Explanation, for those wondering what they’re stumbling into: Every year, we publish “One Shining MomeNIT” as a response to the NCAA T*urnament’s “One Shining Moment” propaganda. Why? Well, like the rest of you, we’re suckers for a good montage. Why isn’t this a montage? We don’t have video rights, music rights, or a budget. Thankfully, this written format allows us to fill in some gaps. One Shining Moment only shows you what happened on the floorboards. One Shining MomeNIT breaks barriers of space and time.
This year, One Shining MomeNIT is a 32-act performance set to “Wonderwall” by Oasis. Why Wonderwall? I don’t know. I prefer Champagne Supernova, as a bar full of Minnesota-Duluth fans better remember from the 2018 Frozen Four. When I started typing that sentence, though, my fingers typed “Wonderwall.” We do not create One Shining MomeNIT. We are merely vessels through which it comes to Earth.
Act I: Myles Che Leaves Chattanooga
There’s no dialogue in this scene, and we put it in black and white to show that it happened a long time ago. There is hope. There is anger. There is a glimpse of uncertainty in a young man’s eyes. The stage is set.
Act II: Fox Sports Announces the Crown
This is also in black and white, because it also happened last year.
On one side of a split-screen, we see hooded Fox Sports executives in a conference room trying and failing to light candles with matches. There’s a radiant boy among them, whom they send trotting to the hotel’s front desk to get a lighter. The hotel does not give the jovial boy a lighter. The hotel abides by a fire code. The cheery boy scampers back, explaining at length to his superiors that the desk clerk would not give him the lighter they seek. They carry on with the meeting in the kind of shadows you get at four in the afternoon on a bright day in a conference room with the shades drawn. They have Gus Johnson tied to a chair. On a projector screen, they’re doing word associations: UCONN – GOOD. BASKETBALL FANS – MEANINGLESS.
On the other half of the split-screen, we roll through a stream of institutional college basketball figures reacting with a mixture of alarm and humor at the details of this would-be tournament. Fred Hoiberg dry heaves. He knows his fate.
Act III: Bubba Cunningham’s Walk Along the Canal
We’re in color now, but it’s very dark. This is a late-night scene. North Carolina athletic director/NCAA T*urnament Selection Committee chair Bubba Cunningham shuffles beside the Pat McAfee Memorial Canal in Indianapolis. He promises aloud that if UNC can avoid this NIT, he’ll accept whatever fate the universe gives him. Below a bush, a hunched old man’s hands tremble, pointing all ten fingers in Cunningham’s direction. Our cameras zoom in to reveal a face not unlike Bill Belichick’s.
Act IV: UAB Falls
In the light of day, we find ourselves at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth. Tyrese Hunter’s hurt, but Dain Dainja is feeling Dainjarous. Too Dainjarous for the UAB Blazers. The last conference tournament is over. It’s selection time.
Act V: Selection Sunday
Our Selection Sunday narrative focuses on five figures: Cunningham, who is chain-smoking cigarettes in the rain (unclear if he’s in Indianapolis or not—depends if it rained in Indianapolis this year on Selection Sunday). Yaxel Lendeborg, fresh off the loss to Memphis, waiting for a call he isn’t sure will come (I like to think the NIT committee issues The Invitation by calling each team’s most prominent player). Boise State athletic director Jeramiah Dickey. Arkansas State senior Taryn Todd. Someone legally affiliated with the CBI.
Cunningham’s fate is sealed first: His Tar Heels do miss the NIT, and the legions of hitmen hired by UNC’s recently suspended trustees pocket their weapons, sending Venmo request reminders for the initial deposits they agreed to and sure better receive soon!
Next comes Dickey: Upon being contacted by Fox Sports, he squeals with delight, skipping as he hurriedly covers the phone with his palm. “Leon! Leon! Get this! We got invited to the big kids’ party!! We made it, Leon!” He hasn’t covered the phone well enough. Back at Fox Sports HQ, a man wearing the upper half of a suit asks his hairdresser, “Isn’t Boise State in the Big East?” Then, shrugging, he moves on to call Tulane, who he’s pretty sure is in the SEC. He read that somewhere.
Lendeborg and Todd receive their Invitations. Lendeborg nods solemnly. Todd pumps his fist. Meanwhile, the CBI employee winces as he sees the NIT bracket unveiled. UC Riverside? That’s not gonna work. Thankfully, we also had cameras embedded at South Alabama. Unfortunately, that footage was destroyed in the storm.
