NCAA March Madness' twitter account has unveiled a special tournament bracket on Thursday morning. On the day that the round of 64 games were scheduled to begin, @marchmadness instead launched a bracket that pits some of the greatest #MarchMadnessMoments together against each other.
Thirty years to the month, LMU men's basketball had a tournament run that swept the nation and was etched in basketball fans' minds. The iconic moment from the 1990 tournament was Bo Kimble's powerful tribute to his friend and teammate, Hank Gathers.
Kimble vowed that he would shoot his first free throw of the game left-handed to honor the fallen Gathers, a right-handed shooter who chose to make the switch to shooting free throws left-handed as a way to improve his percentage from the line.
On March 16, 1990, in LMU's first round game against New Mexico State, Kimble had a tough first half, shooting 6-for-17 from the field, without a trip to the line. That all changed in the second half. Kimble came out of the gates, scoring on his first four shot attempts. With the Lions leading 64-50, Kimble curled off the elbow and drew contact, earning a pair of free throws.
With 14:46 on the clock, and most of the fans inside Long Beach Arena understanding the moment, Kimble stepped to the line coming out of a media timeout. Calmly, Kimble stepped to the line, took six dribbles, positioned the ball into his left hand, and hit nothing but net.
The crowd erupted.
LMU would go on to win the game, and advance all the way to the Elite Eight, before facing the eventual national champions, UNLV. The 1989-90 team went deeper in the NAA Tournament than any other LMU team in history.
The bracket was selected and seeded by Andy Katz, with voting beginning on Thursday with the left side of the bracket. Visit
https://twitter.com/marchmadness to vote for each matchup and round throughout the competition.
