Half court

Half court is a term used in basketball for a shot taken from half court (the middle line of the basketball court). It is most commonly used as a buzzer beater. It is also a streetball term where the teams only use half of the full court.

Notable half-court shots

• The current record holder for most half-court shots in a minute is Green Bay point guard Eric Valentin, with eight shots scored in 60 seconds.^[1]
• On January 22, 2010, during a winter sports pep rally, students of Olathe Northwest High School wanted to play a prank on coach Joel Branstrom, a former University of Kansas walk-on, and promised him tickets of the final four game if he scores a shot from half court while blindfolded - the catch was that the crowd was instructed to cheer regardless whether he scores the shot or not. Branstrom did, however, score the shot.^[2][3] The students didn't have any tickets to offer. It was widely reported in the media;^[4] while filming a teaser for WDAF-TV, reporter Rob Low jokingly attempted to recreate the shot by standing in the same court with his back to the hoop and throwing the ball - he also scored the shot, much to his surprise.^[5] According to Low, when he later interviewed Branstrom, and asked him to repeat the blindfolded feat, he, again, scored it.^[6] Branstrom attended the 2010 NCAA Men’s Final Four as a guest of the NCAA.^[7]

References