Roberts' Buzzer-Beating Heave Sends Bradley to CIT Semifinals

Behind The Scenes of a SportsCenter Moment

Video: Final 3.3 seconds

Bradley University Men's Basketball 3/25/2009 6:15:00 PM

Nearly 48 hours later, I hope everyone has had an opportunity to see Chris Roberts' game-winning, 75-foot layup Monday night to put the Bradley men's basketball team into the semifinals of the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. I would like to tell you it was one of the greatest shots I have ever witnessed, but I have to be honest ... I didn't see Chris take the shot, only the ball going in. Like most of the 5,007 in attendance Monday night at Carver Arena, I had pretty much lost hope after Oakland's go-ahead basket with 0.9 seconds left and started packing up my stuff at the courtside scorer's table, looking up only in time to see the ball carom off the backboard and into the basket.

Needless to say, I have seen the replay countless times since. In fact, I watched it a couple of more times before writing this message. I can't seem to get enough.

Much has been written and said regarding “The Shot” the last couple of days, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to provide a little background into what it takes to get a highlight on SportsCenter and to share some of the much-deserved credit for the work done by a great number of individuals Monday night to share the incredible moment with as many people as possible.

As you know, most Bradley Basketball games are televised somewhere, so any time there is a satellite feed of the broadcast involved, I try to communicate with the folks in advance at ESPN, ComcastSportsNet and others to make sure they are aware of the broadcast and have the coordinates. During those games, when a highlight-worthy play occurs, I usually start dialing the assignment desk at ESPN to make sure they are pulling down the feed and direct their attention to the play. A good example was Sam Maniscalco's halftime, half-court buzzer beater at Creighton this year. I bring that one up only because I am still bitter the play did not make ESPN's Top 10 Plays of the Day (eventually, I've got to let that go). Occasionally a play makes the countdown ? Daniel Ruffin's around-the-back layup against Butler in 2004, Will Franklin's halftime buzzer-beater against Kansas in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, Will's 3-point winner versus UNI in the 2007 MVC Tournament ? but they usually find a place somewhere on their multiple platforms and shows, regardless of whether they are selected for Top 10 Plays. College Game Night's Gym Gems segment is a popular destination.

Of course, there was no live television coverage of Monday night's game. So this is what happened:

First, Chris obviously gets the majority of the credit for the memorable moment. He was the architect after all. But let's not forget, the Braves trailed by five with 1:10 remaining. Sam Maniscalco made two clutch shots and Theron Wilson and Sam Singh collaborated a great defensive play down the stretch to help make Maniscalco's tying shot with 18 seconds left possible.

Second, how about a big shout-out to the many photographers and videographers who captured the moment. Just like Chris played the game out until the buzzer sounded, they stayed with the action to the end and have helped make “The Shot” a lasting moment.

This morning's Peoria Journal Star had three great photos of Chris' reaction to the moment, compliments of photographer Fred Zwicky and the Bradley University website ? www.bradley.edu ? currently features a slideshow of images taken by campus photographer Duane Zehr from the game and postgame celebration. I am anxiously awaiting a DVD of game images from freelance photographer Bob Hunt and I am confident we will soon be uploading several images to the BradleyBraves.com Photo Store. As far as video goes, David Robertson, brother of Bradley Basketball freshman James Robertson, was working the Peoria Civic Center's midcourt, elevated camera, while Antoine Flowers had the baseline shot. In addition, WEEK's Warren Brinegar and WMBD's Donnie Tillman caught the action for our local television news outlets.

Our local sports television staff knows I often make an attempt to get our highlights on ESPN, so as soon as we all began to gather in the postgame interview area the discussion was already underway about how I was going to get footage of the shot. Although he had the evening off, WEEK's Josh Simon took the initiative to work on getting me a tape after the postgame press conference. After putting him in contact with the ESPN folks during Marcus Jordan's appearance in Peoria over the weekend, he also had the proper phone numbers to begin contacting the ESPN assignment desk and alert them of our desire to get them the highlight. Thanks to Josh, I was able to complete my regular postgame duties before turning my attention to sharing “The Shot” with the rest of the world.

Once all of our interviews were done and the game story was distributed and posted, it was time to turn my attention specifically to “The Shot.” Sports Information Intern Bryan Moore handles much of our web streaming work and had “The Shot” cued up to replay for many media and administrators right after the game. His preparation helped confirm the fact that Chris legally got the shot off before time expired. He later went to work on editing the clip down to post on our website.

By this time, Josh had made contact at ESPN and let me know Lareesa (sp?) was aware we were trying to get something to them. Sorry, I don't know Lareesa's last name. I followed up with Lareesa and pointed her in the direction of the newly uploaded clip on our website so she could better get an idea of what was coming.

Now here's a somewhat surprising fact: none of the three commercial television network affiliates in Peoria have satellite uplink capabilities at their stations. So on a night like Monday, the only satellite uplink option is the WTVP satellite truck. I only had the number for a former on-call satellite truck operator and he did not answer his phone (I probably wouldn't either at 10:45 p.m.). Fortunately Frank Blain, who produces/directs the Bradley Basketball game broadcasts on Comcast, as well as the Carver Arena videoboard operation, had the number for current truck operator Alex Farrell. Alex took my call and immediately set out for the truck. I then put Lareesa in contact with Alex and the hard part was now over, as they took care of all the details regarding the satellite feed.

On my way to WEEK to pick up the highlight tape from Josh, I called Frank back, and luckily we were thinking the same thing. Frank was working on a second tape that had the Carver Arena video feed that featured the radio call by Dave Snell, Chuck Buescher and Joe Stowell. He then agreed to meet me at the satellite truck.

By the time we both arrived at WTVP with our tapes, Alex was in the truck and connected with the folks at ESPN. We gave him the tapes, he let ESPN know the plays were coming and they pulled them down. Moments later, ESPN was showing Chris' shot at halftime of the Davidson-Saint Mary's game in the NIT. Although not in time for that evening's SportsCenter, the play later ran on the late night edition, as well as the College Game Night show that was otherwise focused on the upcoming NCAA Tournament matchups. It also ran all morning on the live SportsCenter episodes. Chris also did a live phone interview on ESPN2 “First Take” while the clip was shown at the end of their show.

But the story does not end there. While the Peoria TV stations do not have satellite uplink capabilities, they do have the ability to share video through network servers (I don't know all the technical info). After their newscasts, Lee Hall and Kurt Pegler both uploaded their highlight packs from the game to their respective network servers. So, to my surprise when I got home, I saw the play on the CBS News Up-to-the-Minute program that airs from 2-2:30 a.m. And a substantial number of people were surprised to see the play on The Today Show Tuesday morning.

After a few well-placed phone calls and emails Tuesday afternoon, television stations in Dallas/Fort Worth, Sacramento, St. Louis and Chicago were prepared to run the highlight Tuesday night. In fact, the CBS affiliate in Fort Worth was talking of doing a full story on “The Shot,” including an interview with Chris' high school coach. I'm not sure if that played out. Even Illinois State grad Dan Roan featured “The Shot” during WGN's 9 O'Clock News last night.