Bronson Koenig overcame depression, trauma, and angst to hit one of Wisconsin Basketball's greatest shots

In the six years since he retired from professional basketball, Bronson Koenig has poured his focus into his basketball camps and speaking engagements, discussing the mental health battles that he and other athletes faced to help raise awareness.

He travels all over the country to spread his message, especially to Native American reservations, which is why he's spending the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament at the Ute Reservation in southwest Colorado instead of glued to a television.

Wherever he goes, however, Koenig is likely to hear someone identify him by one of the most famous shots in Wisconsin school history.

"I did a lot more than that shot, but in the tournament to go to the Sweet 16, that's what a lot of people remember me by," Koenig said. "I definitely get stopped in some of the craziest places around the country."

It's been exactly 10 years since Koenig wrapped around the three-point line, slightly hesitated to create the right angle to receive the inbounds pass, took one dribble toward the corner, and hit a step-back three-point shot as time expired to send Wisconsin to the Sweet 16 with a 66-63 victory over No.2 Xavier in St. Louis.

"It was like a car accident, when time stops or slows down dramatically, but you are still aware, like an out-of-body experience," Koenig said. "It all happened so fast, but so slow at the same time. I had practiced that shot thousands of times during the season and in warm-ups, that step-back three that Steph Curry was shooting a bunch that year when he won the NBA championship.

"It felt so good when it left my hands that it was either going right through the net or a way off airball."

It's a shot that still lives in Wisconsin postseason lore, in the same category with Freddie Owens' corner three-pointer to beat Tulsa in the 2003 NCAA Tournament second round or Sam Dekker's late three to clinch the Badgers' 2015 trip to the Final Four.

Since 1945, Wisconsin has had only 16 games featuring buzzer-beating baskets (last-second or as time ran out) to win the game outright.

Just as special as making the shot for Koenig is what he had to overcome to get to that moment. Two days earlier in Wisconsin's 47-43 win over Pittsburgh, Koenig had seven rebounds, but his 1-for-8 from the floor shooting from the floor made him a mess.

"I had a terrible game, I didn't make a three, and played horrible," Koenig said. "I was super down on myself. I went back to my hotel and had a breakdown. I had one of those really intense crying sessions where you are hyperventilating. To be honest, I didn't want to play anymore. In all honesty, I really didn't want to live anymore because I was dealing with so much stuff that I didn't want to deal with and didn't know how to process."

Koenig and his teammates had already endured an emotionally taxing season. Head coach Bo Ryan abruptly retired midseason, leading associated head coach Greg Gard and the team to figure it out on the fly.

Koenig had been in a touch mental space before that announcement. Coming off back-to-back Final Four runs, he spent the offseason drinking and partying instead of working out and physically preparing to be the team leader.

"I should have been in the gym," Koeng said, "but instead I was drinking, partying, blacking out, and living like a rock star."

Koenig talks in his speeches to youth about his mental health struggles and intergenerational trauma that dates back to his childhood and upbringing. He had been able to suppress and play through it for most of the season, although his level of play and shooting percentages were dipping.

"I had a lot of feelings, emotions, traumas, mixed in with all the pressure I had to perform on me every single day," Koenig said. "I just felt like I was letting everybody down, especially my native community in North America. I was completely overwhelmed and didn't want to play anymore.

"I realized I needed to have that cry because, especially as a man and a minority male athlete, we never show our feelings and emotions, much less cry. I had so much stored-up energy and emotion in me that I had to let it all out. It all came out in that moment, and I'll never forget how much lighter I felt after that, like a thousand-pound weight had been lifted off my back."

"It felt really good, even though I was exhausted after a good cry like that."

When Koenig returned to the court, he leaned on the motto of "just let it fly" and not be consumed with the negatives.

"Throughout my career, when I'd miss my first shot or my first couple shots, I'd get in my head big time," Koenig said. "I wouldn't be in my body, but in my head, my mind overthinking. The times I played my best I was in my body playing off instinct. That Xavier game, I just felt so much lighter. I missed my first couple shots, and that restricting feeling, that tightness started to come over me, and I just grounded myself with my breath and told myself, no matter what happens, I'm going to let it fly and trust the results."

After missing his four shots, Koenig hit that next three, and the next one a possession later. He hit his first three three-pointers of the second half and his second biggest shot of the game, a deeper three to tie the score at 63 with 11.7 seconds left.

"I got in that zone, that flow state where you're not thinking," Koenig said. "You're just doing. It was almost like that creative energy is flowing through you ... I practiced that (shot) a lot."

Xavier could have held and taken the last shot, but the plan was foiled by guard Zak Showalter taking a charge with five seconds remaining. UW advanced the ball to the halfcourt and used its final timeout with 2.0 seconds left.

Center Ethan Happ was given the task of inbounding the ball, and Koenig gave the then-freshman a stern message.

"Unlike me a little bit, I said, 'Pass me the ball. I'm going to be open,'" Koenig recalled. "I was like a man possessed. The only time I really had that determination was the (2015) Big Ten championship against Michigan State. I knew I was going to be open, and I kind of commanded him to pass me the ball."

With Nigel Hayes breaking toward the basket to clear a pathway and Showalter breaking to the opposite sideline to create more space, Koenig had a clear path to the corner. The momentum of the shot carried him into his teammates on the bench. In a few seconds, he was engulfed by the roster, jumping up and down in a moshpit of delight.

"It all happened so fast that it was hard to really fully process what had just happened," Koenig said. "It was definitely an amazing play that I'll never forget and very grateful for."

He's reminded of that at every camp, especially when he's asked for an encore.

"They always want me to do the shot," Koenig said. "Truth be told, I haven't been able to hit that shot since."