Okay Seriously, Enough With All The Overtime

You know what we looked like when we took control of the game in overtime last night?  A team that knew what it had to do in an overtime situation.  Funny how that works.

Syracuse beat West Virginia in OT (natch) last night 74-69 just a night removed from their epic^© win over UConn.  In no small part to Eric Devendorf who not only scored 23 points but also hit a buzzer-beating shot at halftime that proved he is unstoppable with under one second left on the clock.

Syracuse surprised a lot of people by gutting out the win, including many Syracuse fans.  It was a credit not only to the players but also the coaches and trainers as to how they stayed so energized all night.  Then again, as Jonny Flynn believes, maybe it's just a zen thing:

"If you tell your body that you're not tired, then your body will stop believing it's tired."

Whatever they've done to get this far, they're going to have to kick it up a notch even higher tonight when they take on the regular-season Big East champ Louisville Cardinals.

The Cardinals have won three in a row over the Orange, including a 67-57 victory at the Carrier Dome on Jan. 25.

While Syracuse is making its 14th championship game appearance, this will be Louisville’s first since joining the Big East in 2005-06. The Cardinals had only one Big East tournament win heading into this season’s event.

The Orange Report has a preview up of the game and Palestra spoke with some of the SU players about how they plan to keep their energy up.  Dan Wetzel has adopted the Orange ever since we beat Seton Hall and he warns Louisville not to take SU lightly despite the late hours they've been working. 

“Tonight we’re getting some sleep,” promised Harris. “I think we’ll be real energized tomorrow.”

If so, look out Louisville. Who knows what the friends from Niagara Falls, N.Y. – and the rest of their resilient teammates – can accomplish with a bit of rest?

Syracuse has now played three games and seven overtimes in three days and doesn’t look a bit worse for wear.

I have to imagine the Orange have locked up a four-seed with their work in the BET, although stranger things have happened.  A win tonight and it's possible they could earn themselves a 3-seed.  Some have wondered if a 2 was possible but I can't imagine the committee will look at our body of work and put it in the same level as Pitt or UConn at the end of the day.

You know the drill.  The Idiots are chatting, there's a comment section below and there's plenty of us on Twitter.  Of course, I guess you could go watch the game in public with other people, but, what's the fun in that?  Oh, right...