Heck, I think the whole world thought that was the case.
But this is the 2016 NCAA tournament, where the impossible has become downright ordinary.
Paul Jesperson told – as he took the pass, dribbled once and then heaved the ball from halfcourt – the arena felt still and very quiet. And the pandemonium that erupted an instant later, when the ball banked off the backboard and dropped through the net – Northern Iowa 75, Texas 72 – a wall of sound and a furious celebration and did that just happen?“I don’t have a way to describe it,” Panthers coach Ben Jacobson said, “and I don’t have an answer.”
But he won’t have to. Jesperson’s shot was instantly etched into NCAA Tournament lore. Never mind this year’s version of “One Shining Moment,” we’ll be seeing Jesperson’s shot for many years; it will live forever in montages of fantastic finishes.
“I suppose we got a little lucky at the end” Jacobson said. “But these guys have found a way and they’ve continued to find a way.”
