I figured that since the Big Ten Tournament started today, we would look at some of the recent heroes of the Big Ten Tourney. It was mere 5 years ago right around this time that the nation met Blake Hoffarber. He was playing in the Minnesota 4A state championship basketball and drilled a shot from about 20 feet from his backside. Here it is in case you have not seen it or do not remember :
Now, 5 years later, he is a senior for the Minnesota Golden Gophers playing his last few games in what has turned out to be a pretty decent Big Ten career. He's consistently been in the top 10 in 3 point shooting over the past 4 seasons and this year has been his best with Hoffarber averaging about 13.5 PPG and shooting right around 40% from behind the arc. Hoffarber has also epitomized what it means to be a student athlete. He was second team Academic All-America and that actually does mean something when you actually play and you are not just the 12th man on the bench. Well, with 8:33 left in the Northwestern/Minnesota game it looks like Blake's college career and more than likely basketball career will be coming to an end, and while I have mentioned Blake's numbers, the definitive moment in his college career has to be the shot he hit against Indiana in the Big Ten Tourney 4 seasons ago. I can remember being at the Fireplace Inn on Wells in Old Town in Chicago and Indiana and specifically DJ White made some huge plays with less than 5 seconds left and IU taking a 58-57 with 1.5 seconds on the clock. After that all I remember is seeing that long pass get thrown down the court. Amazingly, Blake catches the ball and drills the shot. My buddies and I were devastated, but that Indiana team was on a downward spiral anyways. What a moment, what a shot.
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