"The Shot" refers to a play by the

Valparaiso University Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana, United States. It is an independent Lutheran university with five colleges. It enrolls nearly 2,300 students and has a campus. The university is known for its Luthe ...

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

(now Beacons) that occurred in the Midwest Regional first round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament. The play came in Valpo's game against the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...

(Ole Miss)

Rebels A rebel is a participant in a rebellion. Rebel or rebels may also refer to: People * Rebel (given name) * Rebel (surname) * Patriot (American Revolution), during the American Revolution * American Southerners, as a form of self-identification; ...

The Myriad Seattle alt-rock outfit The Myriad began in 2001 with university students Jeremy Edwardson and John Roger Schofield. The duo recruited Scott Davis (drums), Jonathan Young (guitar), and Steven Tracy (guitar, piano) to join them in the endeavor. ...

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

on March 13, 1998, in which

Bryce Drew Bryce Homer Drew (born September 21, 1974) is an American college basketball coach and former player who is the head coach at Grand Canyon University. Previously, he served as the head coach at Vanderbilt and in the same capacity at his alma ma ...

hit a three-point shot to give the #13 seed Crusaders a 70–69 victory over the #4 seed Rebels. "The Shot" became one of the notable highlights in March Madness history; it was named the fifth most memorable moment in

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

's coverage of the NCAA tournament by sports analyst

Gary Parrish Gary Parrish is a sports columnist for CBSSports.com, a host, studio analyst and sideline reporter for the CBS Sports Network, the host of the CBS Sports Eye On College Basketball podcast, and the host of "The Gary Parrish Show" on Grind City ...

in 2007.

Buildup

Although Ole Miss was a much higher seed than Valparaiso and was expected to win easily and advance to the second round, the Crusaders played tough throughout and were down 69–67 with less than ten seconds left.

, Valpo's star guard and son of coach

Homer Drew Homer Walter Drew Jr. (born September 29, 1944) is an American former college basketball coach and administrator who coached at Washington State Cougars men's basketball, Washington State, LSU, Bethel College (Indiana), Bethel College, Indiana-S ...

, missed a three-pointer with approximately five seconds left, and after Mississippi grabbed the rebound Valparaiso fouled Ole Miss'

Ansu Sesay Ansu Martin Sesay Jr. (born July 29, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player. High school and college career Sesay attended Willowridge High School in Houston, Texas. He led his team to the school's first state title in baske ...

to stop the clock and send the 72.5% free-throw shooter to the line. Although Sesay had made three of his last five attempts at the charity stripe, he missed the first of two. Coach Drew then called his last time out before Sesay could take his second free throw, in order to draw up a play for the Crusaders' last possession. When play resumed Sesay missed his second free throw, and following a battle for the loose ball Valparaiso was awarded possession after Ole Miss guard Keith Carter knocked the ball out of bounds. This left Valpo with 2.5 seconds to get off a shot, and forced inbounder Jaime Sykes to put the ball in play from the far end of the court.

The play

The Crusaders' play for this situation was known as "Pacer". Sykes threw the inbounds pass over the midcourt line, where Bill Jenkins outjumped a Rebel defender for the ball and immediately tapped it over to a running Drew, who shot a 23-foot

3-point shot A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or triple) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two ...

. Drew's defender had been left flat-footed as he considered defending Sykes, leaving Drew open as he began streaking. The ball went in as time expired, giving Valpo a 70–69 win and eliminating Ole Miss from the tournament.

The calls

Box score

Aftermath

With the win against Ole Miss, Valparaiso started to make a Cinderella run in the tournament. The Crusaders later defeated #12-seeded

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

in the second round, 83–77 in overtime. Their run came to an end in the Sweet Sixteen when the Crusaders lost to #8 seed

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

, 68–74. In 2003,

ESPN Classic ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television television network, network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which controlled an 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which had 20%). The channel was ...

ranked Valparaiso's 1998 run as #3 on its "Classic Cinderellas" list, with "The Shot" as a large part of the reason why it ranked as high as it did.

Parody

"The Shot" was parodied during the 2013 NCAA Tournament with an

Axe An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...

Apollo Body Spray commercial by placing a fictitious

Astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

on the Valparaiso sideline that garnered more attention than Drew's shot.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shot, The 1997–98 NCAA Division I men's basketball season NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament games Ole Miss Rebels men's basketball Valparaiso Beacons men's basketball March 1998 sports events in the United States 1998 in sports in Oklahoma Basketball in Oklahoma City