Best buzzer beater in MU history

[cheebs09]

Oh year and then he nearly repeated it in the NCAA tournament.

Mine is Washington in 2010 ncaa tournament. I don't care if Quincy Pondexter or Isaiah Thomas lead the Bulls to an NBA title I still wouldn't root for either because I'm still salty about that.

I think mine is for sure Brook Lopez. Going in, we had no idea how we'd guard both of those big guys. Then the craziness of their coach getting ejected and us hanging tough.

I'll still never know how he made that shot from that angle.

[Galway Eagle]

I think mine is for sure Brook Lopez. Going in, we had no idea how we'd guard both of those big guys. Then the craziness of their coach getting ejected and us hanging tough.

I'll still never know how he made that shot from that angle.

That was the year before I started following MUBB so luckily I didn't have to endure that one. See. The video a few times, am actually curious if Bucks fans are over it or refuse to root for Lopez.

[Billy Hoyle]

That's the one I was thinking of. Thanks for sharing the story and the link to the video. Memory is a crazy thing. I was 8 years old when I watched that game and don't know if I've seen a replay since. The second that clip started playing, I remembered exactly how the last play went down. One of my earliest MUBB memories.

I was a senior and that play happened over break. The first week back a TV was set up in the AMU and that game was playing. I walked by and Wardle, Clausen, and Lovette were there watching it with the crowd that has gathered around and were loving the Deane reaction. As the coaches walked off the court and fans were screaming at them one of the assistants (maybe Theiss) turned around and screamed "f--k you" to the fans. Wardle rewound the tape multiple times so we could see it.

10-0 after that game, with road wins over Bucky and Louisville. Then Hutch gets injured and starts warring with Deane and we lost four in a row (and our last three of the regular season) and finish 17-9.  Uggh. The beginning of the end for Deane.

[Billy Hoyle]

I think mine is for sure Brook Lopez. Going in, we had no idea how we'd guard both of those big guys. Then the craziness of their coach getting ejected and us hanging tough.

I'll still never know how he made that shot from that angle.

That one haunts me. A buddy and I were texting about plans for Houston for the Sweet 16. I was watching at a bar in Manhattan and there were guys randomly rooting for Stanford. Down the stretch and in OT I was shaking so much I couldn't drink my beer and yelled at them at one point about how they couldn't even get into Stanford. Jerel takes a crap shot at the end of regulation to win it, then a bad shot that would have put us up three on our final possession. Burke defended Lopez perfectly and he hits it anyway. I lost it, kicked the stool I'd been sitting on and stormed out, never to return to that bar. I hope my wife paid our tab. After that game my wife made me promise I'd never do that over a game again. Worst ending to a MU game ever.

EDIT - a few years later I'm doing an interview and the guy I'm interviewing notices my MU scarf on my wall. It was the PG who made the pass to Lopez for the game winner (assist #16). "Best game I've ever played in."

That was the year before I started following MUBB so luckily I didn't have to endure that one. See. The video a few times, am actually curious if Bucks fans are over it or refuse to root for Lopez.

My guess is most Bucks fans are also Bucky fans so they don't care.

[wadesworld]

I love Brook and wish the Bucks would let him go to work in the paint more.  I don't really blame him for MU's loss.  I blame Crean for not being able to coach the team well enough to beat Stanford without their head coach on the sideline.

[Spotcheck Billy]

am actually curious if Bucks fans are over it or refuse to root for Lopez.

Enough time has passed for this MU & Bucks fan to feel Lopez is OK afterall. 10 years ago? Uh uh

[HutchwasClutch]

I love Brook and wish the Bucks would let him go to work in the paint more.  I don't really blame him for MU's loss.  I blame Crean for not being able to coach the team well enough to beat Stanford without their head coach on the sideline.

Yeah, he only dropped 30 on us that day.

You blame Crean for his sideline coaching losing in OT by 1 in what was an overwhelming pro Stanford crowd, against a team with two 7 footers who both have played years in the NBA.  While we had Ous and Burke to try and hold Brook and Robin in check.  Terrible, terrible matchup was why we lost. 

And this from a guy who never could bring himself to criticize in the least  completely in over his head and incompetent Wojo. 

[Billy Hoyle]

Yeah, he only dropped 30 on us that day.

You blame Crean for his sideline coaching losing in OT by 1 in what was an overwhelming pro Stanford crowd, against a team with two 7 footers who both have played years in the NBA.  While we had Ous and Burke to try and hold Brook and Robin in check.  Terrible, terrible matchup was why we lost. 

And this from a guy who never could bring himself to criticize in the least  completely in over his head and incompetent Wojo.

Stanford was the 3 seed and we were the 6 too. DJ went 4 for 16 from the field, MU went 10 for 30 from three. Jerel, while he had a very good game, was 4 for 12 from three. That wasn't Crean's fault.

