Basketball IQ: 1 million
Some kid from a school you've never heard of made the basketball IQ play of the year, decade and possibly the century
It's the second week of November, which means two things in college sports: 1. MACtion is in full swing, and 2. College basketball has apparently started.
While it's tough to dive fully into the NCAAB scene before March, the pre-Thanksgiving hoops season is always good for a little chaos, which is exactly what we got on Wednesday night when almighty Louisville lost at HOME to ... wait for it ... Bellarmine University?
If youu Google'd Bellarmine like we just did, you found out it is also in Louisville, and that it's a private Catholic University with less than 2,700 undergraduate students, right around 13,000 less than the U of L. They were previously a Division II hoops powerhouse, but are currently making the transition to Division I. It apparently takes four years to make the full transition, but the Knights should be DI based on their 67-66 victory over Louisville on Wednesday night alone, which would not have been possible without one of the greatest basketball IQ plays we've ever seen from sixth-year senior Juston Betz.
Down one with under 10 seconds, the Cardinals had multiple chances to take the lead, which was almost a foregone conclusion given the David vs. Goliath matchup. After multiple bricks, Betz grabbed a board with five seconds left and, rather than get fouled and go to the line and still give Louisville one more shot to score, Betz simply threw the ball backwards over his head to run out the clock. Genius! Genius! Genius!
Absolutely brilliant. This left under a second on the clock, running off a full five seconds and forcing Louisville to have to inbound it back on the other end of the floor. The other scenario is Betz gets fouled, and even if he makes both free throws Louisville would still have five seconds to tie the game with a three. Or worse, he misses the front end of the 1-and-1 and Louisville charges down and wins with a layup, a foul, or any other basket. Betz's move negated any of those painful scenarios. Just what you'd expect from a seasoned sixth-year senior.