How long did Gordon Hayward’s half-court shot hang in the air?
I don’t think I want to know the answer, because I won’t believe it. Time stopped in there some way, somehow. And I didn’t need Jennifer Hudson and the one “One Shining Moment” highlight to see the tournament flash before my eyes.
It’s not hard to wonder how we got here. No. 1 seed Duke and No. 5 seed Butler, playing 7 miles away from the Bulldogs’ campus in Indianapolis for the NCAA men’s basketball championship; Butler seeking its first title in school history, the Blue Devils after their fourth. A “mid-major” upstart against a hated traditional powerhouse. The Horizon League against the Atlantic Coast Conference. For the biggest prize in college basketball.
In the first day, we saw games that cost us our entire bracket pools. No. 7 BYU holds off No. 10 Florida in two overtimes behind Jimmer Fredette’s 37 points. No. 15 Robert Morris, coached by the son of Portland Trail Blazers broadcaster Mike Rice, takes No. 2 Villanova into overtime but ran out of steam. Danero Thomas of No. 13 Murray State hits a 15-footer at the buzzer to knock off No. 4 Vanderbilt. No. 14 Ohio — that’s Ohio University, not Ohio State — beats No. 3 Georgetown 97-83, the largest 14-over-3 victory in NCAA tournament history. And we’re just getting started!
Twelfth-seeded Cornell picked up the slack on day two with a 78-65 win over No. 5 Temple, and the sweet shooters from the Ivy League weren’t done yet, knocking off Wisconsin in the second round. Saint Mary’s knocks off reeling Villanova with another performance. But the tournament belongs to another underdog — the Northern Iowa Panthers, who ride the clutch three-point shooting of Ali Farokhmanesh to victory over the Kansas Jayhawks. As in, the tournament’s top overall seed, the prohibitive national title favorite, Kansas Jayhawks.
But here came the Bulldogs, immediately knocking off No. 1 Syracuse in the Sweet Sixteen. Butler’s win was impressive but flew under the radar as Northern Iowa was knocked off by Michigan State and Kansas State survived a two-overtime classic against Xavier — made all the better by CBS announcer Gus Johnson’s call of the game.
The Bulldogs entered the national championship game with the quietest hot streak in the nation. Butler had not lost a game since December 22, 2009 — 25 straight wins. Its secret was a stingy defense that had not allowed 60 points since February 26 (against Valparaiso). Duke’s highly publicized run for its first Final Four appearance since 2004 started with a win over Purdue in the Sweet Sixteen, followed by a 78-71 victory over upset-candidate Baylor and a dominant win over West Virginia. Only against Baylor did the Blue Devils fail to hold a team below 60 points.
Lucas Oil Stadium, filled to the rafters with 70,930 fans, was electric throughout the contest. Butler and Duke played a physical brand of basketball, supported by the referees, never separated by more than six points.
Then Hayward lifted his prayer just before the buzzer. Off the backboard, off the rim. Out. Duke wins, 61-59, in an instant classic.
This year’s Final Four and championship game come on the cusp of an announcement that the NCAA will consider expanding the men’s basketball tournament field to 96 teams. It will make a lot of money for a lot of people, including those who oversee tournament sites. With more teams subject to first-round byes, critics argue that higher seeds have competition advantage. We may not see another Butler, they say. Or another Northern Iowa, or Cornell or even Murray State. The magic may be lost.
We’ll see. For now, the NCAA tournament can rest assured this year’s iteration will be judged favorably by the history books. We’ll all know where we were — and what we were thinking — when Gordon Hayward launched his ill-fated shot.
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