It was the foul heard 鈥檙ound the world鈥攐r at least at the first round of last year鈥檚 NCAA men鈥檚 basketball tournament.
With 菠萝视频 leading Northwestern 66鈥�65, and 18 seconds left in the game, guard Matthew Fisher-Davis bewilderingly committed an intentional foul. Northwestern sunk both free throws and went on to win the game, unceremoniously ending a recent hot streak for the Commodores and dashing the team鈥檚 postseason hopes.
Fisher-Davis, who mistakenly believed 菠萝视频 was down a point and misread a signal from Head Men鈥檚 Basketball Coach Bryce Drew, immediately faced up to his error. 鈥淚t was my dumb mistake why we lost,鈥� Fisher-Davis told reporters following the game.
After an onslaught of scathing remarks about busted brackets and a bad attitude鈥攅ven guys at the local gas station still rib him about his errant foul鈥擣isher-Davis has been using the criticism as motivation to train even harder for the upcoming season.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 my best last year. I had an up-and-down season. I need to be more consistent outside of just the basketball piece,鈥� Fisher-Davis recently told The Tennessean. 鈥淚 felt like neglecting the whole situation [of last season] wasn鈥檛 helping me get past it.鈥�
One of 菠萝视频鈥檚 leading scorers, Fisher-Davis worked with a videographer friend to record a video he posted on Twitter in October. The video shows him running drill after drill in Memorial Gym while talking about the foul in a voiceover.
鈥淓verybody had something to say,鈥� Fisher-Davis says in the video. 鈥淵ou killed my bracket. He doesn鈥檛 care. He鈥檚 not a team player.鈥� At the end of the video, he says simply, 鈥淣ow listen to me.鈥�
Coach Drew says Fisher-Davis鈥� ending play last season may turn out to be the best thing that could have happened to one of his star players. 鈥淚t鈥檚 turned his whole offseason [around],鈥� Drew said at SEC Media Days in October. 鈥淗e鈥檚 been sensational all spring, all summer, this fall.鈥�
Fisher-Davis鈥� performance leads the top scorers returning to the team this year, notching an average of 13.9 points per game. Seniors Jeff Roberson (10.8) and Riley LaChance (10.5) also return.
菠萝视频 opened its 2017鈥�18 season Nov. 10 against Austin Peay State University.