[HutchwasClutch]

Stanford was the 3 seed and we were the 6 too. DJ went 4 for 16 from the field, MU went 10 for 30 from three. Jerel, while he had a very good game, was 4 for 12 from three. That wasn't Crean's fault.

Excellent points

[wadesworld]

Stanford was the 3 seed and we were the 6 too. DJ went 4 for 16 from the field, MU went 10 for 30 from three. Jerel, while he had a very good game, was 4 for 12 from three. That wasn't Crean's fault.

So having your 30.4% three point shooter shooting 12 three pointers is fine in game coaching I guess.  Or having your team that ranked 161st in 3 point field goal percentage shoot 30 three pointers doesn't fall on the coach.  Giving up a 13-2 run mid second half?  Not on the coach.  Unable to draw up a competent play to end regulation or on your last possession?  Nothing Crean could've done.  Fair enough.

[MU82]

Game tying buzzer beaters are huge when you win in OT, but meaningless if you lose in OT.

If Junior misses against UConn, Marquette is 13-5 and does NOT win the BE.  Vander's buzzer beater against St. John's wouldn't have been the iconic BE title delivering moment that it is.

No doubt Vander's is the bigger moment since it clinched a BE title share in real time, while Junior's shot needs the benefit of hindsight to truly appreciate its significance.

In my mind, the two shots are linked. A poetic bookend to Marquette's lone BE title: a buzzer beater to avoid defeat in the BE opener and a BE clinching buzzer beater in the BE finale.

I have always thought Junior's shot was very underrated. I mean, we needed a 3 just to tie, and he drills it. We go on to win in OT, setting up the entire BEast season and E8 run. The fact that it was a non-shooter who stepped up like that, a guy who often is forgotten when talking about how good that team was, somehow made it even bigger in my mind.

As you said, it's pretty hard to say that shot was "bigger" than either of Vander's drives because of what those delivered, but nobody should understate the importance of Junior's shot.

[dgies9156]

So winning the big east title was nothing more than another game to you?

Basically, yes.

I always enjoy Marquette wins, no matter when and where.

But to matter, it has to be something big... really big.

If Jerome hadn't delivered, the lore that is Marquette basketball may never have been. We'd be another has been that never was.

If you're satisfied with BEast championships, then, yes, there are others. But if you think Marquette should contend for Nattys regularly, then Jerome is the top of the scale on buzzer beaters.

[MU82]

Basically, yes.

I always enjoy Marquette wins, no matter when and where.

But to matter, it has to be something big... really big.

If Jerome hadn't delivered, the lore that is Marquette basketball may never have been. We'd be another has been that never was.

If you're satisfied with BEast championships, then, yes, there are others. But if you think Marquette should contend for Nattys regularly, then Jerome is the top of the scale on buzzer beaters.

I would argue (and already did), that Jerome's shot was by far the biggest in Marquette history. But to say that not a single other one "matters" seems more than a little silly.

[Galway Eagle]

Basically, yes.

I always enjoy Marquette wins, no matter when and where.

But to matter, it has to be something big... really big.

If Jerome hadn't delivered, the lore that is Marquette basketball may never have been. We'd be another has been that never was.

If you're satisfied with BEast championships, then, yes, there are others. But if you think Marquette should contend for Nattys regularly, then Jerome is the top of the scale on buzzer beaters.

Yeah this is a ridiculous take. Plenty of others mattered. Yes Jeromes is by far the biggest but to imply that Vander winning the Big East or other various NCAA tournament buzzer beaters, are on the same level as say a random win in the non conference is ridiculous.

[The Sultan]

If you're satisfied with BEast championships, then, yes, there are others. But if you think Marquette should contend for Nattys regularly, then Jerome is the top of the scale on buzzer beaters.

You said it was the only one it matters.  Which is wrong.  It may have mattered more than others, but others certainly mattered.

[Uncle Rico]

Tournament is a crapshoot

[HutchwasClutch]

So having your 30.4% three point shooter shooting 12 three pointers is fine in game coaching I guess.  Or having your team that ranked 161st in 3 point field goal percentage shoot 30 three pointers doesn't fall on the coach.  Giving up a 13-2 run mid second half?  Not on the coach.  Unable to draw up a competent play to end regulation or on your last possession?  Nothing Crean could've done.  Fair enough.

McNeal had a wide open 15-16 footer their last offensive possession. It was a well drawn up play that got him open too.  He just missed it.   

The end of regulation wasn't the greatest look, but McNeal still had some daylight to get a decent look at the rim. The OT miss was a great look though.

[Newsdreams]

You said it was the only one it matters.  Which is wrong.  It may have mattered more than others, but others certainly mattered.

