By LARRY VAUGHT
It has been a little over 20 years since it looked like Sean Woods had hit the shot to give Kentucky a monumental upset of Duke in the NCAA Tournament East Region final only to have Christian Laettner hit the shot that still makes highlight reels to beat Kentucky.
But rather than dreading those memories, Woods embraces them and that’s probably wise since the new Morehead State coach acknowledges the first thing people bring up when they see him or meet him is that game. The way Woods sees it, he’s glad he made a contribution that makes people remember who he was because he made that shot.
“How many go through life and one day pass away and have not left a legacy? When you mention Sean, Richie (Farmer), Deron (Feldhaus), we are always going to be part of history. How many young men or women can say that? Woods said. “This will be remembered past my lifetime. I look at it as an honor and privilege to be mentioned and remembered for what happened in that great game.â€
Woods players at Mississippi Valley State were far too young to remember that game. So will his players at Morehead. However, Woods says college basketball players know about the shot.
“Kids will ask me about that play. Every March they see the game, or the highlights. So I cannot run away from it,†Woods said. “Anyone who plays the game wants to be remembered. I would rather be remembered for us winning the game, but it is what it is. I can’t hide from it, so I may as well enjoy it.â€
4 Responses to Sean Woods does not run from legacy of 1992 Kentucky-Duke game
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Yes, it gets lost in the endless looping videos of “The Shot”, that Sean actually gave UK the lead with his spectacular hoop. Had it not been for that S.O.B. Laettner, we would be watching videos of Sean’s “The Shot”, to beat one of the best college teams of all time. Ah, what could have been.
Very few people get the chance to be legendary. Sean was part of a whole GROUP that managed to do it. Of that, he can be extremely proud. He WILL be remembered forever by BBN.
Jim, I had my story about the upset ready to roll after Sean hit that shot. Late game, tight deadline. and then had to do it all again. was positive Cats had won
When Sean hit that shot, that was the highest of any high that I ever had watching a ball game, then came the lowest of lows. The saddest thing was that Laettner should have been ejected after the stomp. If that had been a UK player doing the stomping, he would have spent the rest of the game in the locker room.
IMO UK won that game anyway. They built a legacy at UK that led to two titles and almost a third. The whole world saw Woods and the leftover players from the sanction team come together and nearly beat Duke. It was a much bigger victory for UK than Duke the way I see it because Pitino could point recruits at that game and show them what he almost accomplished with a severely depleted team (or so people thought anyway). Because of that game UK started bringing in great players one after another. It really put UK basketball back on the map and it’s still affecting the UK program IMO.
So thanks Sean. I was 100% behind you taking that shot. I knew it was going in when you shot it. And only a miracle took away your miracle. But that’s ok. You did a lot for my university and I won’t forget it.