The Best Game I've Ever Seen In Person

Syracuse's 91-89 victory over Duke in the schools' first game as conference opponents was probably the best game (any sport) I've ever attended in person. It was one of the best regular season college games of all time.
Normally I resist pronouncements like that because people often call every close, exciting game "great." But this one deserves the greatness label not just for the excitement and drama, but also for high quality of play.
Each team committed only 8 turnovers, that includes overtime. Duke made 15 of 36 3s and Syracuse didn't get out of their game plan, shooting only 4 3s and make 3 of them. Syracuse made 80% of its free throws, and that never happens. There were 40 fouls called but I don't think the officiating played a huge part in the outcome. This game was decided by the players, and so many of them made great plays.

I finally had the chance to sit down and watch the game on TV and I wanted to share a few thoughts.

I'll start with the last play of regulation: Syracuse definitely should have fouled. Duke was inbounding with 4.6 seconds left. If you give a foul at half court you take away at least a second or two. Boeheim said that was the plan, and you can see CJ Fair did try to foul, he just wasn't aggressive enough.

And then, in a similar situation at the end of overtime, Tyler Ennis gave the foul with 9 seconds left, way too much time, too much can go wrong. And it almost did.

Syracuse went on a little run with 6 minutes left to take a 7-point lead (66-59). On the next 3 Duke possessions Tyler Thornton made 3-pointers to cut the lead to 70-68, with 4:22 left. The only 3 shots he made all night. Outstanding individual performance over that short period.

The 5th foul on Parker (offensive) was very questionable. There was definitely contact but Christmas sold it. The foul called on Cooney for hitting Sulaimon on a 3-pointer was equally questionable. The foul on Jefferson on Christmas though was a clear foul that had to be called.

Tyler Ennis is a great point guard. He always makes the right decision and never tries to score unless they absolutely need a basket. And he basically won the game by recognizing the mismatch in overtime with Dawkins on Grant. He did it twice in a row, then the third time when Fair tried to feed Grant the pass wasn't as good and Grant missed the shot. Then Ennis fed Grant one more time, and it forced Coach K to make a change, and bring in Plumlee.

Rakim Christmas did not foul on the final dunk attempt. He got the ball, maybe there was some incidental contact, but his hand on the ball, cleanly was why it didn't go in.

CJ Fair was mugged and beaten, it was clearly an intentional foul, but I don't really blame the refs for calling it just a regular call. It was excessive in contact in part because two players shoved Fair at the same time. I wouldn't have wanted to see a game like this decided by a call like that.

Fair played an absolutely incredible game. He's just a fantastic player who does the things you need to do to win.

What a game! I am thrilled to have been in attendance for one of the most memorable Syracuse games ever.