ESPN Men's Basketball

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The montage had stopped playing Friday night in the hotel, but something was still gnawing at Eric Atkins.

Notre Dame coach Mike Brey showed his players a roughly five-minute video clip of the Irish's history against teams ranked No. 1 by The Associated Press: the infamous snapping of UCLA's 88-game winning streak from 1974, the more recent knocking off of North Carolina nearly 25 years ago — seven in all, and six in this building.

Nearly 24 hours later, after seemingly most of the 9,149 in attendance rushed the Joyce Center court to celebrate a game that was never really as close as its 67-58 final score would indicate, Atkins and the Irish were able to boast about another milestone for Brey, this time because of a victory over top-ranked and previously unbeaten Syracuse in which they led from start to finish.

"I actually remember saying after the video that there were no Coach Brey teams in there," the point guard said, "but I feel great that we can add that to his résumé."

Told of the reaction, Brey cracked: "That's awesome."

Brey was able to circumvent the chaos, but his players soaked it all in.

Scott Martin followed the biggest guy he could find for the safest route off the court. Pat Connaughton was hoisted up by one of his friends from the stands. Atkins somehow ended up in the middle of it all.

"I was making sure Syracuse got off," Brey said. "Our guys were in the middle of it, which was awesome."

The 12th-year Notre Dame coach found himself amid the smaller remaining crowd 12 minutes after the final horn, when he came out for his radio interview.

But by then, the noise had died down considerably from the 40 previous minutes of action on the floor, which began thus for the Irish offensively:

• Connaughton hits an open 3 outside the elbow.
• Atkins hits an open 3 in front of the Syracuse bench with the shot clock winding down.
• Jack Cooley lays it in inside.
• Connaughton hits another 3, prompting Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim to call a timeout 2 minutes, 40 seconds into the game.

The Irish, who entered the night 14th in the Big East in 3-point shooting, made their first three 3-pointers. The Orange, whose biggest deficit at any point this season had been eight at North Carolina State, trailed 11-2.

The shots kept dropping for Notre Dame, which made 8 of 16 from downtown, including 6 of 10 in the first half. They kept clanking for Syracuse, which made just 18 of 53 field goal attempts for the night, starting with an awful 8-of-28 performance in a first half that saw the Irish lead by as many as 18.

"I wasn't surprised at how we started the game," Atkins said. "We were either gonna start really hot or really cold. We started hot — good.

"When we were up 18, that's when you would look up, and we're like, 'Oh wow, that is surprising.' "

Many of those 3-pointers came with less than 10 seconds on the shot clock, a product of the burn offense Brey often runs, an offense that kept his players in a rhythm while nursing a big lead.

"You know what's helpful? Because we play a slower tempo on offense, I've never felt that those guys feel kind of we're holding the ball," Brey said. "It's part of our arsenal to be very patient. We burn the clock and then score. If you never did it before, and then you're sitting on it, I think it can take away some confidence and you're looking over your shoulder. But it's something we've done for a while, so I think they feel that this is how we play."

Even more helpful — especially with Orange 7-footer Fab Melo not making the trip for undisclosed reasons — was the inside presence of the 6-9, 248-pound Cooley, who made Irish offensive possessions feel like an eternity by creating second chances and pounding the overmatched C.J. Fair (6-8, 212) inside.

Cooley finished with game highs of 17 points and 10 rebounds, six of those boards offensive. The Irish outrebounded the Orange 38-25.

"Cooley was able to get the ball inside and score," Boeheim said. "We just could not make shots to get back in the game. I have to give Notre Dame a lot of credit for that."

The Irish actually endured a 7-minute, 18-second stretch in the second half without scoring, during which Syracuse mounted a 9-0 run.

But Cooley's monster jam on a fast break with 5:17 left put the lead back to double digits at 52-42, re-energizing the building and helping to set up the eventual court-storming.

