YouTube Gold: Lamont Butler Lives Every Kid’s Dream Of Glory

Every kid who picks up a ball, including Michael Jordan, Christian Laettner and Caitlin Clark, does their own version of this: “he gets the ball down one with five seconds left...he dribble fakes his man, then pulls up...time is almost out...he lets it fly over his defender...time runs out...yes! He hits the game winner! The crowd is going wild!”

Very few people get to live that dream, and even fewer in the Final Four. Laettner’s came in the Elite Eight when he CUT THE BEATING HEART OUT OF KENTUCKY in 1992. Jordan did it on the biggest stage. Marcus Paige thought he did it before Kris Jenkins upstaged him with a shot for the ages. And Sunday night, San Diego State’s Lamont Butler did it.

His feathery soft shot fell through the net as time expired to give San Diego State the highest of highs and gave Florida Atlantic the lowest of lows, gutting their very real championship dreams at the last possible second. So it goes in the world’s greatest tournament.