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A bit of the shock has warn off. Now it’s a warm glow. Illinois beat Arizona in overtime, 90-89, to earn a trip to the Final Four. Let’s take a look and see what everyone else is saying about one of the most amazing college basketball games and comebacks in recent memory.

Highlights

First off, the video highlights. See YouTube for this.

If photos are more to your liking, see this IlliniBoard thread chocked full of beautiful pictures from the game.

Pundits and analysts

The great Mark Tupper, beacon of the Illini Nation, says it was one for the ages. Every Illini fan should be reading his blog.

Rick Morrissey of the Trib there’s “something special” about this year’s Illini, and that’s their heart. Normally I would cynically scoff at such a column, but, well, I’m not scoffing.

Mike Downey echoes the thoughts I had when Illinois was down by 15: we aren’t just going to lose, we’re going to get blown out. And then… click.

Grant Wahl of SI.com says “It’s the kind of day that happens once in a generation to have two such great games in a regional final.” I was lucky to see it! Mike DeCourcy seems similarly awed, calling it unequivocally “the greatest comeback in NCAA tournament history.”

And Michael Wilbon summed it all up well:

And in the bedlam, everybody knew they had seen something not just rare, but admirable, the tournament at its best, March at its absolute Maddest. The band played, the tears flowed. Explanations be damned.

The Illinois (and neutral) blogosphere

But let’s go the blogosphere, where life is more interesting. Our journey starts at Illini Wonk, who provides a wealth of excellent postgame links. Illini Wonk’s own reaction to the game? UNBELEIVABLE!!!! Illini Win!!!!. The man was too excited to spellcheck!

We move to the always entertaining and witty Big Ten Wonk, who says the game was “was Carlton Fisk-good. Immaculate Reception-good. Yes, Christian Laettner-good.” He gives a lovely overview of the action, some insightful analysis, and some good links to analysts and pundits. Big Ten Wonk is a must-read.

And on to the always high quality ACC BasketBlog, which features a wide-ranging entry covering the reaction to the Elite 8 games in the Chicago, Albuquerque, Syracuse, and Austin brackets. They even toss in a mention of the NIT for completeness’ sake! If you want a view of the entire Elite 8, this is your place.

I love Illini Girl’s live-blogging. She goes from utter despair at 4 minutes left (“I am saddened it may end like this. Elite Eight part Deux. But I supposed we could have always been Kansas or Wake.”) to “If they pull this off in OT, this will be a storybook ending” to “WOO HOO! 90-89!” And this live-blogging post at Kunzeblog is absolutely classic! Ryan McClaren’s got something similar going. And Dummocrats chronicles the (now hilarious) change-of-heart at Illini Board. Now, in retrospect, they’re calling it the greatest game in the history of Illini basketball.

At Illini Central, “Words simply cannot do it justice!” Illinitalk is so pumped, he doesn’t know what to call his postgame article! Cubs-centric blog Fear the Blue Bears says that “[a]n entire state was turned into babbling idiots by The Run”—and I agree. Most of the blog posts I’ve read have been deliriously, incoherently happy. Case in point: Iowa Wine Guy’s exultant Oskee Wow Wow! My BlogWalk friend Matthew Homann calls it the most amazing basketball game he’s ever seen. Steven Engelhardt is now a believer (why weren’t you already?!). Another guy turned off the TV with four minutes to go. Bad move, dude! (Another fellow was ready to, but didn’t.) As Jason Boothe said, it was an emotional rollercoaster.” Dorkboy sizes up the comeback’s probablity and says that “P-value-wise, a miracle.”

Edgar of Market 117 tips his cap to the defense, while John Ruberry nominates Deron Williams for Man of the Century. Deron Williams’ high school classmate, George Boone, offers his congrats. Mojo Pin loved the passion of Luther Head:

Luther Head, in particular, looked like a god over the last ten minutes. The expression on his face was one of total envelopment, envelopment in the more and more unsustainable dream of winning, and it was him that provided the sustenance that led to their victory.

At minkey.com: “Calling it a ‘game’ is an understatement. It was a ‘dogfight’.” Jon Meyers says, “I have never seen a team use every ounce of energy that they possess like they did.” And from Glen Ellyn, Illinois, Pavan was certainly inspired by the Illinois effort: “Maybe, just maybe, if we live our lives with the same passion the Illini displayed on the court, we can teach a few people what life is really about.”

Neutral blogger Marty offers up some sky-high praise:

Illinois again showed that although they aren’t the most talented team in the nation, they are the hungriest, most intense, toughest team in the country. They just and would not accept losing this game.

Alex Souza chides the Wildcats: “If you kick when they’re up, you’ve got to kick them when they are down.” Anthony Barbose similarly takes Lute Olson to task for reining in the Wildcats while they were ahead.Nick Sloan says it was “[b]y far the best Elite Eight game since the 1992 Duke/Kentucky game.”

The Arizona blogosphere

In the Arizona blogosphere, they aren’t taking the loss well. UA fans are blaming the loss on the refs. On a better note, Dejalicious rather humorously compares the Arizona-Illinois game to The Empire Strikes Back, but with Illinois curiously representing the Evil Empire—odd, given Arizona’s normally more prominent national stature and recent championships. (Still, it’s an entertaining post.)

I, for one, salute Lute Olson and Arizona’s players. They played an incredible game—both teams did—and handled the defeat with class—well, except, perhaps, for Salim Stoudamire. He blamed his poor performance on an “off night” rather than Deron Williams’ defense and said Deron was “probably excited to have [him] as his matchup.” News flash to Salim: You couldn’t carry Deron’s jock strap that night.

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