WASHINGTON \u2014 It looked so good in the air. Christian Laettner\u2019s shot, 1992. I was sitting courtside, just behind the Duke superstar on the right side. With his turnaround jumper in flight, I vividly remember thinking the ball was definitely going in.<\/p>\n
The writers on either side of me in the Philadelphia Spectrum that night said the same thing. Tim Layden of Newsday. Wayne Coffey of the Daily News. Laettner ended up 10-for-10 from the field, 10-for-10 from the line. It took a perfect player to win the perfect game, Duke over Kentucky in overtime of an East Region final staged 34 years and one day before I finally saw something better.<\/p>\n
Something more gripping.<\/p>\n
Something more magical.<\/p>\n
When UConn\u2019s Braylon Mullins released his prayer Sunday night in Capital One Arena \u2014 \u201cstop calling it a prayer,\u201d his coach, Dan Hurley, barked at me later on the court \u2014 I was sitting behind him on the right side, and the stroke and flight pattern seemed flawless. I immediately thought about Laettner, I swear I did, not just because of the similar angle, but also because the damn thing sure looked like it was going in.<\/p>\n
From right near the March Madness logo, 35 feet from paydirt, off a reckless turnover committed by a juggernaut team that led by 19 points in the first half, and by 15 at halftime. The Blue Devils simply could not lose this game. It was not possible. The Huskies missed 17 of their first 18 3-pointers, for goodness\u2019 sake.<\/p>\n
But UConn made four of its last five, including one with 0.4 seconds left that will never be forgotten as long as this game is played.<\/p>\n
OH MY GOODNESS \ud83d\ude31<\/p>\n
UCONN LEADSSSS UNBELIEVABLE #MarchMadness<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/IPX2JWiw0b<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhat the hell just happened?\u201d Bob Hurley Sr., the legendary high school coach at St. Anthony\u2019s of Jersey City, asked me as we staggered into each other at the start of UConn\u2019s celebration. Mullins Magic turned a sure defeat into what Hurley described as something he\u2019d never before seen with his sons, Bobby and Danny.<\/p>\n This was the same Danny who had recently won back-to-back national titles with the Huskies. This was the same Bobby who made the biggest shot in Duke history \u2014 a 3-pointer against an undefeated defending champ, UNLV, that turned Mike Krzyzewski from the Guy Who Couldn\u2019t Win the Big One into the Coach K we know today. The same Bobby who was also a major part of that Duke-Kentucky game, with Bob Sr. and his wife, Chris, in the stands.<\/p>\n \u201cBut this takes the Laettner shot out of the equation,\u201d Bob Sr. said. \u201cLaettner\u2019s was a turnaround shot from the foul line. It wasn\u2019t this.\u201d<\/p>\n This?<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s singularly the most incredible moment I\u2019ve had following college basketball,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Who could argue with a 78-year-old James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer? Mullins, a freshman from Indiana who could ace an audition for a \u201cHoosiers\u201d sequel, was the chosen one to send the Huskies to the Final Four in Indianapolis, right near his hometown. The UConn people had been raving about him as a high school player at Greenfield-Central. \u201cHe\u2019s different. He\u2019s different,\u201d they kept saying.<\/p>\n Mullins was different Sunday night. He wasn\u2019t Laettner perfect, that\u2019s for sure, not after missing his first four 3-point attempts. But with the Blue Devils unraveling under the pressure and the prospect of choking away a certain Final Four berth, they handed UConn a stunning lifeline.<\/p>\n Cayden Boozer tried to lob the ball over the top of two defenders near midcourt, with a couple of Duke players waiting alone to dunk home the clincher, and a leaping Silas Demary Jr. \u2014 playing on a bum ankle \u2014 got a piece of the ball. Mullins recovered in the backcourt, passed to Alex Karaban, who turned to find Cameron Boozer closing on him.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought AK was going to shoot the shot,\u201d Mullins said, \u201cbut he threw the ball back to me. There\u2019s two or three seconds on the clock, and I\u2019ve got to shoot it. And man, it just went right through the net.