Rivers on Winner: ‘Best feeling of my life’
Against Kentucky in 1992, (Christian) Laettner had the preternatural poise to take a balancing dribble before turning and hitting the most famous shot in NCAA tournament history at the buzzer. Against Carolina in 2012, Little Laettner feinted toward (Tyler) Zeller, created some last-second daylight and rose.
“I saw him backing off,” (Austin) Rivers said, adding that Zeller had the disadvantage of not seeing the clock and knowing it was now-or-never time. “It looked good. I said, ‘Please go in.’ It seemed the ball was in the air 10 minutes.
“When the ball went in, my heart jumped. Best feeling of my life.”
When the ball went in and all those fans went mute, Rivers ran down the court with his hands at his sides (Laettner threw his hands in the air like it was a “Chariots of Fire” moment). He was gang-tackled by teammates around the opposite 3-point arc.
“Storybook,” (Mike) Krzyzewski said.
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