Cooley burst from the sea of revelers and barreled his way up the tunnel toward his locker room eight minutes after the victory, screaming "Here we go!" to anyone and everyone in sight.

His coach, the one who can now join Digger Phelps in claiming to have knocked off a No. 1 team in this building, hopes it's only a sign of things to come.

"To be part of that history of beating No. 1s, I'm very proud of that," Brey said. "But I'm more proud for our guys. This is a great memory for them. Now, winning 10 league games and getting an NCAA bid — that's a better memory, so we're gonna keep pushing buttons on that."

Digger Phelps dances in front of the Kansas crowd and gets judged by an expert panel including Bill Self, Erin Andrews, the Jayhawks mascot and a vomiting Jay Bilas.

Skidmore defeating Southern Vermont 128-123 in a seven-overtime thriller on Tuesday marked the longest game in Division III history and tied for the longest in NCAA men's basketball history.

The game -- which was tied at 59 at the end of regulation -- also offered some crazy stats.

How's this one? The official attendance of the game was 142. The combined number of field goal attempts missed was 145.

Want another? Southern Vermont senior guard Lance Spratling played in all 75 minutes of the game and racked up 31 points and 18 rebounds. He also missed all 13 attempts from beyond the arc and finished 10-of-40 from the field.

But really, it's the emotion of the game that tells the story.

It can be seen in the press releases, with Skidmore reporting that there were "SEVEN" overtime periods and Southern Vermont after a loss noting the game "was the longest game in history!"

How does it feel to lose a game like that? Try Southern Vermont coach Michael McDonough, who has seen plenty of historic games given that he served as a student manager at Notre Dame under Digger Phelps and Ara Parseghian.

"It's difficult to reconcile your emotions when you have just participated in such an epic event and lost," McDonough said in a statement. "But to a man, both teams will take a way something from tonight that they will never forget."

Skidmore coach Joe Burke, a former assistant at Navy and Cornell, was amazed as well.

"I kept telling the guys as each overtime passed to really enjoy the moment," he said in a statement. "They will never be involved in anything like that in their lives again. I kept telling them, 'This is fun isn't it?' But by the sixth overtime, I think that wore out."

In case you're wondering, the only other two NCAA basketball games to have ever reached a seventh overtime are: Black Hills beating Yankton 80-79 in 1956 and Cincinnati defeating Bradley 75-73 in 1981.

Isiah Thomas and Steve Alford, now college coaches after enduring plenty of tongue-lashings from Bob Knight during their playing careers at Indiana, have likely been waiting for this moment for a long, long time.

On Sept. 18 in Hammond, Ind., Thomas and Alford are among those expected to let loose on the former coach at the Coach Knight All Star Celebrity Roast and Toast to benefit Thomas' old high school.

Tickets go on sale later this week at $50-$500 for the right to watch Knight squirm as college basketball figures take their best verbal jabs.

Coaching rivals Jud Heathcote, Johnny Orr and Digger Phelps will be there. Also roasting Knight on behalf of their professions will be referee Dan Chrisman and sports writer Bob Hammel.

Insults will be flying, but for decorum's sake, hopefully not the chairs.

Partnering with a member of Clemson's Rally Cats dance team, our Digger Phelps put on quite a show for "College GameDay." The video of their dance to Kelly Clarkson's "Walk Away" is getting clicks just like his other performances, and Clemson coach Oliver Purnell was even asked about it by The State:

"I didn't see it," Purnell said, grinning, "but I heard the reviews. [Jay] Bilas' exact word, I think, was 'creepy.'"

But then, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or sometimes the artist. Phelps and his dance partner, Clemson "Rally Cats" member Mallory Mitchell, warmed up for an hour prior to unveiling their duet, which was accompanied by Kelly Clarkson's "Walk Away."

"I wasn't nervous until my friends talked about being on TV and YouTube," the Greenville senior said. "But Digger likes to cut a rug; he busted out some spontaneous moves. You couldn't help but laugh."