 When Gordon Hayward's desperation shot at the buzzer from midcourt glanced off the backboard, kissed the rim, and clanked off, two significant things happened - 1) Duke won the NCAA championship by two points, 61-59, and 2) Scott Thompson snatched a Shirts & Skins title from Taurie Brown with Butler's narrow loss. The two had a back and forth tug-of-war throughout the final game with Thompson ultimately outscoring Brown, 16 to 9.
This year's Shirts & Skins champ didn't begin to make a move until the third quarterfinal game, then edged up to third at tipoff time of the championship contest. Ironically, it was during that same Tennessee-Michigan State Elite Eight game that Brown also made her first appearance among the leaders. She finally climbed over Stan Stewart and into first place by a point after the second semifinal game.
Stewart was solid throughout the Shirts & Skins schedule cruising in either first or second from the start to the championship game. Unfortunately for 'Stan the Man,' a paltry nine point performance in the title game was his worst production of the competition.
Don Elliston made a closing run for the roses, scoring 18 points in the finale, but couldn't quite creep into a payoff slot. Two former Shirts & Skins champs, Brian Walker (BAW #2) and Dave Bauer were contenders in 5th and 6th, respectively - close but unable to 'git er dun.'
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