March Madness legend and BYU/NBA sharpshooterJimmer Fredette spoke to FanSided this week ahead of the Final Four on behalf of Coca-Cola and the “Fan Work is Thirsty Work” campaign, celebrating the fans behind the tournament’s Cinderella stories — the students, alumni and supporters who power their teams through every bracket-busting moment.
"I was thinking about this ... I think it's in my top five," Jimmer Fredette told FanSided with a smile, recalling the Braylon Mullins prayer that sent UConn past Duke and ignited a Final Four firestorm of broken brackets nationwide, trying his best to contextualize it among the all-timers. But ... don't call it a prayer. It was practiced. It was certain. That was the craziest thing about it.
"People will say that's recency bias, and there's a lot of incredible shots out there ... but when you put the stakes, as well as who it's against and how improbable it was ... first of all, the comeback. Then, how it happened in real time. There was no timeout," he continued, gaining enthusiasm as he spoke. "They didn't set up a play or anything like that. He tipped it, he grabbed it, he passed it, they passed it back, and then he shot it from 40 and just won the game. It was shocking."
Fredette knows a little something about hoisting from afar and knowing instantly that it's going down - and, in fact, he assumed Alex Karaban was going to pull himself, given how trustworthy he's become during his Connecticut career. From 2007 to 2011, culminating in a National Player of the Year win, he was the hooper most likely to have a similar moment on any given day (he sees a little of himself in Payton Pritchard these days, for what it's worth).
But while it may have halted his Duke prediction in its tracks, Fredette couldn't help but respect the majesty of the shot's arc anyhow (while keeping reverence for the man it slayed, Jon Scheyer).
Jimmer Fredette believes we're asking fair questions of Duke's Jon Scheyer
"If you said to most fanbases you were going to be in the Final Four, then the Elite Eight, then the Final Four again, back-to-back-to-back years, I think most people would take that," Fredette said of the Blue Devils. "But, it's Duke. And people love to hate on Duke."
"I think [Scheyer's] gonna win one. I think it's just a matter of time."
But that time is not now. Instead, Connecticut and Illinois will face off to determine who'll deal with the winner of No. 1 Arizona and No. 1 Michigan's war of attrition. Fredette will be there, meeting college basketball diehards at FanFest over the weekend with his Coca-Cola Glass Sipper in tow.
It's a fantastic promotion, but also an apt metaphor. Title hopes aren't befitting of every contender, and they can shatter with the slightest movement in either direction. Rarely has that been clearer than it was in the split-second that made Mullins immortal and sent Scheyer into purgatory.