Admittedly, I have not read my mom or my sisters’ blogs from yesterday, but if I had to hazard a guess, this moment made the cut. It was just too good not to.

Since I can remember, we have been a Uconn basketball household. I was Diana Taurasi’s biggest fan in 2004. And definitely had a little crush on Emeka Okafor. Over the last 10 years, we’ve also developed quite the affinity for Michigan. I went there for undergrad and now one of my sisters is there for med school. So you better believe that yesterday was a big day for men’s AND women’s basketball in the Meehan household.

Michigan men’s went without a hitch. In fact, there could have been a few more hitches.

Then came the Uconn Elite Eight game. Whatever hitches we missed with Michigan, we more than made up for with this game. About a quarter of the way through, my dad said something along the lines of ‘this is going to be the Michigan game all over again but in the wrong direction’. My grandma threatened to leave at halftime, but dinner wasn’t quite ready yet. Vibes were not high.

And then.

Things turned around.

It felt like I looked down for one second and it went from a 20 point game to 5. And then 3. And then, surpassing all of my wildest dreams, it was a 2 point game with mere seconds left. We were going crazy. The dogs were going crazier. What would they do?? Try for a tie? Go all out with a 3? They’d been missing their shots all game! A 3 would be nuts! Impossible!

The clock showed 2 seconds left and Braylon Mullins, who couldn’t sink a basket all night. launched the ball up from well past the three point line. No way. Absolutely no way. We all watched, clutching our hands, our phones, holding our breath.

In it went. Perfect swoosh.

I screamed. I’m sure my mom screamed. We all leapt up from the couch, pumping our firsts into the air. And suddenly - nothing.

The screen went dark.

“That really happened, right??” (me)

“Where’s the remote?” (Dad)

“Someone stepped on the clickee!!!” (Clare)

“There was still a second left!” (Dad again)

“Someone turn off my hearing aids!” (LC)

“SOMEONE GET THE GAME BACK ON!” (Dad AGAIN)

“What do you THINK we’re doing!?!?!” (everyone else)

Frantic shuffling ensued until the clickee was in hand and the TV back on. We’ve never taken longer to locate a channel, I swear.

Finally, the game was back on. .4 seconds remaining. The 3 pointer had, in fact, happened and did, in fact, count. Duke could do nothing in those .4 seconds of time. The game was over. Uconn had won.

We all compared brackets after the game. Although most of us did not have Duke losing (we are a bunch of ultra-competitors who want to win, after all), there were smiles all around. Michigan AND Uconn were advancing to the Final Four.