\u201d<\/p>\n Dan Hurley and the entire UConn bench and crowd exploded as one. \u201cI don\u2019t know if everyone knew we were up or if we tied it,\u201d Bob Sr. said. \u201cA lot of people were sitting there stunned. Then, \u2018Oh, geez, we won this game.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI said to my wife with five minutes left, \u2018What time is it?\u2019 I was thinking about the ride back to New Jersey, already getting grumpy and complaining. Now I\u2019d push the car back to New Jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n Dan Hurley was in rare form on the court afterward, engaging players and family members with flying chest bumps and rubbing his face and bald head in a towel before firing it into the stands.<\/p>\n And hey, Hurley was right. Mullins\u2019 shot was not a prayer. \u201cThat\u2019s his range,\u201d Hurley said. \u201cHe\u2019s the bringer of rain, and I just thought it was a little bit of justice because he missed so many great shots.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never coached a team where we made a shot like that to win. I\u2019ve had walk-off tip-ins, but never that.\u201d<\/p>\n Wearing a towel around his waist in the locker room, Hurley was doused by his delirious players before spiking a ball from floor to ceiling. He\u2019d come a million country miles from where he was last year at this time, after that profane tunnel rant punctuated the Florida loss in the second round of the tournament.<\/p>\n Hurley was burned out after his Huskies failed to play to the program\u2019s standard, and after he was pummeled nationally during the 2024-25 season for his combustible sideline disposition, in Maui and beyond. He was embarrassed enough by his team\u2019s February loss at Seton Hall that he removed his wristband carrying the word \u201cDynasty\u201d \u2014 the motto as UConn went for the three-peat \u2014 and burned it in his fireplace.<\/p>\n Hurley seriously considered resigning, taking a gap year to decompress, and doing some TV before jumping back into the college game or the pros.<\/p>\n He stayed in place because coaching is who he is, and because he felt he had built a roster for 2025-26 that could honor the standard.<\/p>\n That could beat a team like Duke.<\/p>\n That could allow him to slap on another \u201cDynasty\u201d wristband in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n Hurley tempered his act this season, after his wife, Andrea, and confidants Billy Donovan, Geno Auriemma and Seth Greenberg jumped him last year. But in the nation\u2019s capital, against Duke, Hurley decided it was time to summon his old fastball.<\/p>\n \u201cNot being so cool, calm and collected,\u201d he said on the court before climbing the ladder and cutting down the net, \u201cbut being feisty and fiery when the team was in a hole against one of the two premier programs.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the fire, the intensity of who we are at UConn across the board \u2014 not just me, but the bench, the players \u2014 that fire just kept us in the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n Down 2, Hurley considered fouling on that fateful Duke possession. \u201cBut we wanted to give ourselves a trap or two to see if they\u2019d make a mistake,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd they did.\u201d<\/p>\n Tarris Reed Jr. put the Huskies in position to capitalize on that mistake by contributing the 26 points, nine rebounds and four blocks that prevented this game from being a blowout. Karaban, the most prolific winner in UConn history, drained his only 3-pointer when it mattered most.<\/p>\n Everything set up Mullins to settle so many big-picture issues from 35 feet. The year before Duke started winning national championships, Laettner had sunk another buzzer-beater to defeat Jim Calhoun\u2019s UConn team in the Elite Eight. In the 35 seasons that followed, Duke and UConn won a combined 11 national titles.<\/p>\n The Huskies beat the Blue Devils in the 1999 championship game and in the 2004 Final Four, before winning another ring two nights later. So Sunday night, there were all kinds of legacy balls in the air.<\/p>\n Duke tried to recruit Mullins out of Indiana but entered the derby too late to win it. In return, the kid just crushed Duke\u2019s dreams in the nick of time.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have the words,\u201d Jon Scheyer said.<\/p>\n “I don’t have the words.”<\/p>\n Jon Scheyer talks about the end of the Elite 8 loss against UConn. #MarchMadness<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/mMzmvwqRaA<\/a><\/p>\n