Buzzer beaters no
matts

[real chili 83]

Eff, hyperbole people.

[Newsdreams]

Eff, hyperbole people.

[dgies9156]

I would argue (and already did), that Jerome's shot was by far the biggest in Marquette history. But to say that not a single other one "matters" seems more than a little silly.

Brother MU, let me explain it this way.

In my time of following Marquette basketball, there have been many shots and many disappointments. The wins on last-second shots make you feel good, make the team feel good and are at times catalysts for a team to go on a big winning streak.

But over time, they fade. For example, I'm surprised Glenn River's 892 foot shot from South Milwaukee that beat Notre Dame in the early 1980s isn't near the top of everyone's list. Yeah, it beat Notre Dame and yeah, we all felt good. But it faded, just like Sam Hauser's buzzer beater against Creighton a few years back did. We had a great feeling for a few days, but eventually it's another game.

Jerome Whitehead's shot was incredibly different. Without it, we never would have faced perpetual overdog North Carolina and Al's coaching greatness probably would have been ignored. Suffice to say, Al would have been better remembered as a Coach who couldn't get his team over the threshold (1969, 1971, 1974 and 1976). I also wonder whether Al would have had the television success he had if we had not beaten UNCC and UNC.

Marquette as a basketball team is who we are and what we are in no small measure because of 1977. Same goes for the university. That season defined Marquette. It still does -- nauseatingly so at times. It's like the 1985 Chicago Bears. One would think in the time since, we and the Bears could have done something better, but I digress.

That's why nothing else compares. Marquette's image as an institution is defined by 1977 and Jerome's shot defined that season. Our team trains in the Al McGuire Center, plays on the Al McGuire Court and wears Al McGuire patches on their uniforms for a reason. You can thank the late Jerome Whitehead for a lot of that.

[MU82]

Brother MU, let me explain it this way.

In my time of following Marquette basketball, there have been many shots and many disappointments. The wins on last-second shots make you feel good, make the team feel good and are at times catalysts for a team to go on a big winning streak.

But over time, they fade. For example, I'm surprised Glenn River's 892 foot shot from South Milwaukee that beat Notre Dame in the early 1980s isn't near the top of everyone's list. Yeah, it beat Notre Dame and yeah, we all felt good. But it faded, just like Sam Hauser's buzzer beater against Creighton a few years back did. We had a great feeling for a few days, but eventually it's another game.

Jerome Whitehead's shot was incredibly different. Without it, we never would have faced perpetual overdog North Carolina and Al's coaching greatness probably would have been ignored. Suffice to say, Al would have been better remembered as a Coach who couldn't get his team over the threshold (1969, 1971, 1974 and 1976). I also wonder whether Al would have had the television success he had if we had not beaten UNCC and UNC.

Marquette as a basketball team is who we are and what we are in no small measure because of 1977. Same goes for the university. That season defined Marquette. It still does -- nauseatingly so at times. It's like the 1985 Chicago Bears. One would think in the time since, we and the Bears could have done something better, but I digress.

That's why nothing else compares. Marquette's image as an institution is defined by 1977 and Jerome's shot defined that season. Our team trains in the Al McGuire Center, plays on the Al McGuire Court and wears Al McGuire patches on their uniforms for a reason. You can thank the late Jerome Whitehead for a lot of that.

Did you read this thread, dg?

If you did, you would see with your own 2 eyes that memories of the shots by Rivers, Hauser, Cadougan, Blue, etc obviously HAVEN'T faded.

So your thesis has holes.

But yeah, Whirehead's shot is far and away the "best" in Marquette history. And yeah, Al was great. Few have said otherwise.

[ATWizJr]

Jerome Whitehead. NCAA tourney. Drops mike.

[dgies9156]

Did you read this thread, dg?

If you did, you would see with your own 2 eyes that memories of the shots by Rivers, Hauser, Cadougan, Blue, etc obviously HAVEN'T  completely faded.

So your thesis has, perhaps a few, holes.

But yeah, Whitehead's shot is far and away the "best" in Marquette history. And yeah, Al was great. Few have said otherwise.

Fixed it for you.

Unless you're an older alum who was there when these shots were made, they've faded. These are not the shots of legends made, except for maybe Blue.

Perhaps the reason many haven't completely faded is that our performance over the past seven years has been so joyless.

[Billy Hoyle]

Fixed it for you.

Unless you're an older alum who was there when these shots were made, they've faded. These are not the shots of legends made, except for maybe Blue.

Perhaps the reason many haven't completely faded is that our performance over the past seven years has been so joyless.

It's a matter of perspective. No doubt Whitehead's was the best and most consequential in MU history, but I was 10 months old at the time so it doesn't resonate with me that much. Ones I've seen with my own eyes, either on TV or in person will always come to mind first, especially when we can remember where I was for many of them.