Minnesota Basketball Player Beats Odds, Hits Longshot
The chance of being hit by lightning, or winning the lottery, is in the same field as the possibility of being a high school basketball player who wins an ESPY, ESPN's award for someone whose television sports highlight is the most outstanding of the year. Thus, the odds of being possibly a two-time ESPY winner is astronomical; but the University of Minnesota's Blake Hoffarber might be that two-time lottery winner.
During the Big 10 Tournament game between Indiana and Minnesota, Hoffarber scored the winning basket as time ran out, converting a turnaround, left-handed push shot from thirteen feet with three Hoosiers around him after leaping to catch a 77-foot pass inbounds from the opposing baseline. The improbable play started with Minnesota down a point and only 1.5 seconds left in the game.
Minnesota had led the game by as many as 16 points, but the Gophers were missing several of their top players due to injury and foul trouble, and Indiana slowly crept back. Even though the Hoosiers missed five of their last six free throws, Indiana still scored the last six points of the final minute and a half, and D. J. White's free throw broke the missed streak and gave his team the point lead, setting up Hoffarber's shot.
Hoffarber has previously won an ESPY for Best Shot in 2005, while playing in the Minnesota state championship tournament. With his team down two points and the buzzer about to sound, Hoffarber fell to the floor diving for the ball. Fifteen feet from the basket, while seated on the floor with his legs splayed in front of him, Hoffarber drilled the tying shot to keep his team alive.
Hoffarber's more recent heroics are being compared to the famous Grant Hill- to- Christian Laettner pass that Duke used to beat Kentucky years ago in the NCAA tournament, widely regarded as the best shot ever made in college play.
For those out there who have hit the big jackpot once: don't fret, there is still a chance to hit again. Hoffarber proved it Friday night.
