point it hardly mattered.
NU also gained a tournament slot two years before that, losing to Oklahoma in the first round. My brother-in-law was a senior at the school at that time, and even experiencing his enthusiasm from a peripheral level was a bit thrilling (although I still carried some of my big-school smugness with me). Dozens of Eagles supporters traveled with that team to Arizona (my brother-in-law included) and were not all that saddened by the defeat.
This section went to press before this year’s MAAC tournament finished, so I can’t write whether NU (the No. 2 seed in their conference) will be in the NCAA tourney; coach Joe Mihalich declined my interview request to discuss past Selection Sunday experiences because he didn’t want to jinx anything, and I can’t blame him in the least for that.
Then, as always, coaches — especially at small schools — have to think in the moment. Because as fun as championships are, the honor sometimes truly does lie in being nominated.
Or in getting to see someone else’s pride in being nominated.

Syracuse-UConn 6 OT thriller an instant classic

So there I was, sitting on the floor of the living next to Penny (who was thinking aobut waking up) with 1.1 seconds left in the Syracuse-Connecticut Big East quarterfinal game. As Eric Devendorf hit a despearation three-pointer to seemingly win the game, I exclaimed “Oh my God” in such a manner that my wife – who was on the computer – instantly knew what happened.

“They hit it?” she said.

“Yep” was my reply.

But no.

Replay revealed that Devendorf still held the ball as time expired, sending the game into overtime. My wife and I decided to watch, figuring an extra five minutes of basketball would be fun.

Those five minutes, though, turned out to be 30, and Syracuse’s eventual win might be one of the greatest college basketball games ever played.

UConn pulled ahead in the first OT – and Syracuse tied it. UConn gained an early lead in the second OT – and the Orange tied it. So it went until the sixth overtime, when Syracuse – playing a never-used center and walk-on guard because four of its regulars had fouled out – finally pulled ahead on the backs of Niagara Falls natives Paul Harris and Jonny Flynn.

Cuse figured to be in trouble because of the trouble it had penetrating UConn’s defense. But the Huskies’ big men eventually fouled out, allowing Flynn to drive and score at will as the game progressed … and progressed … and progressed.

Among other things, this game showed that Flynn – who played about 67 minutes – could probably make the jump to the NBA after this season if he wanted to (I hope to God he stays four years, though). About an hour after most mortals wold have lose use of his legs, he strapped his team’s makeshift lineup on his back and told UConn to get out of the way.

This game should also put to rest the haters out there who said for part of the season that Syracuse was a bubble team, then once their spot in the NCAA tournament was secured figured the Orange to be one-and-done. To do this against the nation’s fourth-ranked team shows that, for at least one day, Syracuse can beat anyone, anytime.

Should they beat West Virginia in the semifinals – about 19 hours after the 70-minute marathon concluded – they’ll solidify their status as that 4-seed a lot of people think will pull the upset and go to the Final Four.

But before all that, take a minute and reflect on the glory that was last night’s game. If you have anyone in your life who questions your love of sports, make them watch a replay of this game. The drive, determination, teamwork and inner toughness exhibited last night are all shining examples of what’s right with sports.

At one point – maybe the fifth overtime – my wife asked me if I would have stayed up to watch the game if I knew it was goig to last so long. I replied of course, because you’re very rarely going to see such a great game, where one team refuses to submit. Taking it in was an absolute thrill (the fact my team won made things a bit better, but ultimately both sides should look back fondly upon this night).

I wasn’t there, but just watching it was an honor – and an exhausting endeavor.