Saturday, March 5, 2011

March Madness is officially here: VCU wins on a ... BUZZER BEATER!

And we have our first buzzer-beater of March Madness 2011!

Down 60-57 with 18 seconds left, Drexel's Chris Fouch came off of a flare screen and drilled a deep three to tie up their CAA Tournament quarterfinal game against VCU. But after a timeout from head coach Shaka Smart, the Rams got the ball into Jamie Skeen on the block, and the Wake Forest transfer his a gorgeous, spinning layup off the glass for the 62-60 win.

That was a lot of explanation for a play which I have video of:



Skeen finished with 24 points. We've said since back in November that Skeen was the key to this VCU team. For one possession, at least, he made us look smart.

Now, to be fair, Kyle Weems hit a game-winner last night for Missouri State as the Bears overcame a late, nine point deficit to beat Southern Illinois in Arch Madness:



But look at the clock. There were 1.4 seconds left on the clock. In the BIAH Official Lexicon Handbook of March Madness, a buzzer-beater has to be a shot that is in the air when the buzzer goes off. If there is still time on the clock, it is a game-winner. You can't hit a walk-off homerun in the top of the ninth, can you?

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