April 8th, 2013: Luke Hancock, “In the blink of an eye”, wins MOP coming off the bench in Nat’l Title
While this game wasn’t played in March, and “technically” didn’t even happen according to the lovely people over at the NCAA, it’s hard to come up with a list that doesn’t include Cool Hand Luke.
With Michigan and Spike Albrecht pouring it on early on the sport’s biggest stage, Luke Hancock drilled four three-pointers in a span of two minutes, and “in the blink of an eye”, erased a 12-point deficit before the break (Shout-out to Jim Nantz for that legendary line). The Cards outlasted the Wolverines 82-76 in a classic title game, and Hancock became the Tournament’s first Most Outstanding Player to come off the bench in the process.
Side-note: As silly as it is to vacate games years after the games have been played, it’s even sillier to then allow Luke’s Most Outstanding Player award to be recognized (Even though technically the game, in which he won said award, never took place). The whole situation makes absolutely zero sense and just further magnifies the fact the NCAA has no idea what it’s doing. No governing body or opposing fan-base can take away what Luke and that team accomplished on April 7th, 2013 in the Georgia Dome.
That Monday evening in early April is what you dream of as a college basketball fan of whatever program you support. In what will go down as probably the most notorious performance in Cardinal tournament history, Luke Hancock was able to deliver the city of Louisville their 3rd National Championship against a stacked Michigan team with five future NBA Draft picks.
Hancock was no stranger to clutch buckets in the Big Dance prior to coming to Louisville, however. He sunk the go-ahead three with 21 seconds left to defeat 9th-seeded Villanova in the opening round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament for George Mason. His two dagger three’s with less than a minute left to edge Manhattan in 2014 epitomizes the “Survive and Advance” phenomenon we all relish. But his performance on that Monday evening in Atlanta will forever live on the Mount Rushmore of all-time Cardinal moments.