Act VI: The Ball Is Tipped
Just as whichever of the Oasis brothers does the singing sings, “Today is gonna be the day…” for the second time (forgot to tell you—our montage lasts for far more than one playing of Wonderwall), the NIT opener tips in front of a packed house in Olean. Pleased, Adrian Wojnarowski looks around at the program he and he alone built. We cut away as Delrecco Gillespie takes the ball and silences the Bonaventure crowd.
Act VII: Jaron Pierre Highlights
*Jaron Pierre highlights*
Act VIII: Robbie Avila, With Sepia
Apologies to Arkansas State, but we had to acknowledge our man. We do that thing where—in sepia—we show a clip of him stepping into a three in an Indiana State jersey in last year’s NIT, only to then—in full color— show him hitting that three in a SLU jersey. We do this for longer than is necessary. Someone watching this year’s One Shining MomeNIT in ten years is going to be very confused when they realize Arkansas State won this game.
Act IX: Honor Huff Over Essam Mostafa
Obviously, we build to the shot, but if you thought One Shining MomeNIT liked Avila, wait ‘til you see the packages we have for Huff. U–T–C chants rain down in Murfreesboro.
Act X: No Experimenting in Philadelphia
On the second NITe, Saint Joe’s turns the ball over on what could have been the game-tying possession. Or did they? A nation leans forward in its chair. The time is ripe for a coach’s challenge, the first of its kind, the product of a promising experimental rule. Is this the moment college basketball changes forever? There’s no downside for Billy Lange if he challenges the call. Eat the challenge, and the game’s over anyway.
Billy Lange eats the challenge.
Act XI: Dayton Is Gonna Be All Over That Shuffleboard Court
We’re not above putting Javon Bennett’s face onto Frank Costanza’s head, Jib-Jab style. Nobody tell NBC or Netflix, please.
We run that clip in grayscale above action from Baldwin Arena. The sequence closes with John Jakus staring into an invisible distance. His eyes are full of fear.
Act XII: Latrell Davis Appreciation Minute
San Jose State may have only been a factor in this tournament for two minutes and twenty-eight seconds.
But what a two minutes and twenty-eight seconds it was.
Act XIII: Roundhouse Rock
Whistles. Steam. About four too many shots looking up a long stretch of rail. It’s Saturday morning in Chattanooga, the NIT second round is tipping off, and the Roundhouse is up for grabs. To be honest, we don’t even show that many clips from the game. This is Chattanooga’s day. The city, we mean.
Act XIV: The Corey Thomas Game
In Fairfax, an unlikely hero emerges for the Bradley Braves. Unfortunately, despite never otherwise encountering time constraints in this One Shining MomeNIT or any other, we decline to do a full backstory. I blame the music. Others say this is a sign of respect to our viewers. You guys don’t need Corey Thomas explained to you.
Act XV: No Sure Thing
In Dallas, we ask the eternal question. Who would win: The national championship favorites or a 16–17 team from a town named after a mosquito’s favorite bed?
At the end, we get a good clip of Andy Enfield shrugging and saying, “Oh well.”
Act XVI: Still Mean. Still Green.
Jasper Floyd misses free throw. Jasper Floyd makes game-winning jumper. North Texas culture prevails.
Act XVII: 76 Years of Revenge
The thing nobody ever called us on with the “Sister Jean wants revenge against San Francisco because the Dons beat Loyola in the 1949 NIT Championship” angle is that Sister Jean was still living in California when that game happened. She was more than ten years away from moving to Chicago. She was more than forty years away from working for Loyola.
Does this stop us from showing Sister Jean shattering idols of various San Francisco greats as the Ramblers prevail? Of course not. But you should know: This part was CGI.
Act XVIII: Late NITe
Someday, we’re all going to tell our kids about the Sunday night of the second round of the 2025 NIT. In the meantime, our attempts to capture the spirit of the action left us with a melee of footage in which it’s not even clear who’s playing who. At one point, we accidentally make it look like Maxime Raynaud is guarding Herb Sendek. A mess. We apologize.
That said, I think we captured the spirit of the action.
