8. Tate George: No. 1 UConn vs. No. 5 Clemson – 1990 Sweet 16
We’re coming up on the 30th anniversary of this one. However, because of the choices of Tate George after college, this one’s a little bittersweet. Still, we’re talking about just the play here and the impact he had on the basketball program.
This is one of the craziest plays you’ll see with one second on the basketball court. It all started with UConn, the top team in the East Regional, blowing a 19-point lead. They were so close to completely blowing this, but a miracle was on the horizon. Fast forward to the play. There is one second left. Scott Burrell is about to take the inbounds under the opposing basket.
Burrell threw a pass like he was Ichiro throwing a base runner out at third base. George jumped over a Clemson defender turned around and got the shot off all in one second. There was no thinking involved here because there wasn’t time for it. This play was all instinct.
This sent UConn to the Elite Eight, where they did end up losing to Duke in overtime, but it doesn’t take much away from the shot itself. It was one of the most insane plays in college basketball history. It’s one of those plays that if it happened today, it would be trending for days later.