I'm not big on overreactions, but because of the stakes and the opponent, the difficulty of the comeback, plus the legacy battle between UConn and Duke, I have to give this one the nod over "It's late, it's Tate, it's great." Our guys caused a difficult turnover, hit a prayer from the March Madness logo, and stole a Final Four appearance from Duke, much like they did to us back in 1990. That's HUGE. And given UConn's issues with conference affiliation right now, anything that maintains or amplifies the greatness of UConn basketball, especially in direct competition with other blue blood programs, is extremely valuable. This shot will have legs in terms of becoming a modern highlight staple and will help keep UConn top of mind.
But Burrell's full-length-of-the-court pass and George's shot to save UConn from a devastating, heartbreaking collapse with only 1.0 on the clock were probably a better play in a vacuum given the degree of difficulty executing that play. The '90 shot and the '90 season put UConn on the national map, and if we'd lost that game after being up 19 in the second half, UConn would have been known for the worst NCAA tournament collapse ever (at the time). I'm also editing this to agree with other posters that the impact of the Clemson-Duke two-game sequence on UConn player recruiting changed the footprint of the program from regional to national because it drew so many eyeballs, though I don't know that Calhoun wouldn't have still gotten the program there on the strength of UConn's other building-block achievements in '88 and then '90 and '91.
It's tough to say. I do feel like people have kind of forgotten about Tate's shot over the years, at least outside of UConn circles, maybe because it was only a Sweet Sixteen game and UConn wound up getting knocked out by another buzzer-beater two days later. That won't happen with this shot because reaching the Final Four is considered a major goal unto itself.
