Butler's Prayer Almost Sports' Greatest Miracle Finish

It's a week later. Even so, the memory still lives of the hometown Butler basketball team coming that close in Indianapolis to a national championship over insufferable Duke at the buzzer of the Final Two.

Which brings us to one of the greatest "What ifs" in sports history.

To me, it's no contest.

To me, if Gordon Hayward banks in that shot from nearly half-court to give Butler a one-point victory (and, remember, it kissed the backboard, then the front of the rim before dropping to the floor), it's bigger than anything -- not just in college basketball, but in team sports regarding an ending for an ultimate title.

It's bigger than Bill Mazeroski snatching a World Series with one swing. It's bigger than Michael Jordan versus Bryon Russell. It's bigger than Vince Young tight-roping his way down the sidelines against Southern Cal. It's bigger than what the Baltimore Colts did in sudden death at old Yankee Stadium, and it's even bigger than what the Green Bay Packers did to the Dallas Cowboys on a frozen tundra.

Nothing would have topped Hayward's nearly answered prayer with zeroes on the clock at Lucas Oil Stadium. It would have made the majority of the 70,000 folks scream the roof off of the place. Plus, given that Butler is only a mid-major, and that Butler is just a more gifted version of the miracle team in the movie "Hoosiers" (which was filmed at Butler's home arena), and that Butler had evolved into America's Team more so than Mazeroski's Pirates, for instance, the Bulldogs would have become the last-second drama champions for the ages.

Lorenzo Charles paused for the longest time over the phone from Raleigh, N.C., probably trying to unclench his teeth.

"So, actually. I mean. If the guy had made that shot, it might have put them up there (with some of the other moments), but even had he made that shot, I don't know if 25 years from now that people would still be talking about it," said Charles, alluding to the fact that, it's been 27 years, and folks still are talking about the ongoing gold standard for miraculous college basketball finishes.




North Carolina State over Phil Slama Jama.

The truth is, neither Charles nor his 1982-1983 North Carolina State teammates had any business playing for a national championship. They finished fourth in the ACC, and they earned their "Cardiac Pack" reputation by surviving in the last minute of most games they played during the conference and NCAA tournaments. Then they faced Houston in the championship game.

Not only did Houston have a 26-game winning streak, but it had a slew of talent, including future Dream Team stars Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.

"We were a huge underdog," said Charles, 46, who now works for a limousine service in Raleigh. "See, no one thought Duke was going to blow Butler out and win by 25, and that type of game that both of them played was exactly the type of game that probably most people thought was going to be played. And two years after our game with Houston, when Villanova beat Georgetown, which was heavily favored, it was a great game, but Villanova still wasn't near the underdog that we were.

"Nobody gave us a chance. Nobody. They had those two guys who would become two of the greatest NBA players of all-time. So everybody thought Houston was going to have a good time with us, and that it was just going to be a practice game. That game was supposed to be over at halftime."

You know the rest. With the clock racing toward the horn after North Carolina State did a miserable job of playing for the last shot, the Wolfpack's Dereck Whittenburg launched something from long distance that fell ridiculously short of the rim.

The ball fell into Charles' arms.

He dunked. The Houston players cried.

The late Jim Valvano circled the court with wide eyes and wild hair as a winning coach who just couldn't believe what he just saw.

"Coach V is 75 percent of the reason that people are still talking about us and that game, because he was a person of great character, and he touched a lot of people's lives," said Charles, referring to Valvano, an inspirational speaker ("Don't give up. Don't ever give up"). Valvano's greatest passion away from basketball and his family was his fight against cancer, which took his life at 47 in 1993.

Added Charles, "I feel extremely fortunate that I had a chance to be around him for four years. He was loved. So, just because of that, had [Hayward] made the shot, we would have stayed at the top of the list."

Well, near the top . . . behind Butler.

Charles' shot came with the game tied in regulation, which meant North Carolina State still could have won in overtime. That's why I also wouldn't rank those Game 7, World Series-winning hits of Luis Gonzalez and Edgar Renteria ahead of Butler in this "What if" scenario. Those hits came with the game tied in the bottom of the ninth and 11th innings respectively. So those teams had time to recover.

Joe Carter, you say? Yes, his Toronto Blue Jays were trailing in the bottom of the ninth when he leaped around the bases after his home run produced a world championship, but it was Game 6.

The Blue Jays had Game 7 just in case.

And then there were those Super Bowl-winning kicks by Adam Vinatieri (twice) and Jim O'Brien, but the game was tied in all of those cases.

The otherworldly Super Bowl catches of David Tyree and Santonio Holmes that led to thrilling finishes. Jordan's shot as a freshman to push North Carolina over Patrick Ewing and Georgetown. The aforementioned games of Jordan as a pro, Young for Texas and Villanova shocking Georgetown.

They all left time on the clock.

In contrast, Butler trailed by two, and it was win right there for the Bulldogs on Hayward's 3-pointer or call it a championship.

I mean, if Hayward banks in that shot, that victory would have been peerless.

It's just that North Carolina State's victory was for sure.

"The last thing I could ever imagine at age 19 was that I would be in the national championship game on TV with everybody watching and the score tied, and I grab the ball and dunk it through and win the game in front of everybody," Charles said. "Unless you ever have an underdog team that's supposed to lose by 20 points against a talented foe, and unless you have somebody dunk the ball in with two seconds left to win the national championship, it's going to be hard to top that.

"It's probably never going to happen again."

It almost happened better than that -- you know, with a mighty emphasis on the word "almost."