Taking Another Shot
By Frank Burlison Staff Writer
The Long Beach Press-Telegram
Posted: 06/03/2010 10:41:09 PM PDT
Former Bruin Edney, known for his heroic drive in '95, is attempting a return, as a coach
Former Poly High and UCLA point guard Tyus Edney wants to become a college coach after a 14-year pro playing career. (Stephen Carr Staff Photographer for the LB Press-Telegram)It was a scene-a college basketball player hitting a buzzer-beating shot, giving his team a victory and setting off an on-court celebration, including his mobbing by teammates-that has played out countless times at other venues and in other seasons since that March 19, 1995 late afternoon at Boise State University.
More than 15 years later, though, anyone with the slightest of interest in college basketball and all that is March Madness has seen the specific image from Boise replayed countless times:
Tyus Edney taking an in-bound pass from Cameron Dollar with 4.8 seconds remaining, weaving his way by a couple of Missouri defenders and then putting just enough arc on a shot to clear the hands of a 6-foot-9 defender and give the ball an opportunity to glance off the backboard and through the net while the horn was sounding to give UCLA a 75-74 second-round NCAA Tournament victory.
The win enabled the Bruins to advance to the West Regional in Oakland, where they knocked off Mississippi State and Connecticut, and then on to the Final Four in Seattle, where the Jim Harrick-coached club topped Oklahoma State in a semifinal and dethroned defending champion Arkansas for the program's first national title in 20 years.
Edney has launched thousands of jump shots and layups and covered a lot of literal and figurative miles during his basketball travels since that shot in Boise.
But even now, about a year after wrapping up a playing career that included four seasons in the NBA and 10 more with various clubs in Europe, Edney can clearly dissect the dynamics leading into, during, and after those 4.8 seconds in Boise.
"During the timeout," the Poly High graduate-Class of 1991-said the other day, talking about the two minutes before the teams returned to the floor for that final sequence, "Coach Harrick talked about me getting the ball down the floor as quickly as possible, for a quick pass to someone or a shot myself, if I got a good look."
There were at least three critical elements that allowed Edney to eventually get the ball up on the backboard glass, he explained.
"Cameron did a great job of inbounding the ball to me as I was turning away (from the baseline where Dollar was delivering the pass), so I was able to catch it as I was approaching full speed," he said. "If I had to come back (to receive the pass), I probably wouldn't have had enough time to get all the way (for a shot) in time."
With the Tigers' Jason Sutherland trying to slow Edney down just as he was crossing the mid-court stripe, Edney was able to slip past him at full speed with a left-to-right, behind-the-back dribble.
With teammates Ed O'Bannon, Toby Bailey and J.R. Henderson shadowed by defenders, Edney took the ball toward Derek Grimm, who stood flat-footed with both hands above him along the right side of the key.
"I'm sure he (Grimm, the tallest player on the floor for the Tigers) was told by his coaches `make sure you don't foul!' during the timeout," Edney said. "But I still had to shoot around him, instead of over him."
After releasing the ball, Edney came down just under the basket.
"And I turned and looked up just as the ball was going through the net," he said.
"And then everything kind of went into slow motion-it (the ensuing bedlam) was almost dream-like."
It's a rare week when the 37-year-old Edney, who relocated to Southern California last fall to pursue a coaching career, doesn't encounter those who want to talk about "The Shot."
"When I was in Europe (five of his seasons there were spent with Italian-based teams), no one asked me about the shot because no one follows college basketball there," he said. "But, since I've been back, it's amazing how many people want to talk about that game and shot. It has kind of taken on a life of its own, in a way."
Edney, whose best NBA season came as a rookie with Sacramento, has no regrets about opting to go the European route instead of bouncing around as an NBA backup.
"I wanted to start and play as much as I could," said Edney, who led Benetton Treviso to Italian `Super Cup' championships in 2002 and '03.
The money was good "although, I did play for some teams that missed paydays sometimes," he said.
He got to see more of Europe than all but a few Americans and came away fluent in Italian "and I can speak and understand some Russian and Greek as well," he added.
He opened the 2008-09 season with a team in Spain was injured and release before moving to a club in Poland in January and playing his last game in Europe last June.
"I could have continued playing in Europe but I didn't like the offers that were coming my way," Edney said. "So I thought it was time to move on to the next phase of my life."
He had been heavily influenced by coaches Ron Palmer (at Poly High, where he helped lead the Jackrabbits to a 1990 Southern Section title), Harrick and Mike D'Antoni (he played for the now-New York Knicks coach while with Benetton Treviso), "and, over the past last few seasons in Europe, I was playing with a lot younger guys than myself. So, in a way, I already `coaching' then."
Edney spent part of last season helping coach the Dominguez High program but now has his sights set on coaching on the college level.
"I went to the Final Four (in Indianapolis) to let people know I wanted to get into coaching," he said.
"And I've met with four or five other head coaches (including Ben Howland at UCLA and Dan Monson at Long Beach State) since. Hopefully, I'll find some opportunity before too long."
No matter where that opportunity is, Edney is aware that, invariably, conversations will often be steered toward that that dash-and-shot in Boise.
And he will patiently go along with it, with equal parts acceptance and pride alike.
"I can't say that I mind it at all," he said.
We wish you all the best, Coach Tyus!
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