Terrence Williams figured no championship ever would be as easy.
Last March he and the rest of the Louisville Cardinals thought they would have an exhausted Syracuse team to kick around. The Orange had played the epic six-overtime game with Connecticut, then went into OT with West Virginia to advance into the final against Louisville.
This was going to be easier than reciting the ABC’s. With the Big East tourney starting tomorrow, Williams, now with the Nets, has one memory of the 2009 Big East title game.
ST. JOHN’S CAN BURST UCONN’S TOURNAMENT BUBBLE
“How hard Syracuse played. They played that six-overtime game — I watched that game. It finished like 2:30 in the morning. Then I was actually talking to Johnny [Flynn] throughout the night because he couldn’t go to sleep,” Williams recalled. “He cramped in that game and he had to get an ice bath, then he wanted to watch film and I’m telling him, ‘Go to sleep.’ ”
Louisville eventually won, beating Syracuse, 76-66. But easy? No way.
For all the overtimes, for all of Flynn’s near-insomnia and middle-of-the-night ice baths, the Big East title game turned out to be as simple as theoretical physics. In Greek.
“I really remember how hard they played because after all those overtimes, I didn’t think they would have a lot of gas,” Williams said. “So I told the guys it would be an easy win, an easy championship.”
Oops.
“We were down early,” Williams said. “[Eric] Devendorf and Johnny Flynn hit big 3s and put us down, and we had to concentrate to come back and win, but I definitely remember how hard they played.”
Williams is one of three Nets with Big East memories. Josh Boone recalls the 2004 championship. With good reason — he and UConn went on to win the NCAA title.
“Playing in the championship game against Pittsburgh is the top memory,” Boone said. “It was a real up and down, back-and-forth game the whole time. Ben [Gordon] ended up hitting the game-winner and then I blocked a shot at the end, and we ended up getting the rebound and we won.”
Chris Quinn never got to experience a Big East title with Notre Dame, but he had a special moment — it also came in ’04, but in the first round.
“We were playing West Virginia and we hit a 3 at the buzzer to win it,” Quinn recalled. “I passed it to Colin Falls and he hit it. That was a pretty exciting game. We never went very far, we’d always win maybe one or two games.”
Off-the-court stuff also means something to the three Nets, who recall banquets, bands and lights.
“The banquet the night before the tournament when everyone gets together,” Quinn said.
Said Boone: “The crowd split half-and-half between the fans with dueling bands.”
Said Williams, “Lights. You know you’re at the Big East Tournament when you step out under those lights. You play there against St. John’s and it’s kind of dim. Then you play in the Big East Tournament, the lights are so bright.”