GO
The shot should have gone in. Gordon Hayward's buzzer-beater in the national championship game should have been a swish, not a back-of-the-rim bounce off. (And before my e-mail inbox runneth over, that isn't because Duke didn't deserve to win or because I am a Duke hater.) The shot should have gone in because a half-court, one-footed jumper by an Opie-looking future NBAer from a mid-major school that plays in the gym used for "Hoosiers" would have been the exact right way for a crazy college basketball season to end.
In a year when teams played hot potato with the No. 1 ranking, when the Longhorns made a Texas-sized slide from the top, when Ali Farokhmanesh became a household name by taking and making a shot that went against every basketball tenet, when brackets were busted 24 hours into the NCAA tournament, how better to finish an unexpected season than with the most unexpected shot?
Yet, as unpredictable as this season was, college hoops fans might want to strap in for another roller coaster season to come.
The NBA vulture has come in and plucked away the college game's biggest names and stars, leaving a start-over college carcass in its wake.
All 15 of The Associated Press All-America team members are gone, seven to graduation, eight to early entry.
Six of the seven All-SEC selections will no longer be in college uniforms, as well as all five of the All-Big East choices.
And in the Big 12, Kansas State's Jacob Pullen is the only guy with a chance to be a repeat selection, while the conference's all-rookie team has been slashed and dashed to pieces, as four of the five freshmen are on to greener pastures.
