March Madness is the most romanticized postseason in sports for good reason. 68 schools all over the country of all different sizes find themselves on a level playing field: single-game, single-elimination basketball. As a result, when its winning time, March Madness heroes generally come from much more unlikely places than in other major televised sporting events.
At the time of writing this, the latest improbable game-winning shot in March Madness's storied history was sunk by UConn's Braylon Mullins at the end of their Elite Eight matchup against Duke capping off a sequence that can only be described as absolute cinema:
As the ball went into the basket, my immediate reaction was to audibly channel Mike Breen's rarest call: the famed "Double Bang", which originated on one night in Oklahoma City 10 years ago:
Here's another example of a "Double Bang" from several years later, where and when I was able to fully appreciate the call's importance and was inspired to start impersonating Breen myself:
Why did I show a pair of NBA clips in a post ostensibly about college basketball? Well, the fact of the matter is, the heroes of March are making circus shots that are not that unlike what the NBA's international superstars are pulling off in May and June, and in turn we should give them the flowers the latter get as well. Mike Breen has never been tasked with broadcasting the NCAA tournament, though I am certain he would find a way to meet the moment with the Mullins shot and every shot listed below by dropping a Double Bang. Roll the tapes!