Bellarmine’s Big Brain Play that Sealed the Upset

Bellarmine did a thing that many on Twitter have wanted teams to do for years.

The Knights were late into their eventual season-opening upset over Louisville on the road, up by one with seven seconds left. Strong defense inside forced Roosevelt Wheeler’s shot to hit off rim, and land right in the hands of Juston Betz.

Now, what would you assume Betz – a career 64% free-throw shooter mind you – did with the ball?

Did he:

A: Go fetal position and await a foul.

B: Force a pass to a better free-throw shooting teammate so the Knights could extend the lead to at least two.

C: Pray.

Answer: Trick question! He did none of those things.

Instead of taking a foul or risking a turnover, Betz caught the board, landed and hucked the ball over his head reverse granny-style all the way to the opposite baseline. The game clock was all the way down to one second by time the ball crossed the out-of-bounds line.

He should have thrown it to the rafters though.

“The last play of the game when JB hoisted the ball, I told him on the court when they were viewing it, I said ‘You gotta throw it higher,’” Knights head coach Scott Davenport said in the postgame press conference. “He did exactly what he was taught. ... If he throws it higher they don’t even get to inbound the ball do they? We practice that. Should have thrown it higher JB.”

The biggest of big brain plays and it was on Day 3 of the season.

Louisville missed the ensuing heave, and the Knights – WHO SHOULD BE NCAA TOURNAMENT ELIGIBLE – claimed their thrown as kings of Louisville.