Gettin' In: Syracuse wins its way ... rough

NEW YORK -- The buzzer sounded and Jonny Flynn looked flat-depressed.

Another overtime?

Yes, Jonny.

Another overtime.

Jonny Flynn is pumped up after scoring 15 points in the victory. (Getty Images)

And what a story this is turning out to be.

Syracuse beat West Virginia 74-69 in the Big East tournament semifinals late Friday, and it was late Friday at least in part because the Orange can't seem to get anything done in 40 minutes. It took them 70 minutes (or six overtimes) to finish Connecticut in the quarterfinals, 45 minutes (or one overtime) to finish West Virginia in the semifinals. What's next is Saturday night's championship game against Louisville, and though I wouldn't dare pick a winner, I feel confident telling you the score will be tied at the end of regulation.

• Bleacher Report: 'Cuse still has energy left

I can spot a trend with the best of them.

Let's do Saturday morning's Gettin' In.

Best game: Utah State was probably in the NCAA tournament even with a loss in the semifinals of the WAC tournament, if only because they entered with 27 Division I victories, and no team has ever been omitted with more than 26. Still, a loss would've had the Aggies sweating on Selection Sunday, which is why Tyler Newbold's 15-foot jumper with 3.1 seconds remaining in Utah State's 71-70 win over New Mexico State was undoubtedly the biggest shot of his season, because it pushed the Aggies into the WAC tournament title game, gave them a 28th Division I win and moved their RPI rating to 25.

Team whose dream remained alive: Baylor closed the regular season by losing 10 of 12 games, just an epic collapse by this once-ranked team. The smart money had the Bears losing their opener to Nebraska in the Big 12 tournament, but they didn't. Rather, they beat Nebraska. Then they beat Kansas. And then they beat Texas 76-70 in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament, meaning the past three days have featured three Baylor wins against teams that had previously beaten Baylor. And now if the Bears can just do it one more time -- Baylor lost to Missouri in January; the Bears will play Missouri in Saturday's Big 12 tournament title game -- they'll make their second consecutive NCAA tournament, and do so in the wildest of ways.

Team whose dream was crushed: Give Billy Gillispie credit for being honest. "I would say it's a longshot, myself," Gillispie said when asked about the odds of his Kentucky Wildcats making the NCAA tournament following a 67-58 loss to LSU in the SEC tournament quarterfinals. Assuming Gillispie is right -- and trust me, he is -- UK's streak of consecutive NCAA tournament appearances will end at 17. Unless he convinces Patrick Patterson and Jodie Meeks to return, his streak of consecutive NCAA tournament misses could extend to two next season, and that's never good for job security.

Performance I hope you witnessed: Tyler Hansbrough continued to make the people who didn't name him a First Team All-American look stupid, getting 26 points and eight rebounds in North Carolina's 79-76 victory over Virginia Tech in the ACC tournament quarterfinals. Not only did Hansbrough score the go-ahead basket with less than a minute remaining, he made a defensive stop with 5.2 seconds left that was so good (or controversial) it made Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg throw his coat in amazement (or frustration). Either way, Greenberg will need to get that thing cleaned in time for the NIT.

Performance I hope you missed: Florida has been short on Florida-type players since the exodus two seasons ago, which is a fact that's required Nick Calathes to be great in order for the Gators to be good. Against Auburn in the SEC tournament quarterfinals, Calathes (3-for-13 from the field for seven points with four turnovers) was not great. So Florida was not good. And now the Gators will play in a second consecutive NIT and look forward to the day McDonald's All-American Kenny Boynton enrolls.

Three random notes

1. Maryland was out of Jerry Palm's Friday morning bracket, which wasn't good for Gary Williams' long-term career plans. But a 75-64 victory over Wake Forest in the ACC tournament quarterfinals might've fixed that problem, because the Terrapins now have wins over North Carolina, Michigan State and Wake Forest -- i.e., a pair of possible No. 1 seeds and another likely top-four seed -- to help offset a questionable 13-12 record against the top 200 of the RPI.

2. Southern California -- just like Baylor -- is on the verge of busting somebody's bubble after its 65-55 victory over UCLA in the Pac-10 tournament semifinals. On tap is a title game match-up with Arizona State. If the Trojans win they'll get the league's automatic bid, Arizona State will take an at-large bid and Penn State fans will vomit.

3. Can a team that tied for first in the SEC East really miss the NCAA tournament? Yes, if that team is South Carolina -- a team that just lost its SEC tournament quarterfinal game to Mississippi State by an 82-68 margin. The Gamecocks will enter Selection Sunday with an RPI in the 50s or 60s and only one win against a Top 50 RPI opponent, meaning this will likely be an Unselected Sunday for them.

Final thought: It started with a win over Milwaukee.

Then Alabama.

Then UCLA.

And now here they are -- they being Memphis seniors Antonio Anderson, Robert Dozier and Chance McGrady -- all these games later, in the record books as the winningest Division I players in NCAA history thanks to a 74-49 victory over Houston in the Conference USA tournament semifinals. That blowout pushed the win total to 134 over the past four years, which not only made Anderson, Dozier and McGrady the first Division I players to be a part of teams that won 134 games in a four-year span, but also made Memphis the first school in history to win at least 30 games in four consecutive seasons.

So far, the seniors' careers have produced two Elite Eights and a Final Four.

What's next is hard to tell.

But count on this: They'll have 135 career wins just as soon as the C-USA tournament is over.