Act XIX: Ross Hodge Accepts the Call
Off the court. Somewhere private in Denton. (One Shining MomeNIT has cameras everywhere.) Two phone calls. Wren Baker to Ross Hodge. Ross Hodge to Jared Mosley. It’s done. The McCasland/Hodge era is done.
Act XX: Huff. Bonham. Deen.
For Bradley vs. Chattanooga, we just put together a reel of every shot Duke Deen, Honor Huff, and Trey Bonham made.
Act XXI: The Ghosts of Gallagher-Iba
Gallagher. That’s the name of the Oasis brothers. Wonder if they’re related to the Oklahoma State guy.
Speaking of the Oklahoma State guy: There were ghosts flying around in that last minute when the Pokes almost came back against North Texas. And we’ve got the footage (CGI again) to prove it.
Act XXII: Gentile Arena
After a quick pause in the music to explain that “Gentile” is pronounced “genteel” and not “gentile,” and an accompanying acknowledgment that yes, “Gentile Arena” pronounced “gentile” would set us up for a great number of jokes, we see Miles Rubin scoring through contact, sending a ravenous pack of Ramblers into rapture.
Act XXIII: 69–69
Irvine: The most cinematic place in California.
We’ve got Myles Che rubbing his shoulder and knocking down shots. We’ve got clash after clash between Leuchten/Tillis/Coleman/Lendeborg on the boards. We’ve got the ending of Yaxel Lendeborg’s UAB career. But not before regulation ends knotted at 69, leading us to zoom in on the scoreboard and cut away to grainy footage of the 1969 NIT. At the end, we reveal this was a paid advertisement for Temple University.
Act XXIV: Arrival in Indy
Look. I know it’s sensational. But when you can flip between joyful head coaches trying on an IndyCar helmet and North Texas’s plane getting batted around like a balloon, you do it. We capture the elation of the three earliest arrivers. We completely blow the North Texas plane troubles out of proportion. We even make the bus ride up from Bloomington look rough. Bloomington’s not that far from Indy!
Act XXV: North Texas vs. UC Irvine
This is 100 shots of bodies hitting bodies. Each lasts one quarter of one second.
Act XXVI: Chattanooga vs. Loyola
This one involves a lot of clips of Kymany Houinsou on that stationary bike, trying to make it work. But most of it is Trey Bonham with the basketball in his hands. It’s hard to get enough of Trey Bonham with the basketball in his hands.
Act XXVII: T.O. Arrives at Hinkle
Finally, the championship, which will contribute five of our 32 acts.
To be honest, I don’t know how T.O. travels. I tried to find out, but I was unsuccessful. Did he fly private? Commercial? Did he spend the night in Indy? Did he go out? Did a party come to him? We have no way of knowing. This is good. T.O. wouldn’t be T.O. if we had all the answers
We might fill in gaps elsewhere, but we take no liberties here. All we see of Terrell Owens in One Shining MomeNIT happens between the walls of Hinkle Fieldhouse. Most of it involves the former Mocs star taking pictures with fans.
Act XXVIII: The First Half
Lot of footage, obviously. Chattanooga roaring ahead out of the gate. Devin Tillis bringing UC Irvine back. That Sean Cusano three. Irvine taking the lead. And then, obviously: The Bonham half-courter. We use camera angles there that I’m not sure exist.
Act XXIX: Red Panda
Red Panda.
Act XXX: The Second Half/Overtime
In the interests of keeping this to 32 acts, we do combine the second half and overtime into one. They felt like one, after all. UC Irvine opening up the lead. Huff, then Wieland, then Bonham to get the Mocs back in it. Mulholland’s threes. Che getting going. A lot of overdue Justin Hohn footage. The Keeslar threes. The Huff/Che foul draws. Mulholland’s looks before the buzzer. Hinkle Fieldhouse releasing ghosts of its own. Mulholland fouling out. Keeslar’s jumper from the elbow. Bonham’s steal. The Hail Mary coming up just short.
Act XXXI: Celebration
And so finally, we come to a scene where the music makes sense. To be fair, there are a lot of songs which could adequately accompany the confetti and hugs and net-cutting and general elation. But Wonderwall, for as odd of a fit as it was, is one of them.
Act XXXII: Myles Che Reprise
But there’s one act left. After the credits. After the music is done. One man in a gym. One basketball. One dream.
The 2026 NIT is only eleven months away.
**
Could you explain Corey Thomas to us?