Racers were calm before the storm

Billy Kennedy still couldn't bring himself to show his emotions.

While Danero Thomas was frantically trying to grab a breath from beneath a pile of Murray State humanity after making the biggest shot in Racers' basketball history, the Racers head coach calmly made his way to shake the hand of Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings as if his team had won by 20.

"I'm a pretty low-key guy," said Kennedy. "I saw the faces on their team, and I decided I can't jump up and down. That's just not me."

Murray State, a No. 13 seed, had just stunned No. 4 seeded Vanderbilt, 66-65, on Thursday during the first round of the NCAA Division I basketball tournament. It was the 22nd anniversary of the Racers' one and only previous NCAA tournament victory and they had done it with a shot that will be replayed for years.

Plus they had beaten a high-profile team from the Southeastern Conference, located just 90 minutes away from tiny Murray, Ky.

And Kennedy did not even crack a smile until he had left the court.

The victory came just a few days after the mother of Murray State walk-on guard Picasso Simmons had been killed in a car crash, although that did not prevent Simmons from witnessing Thursday's milestone and the dog pile that ensued.

And it was a crushing loss for Vanderbilt, which lost in the first round to a No. 13 seed for the second year in a row. Last season, Siena did it to the No. 4 seeded Commodores, but that was a 21-point blowout. This one was stolen away after Jermaine Beal had made two free throws with 12 seconds left to give the Commodores a one-point lead. The Commodores had yielded 15 offensive rebounds to the smaller Racers, but it appeared they would escape with the win.

Instead, it turned into one of the biggest upsets of the first day of the NCAA tournament – and the most riveting. This one will be replayed forever in Murray State lore – if there is such a thing as Murray State lore. It also gives the Racers date with Butler on Saturday in the second round.

With the same enthusiasm of teenager reciting the pledge of allegiance, Kennedy said it was the biggest win of his coaching career, which has included stops at 12 colleges over 25 years.

"He's the calmest coach in America," Murray State guard B.J. Jenkins said.

Kennedy was as composed as a judge when, with 4.2 seconds left and his team down by a point, he drew up a play his team had never seen and never practiced. The one thing every Murray State player remembered Kennedy saying in the huddle was that 4.2 seconds is a lot of time, time enough for two or three dribbles.

The players were certainly aware of that. Earlier in the season, Isacc Miles had dribbled the length of the floor with 4.1 seconds remaining to make a game-winning shot against Austin Peay, and before that, Jenkins had hit a shot with 2.6 seconds left to beat Eastern Kentucky.

They had pulled off wins with last-second shots before, and Kennedy knew any one of a number of players could do it again.

"We don't have a best player," Kennedy said.

Murray State's top six scorers average between 9.5 and 10.6 points, so Kennedy had his choice. Kennedy had enough poise to remember that Vanderbilt uses an unusual defense on out-of-bounds plays under its opponent's basket, usually putting its 6-foot-11 center, A.J. Ogilvy on the ball. So Kennedy used Jeffery McClain to inbound the ball, a task McClain had seldom performed this season.

The play was simple enough: Get the ball in Miles' hands.

"It was a thought from above, that's all I can say," Kennedy said.

Miles had just committed a turnover on Murray State's previous possession, but Kennedy knew Miles would be patient enough to make a play and not jack up a shot immediately. The main thing Kennedy wanted to avoid was a quick shot. The team could not panic. There was enough time to wait for an opening.

Miles, a transfer from Creighton, had the same calm demeanor as his coach. He took the inbound pass, sized up his options, and took two dribbles. He thought about tossing it crosscourt to an open teammate, but decided that was too risky and too time consuming. So he made a 10-foot pass to Thomas.

"I had the ball for 1.2 seconds, and that gave ‘Naro three seconds to take the shot," Miles said. "I was watching the clock the whole way."

"I was probably the third option," Thomas said.

Thomas, a senior from New Orleans, had enough poise to take another dribble, freeing himself for a 15-foot shot to the right of the foul line while two Vanderbilt defenders rushed at him.

With less than a second left, Thomas went up and fired a jump shot in perfect rhythm. It did not matter that Thomas was just 4-for-11 from the field to that point or that he had been 6-for-25 in the Racers' final two games of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. Thomas had taken this very same shot countless times in practice, and there was no lack of confidence.

"We work on last-minute situations every practice," Thomas said, "and I take 200 to 300 shots before every practice."

The buzzer sounded while the ball was in the air, and after it went through cleanly, Thomas was chased to the other end of the floor where he was buried under teammates – and thinking more about surviving than celebrating.

"I was trying to dig a hole so I could breathe," Thomas said.

Meanwhile, an expressionless Kennedy strolled toward Stallings to shake his hand.