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Breaking Down the Incredible Video of CBS Announcers Reacting to UConn’s Game-Winner

Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery and Grant Hill delivered an all-time great March Madness moment.
Jimmy Traina|
Bill Raftery and Grant Hill were left in stunned disbelief over UConn’s win against Duke.
Bill Raftery and Grant Hill were left in stunned disbelief over UConn’s win against Duke. | CBS

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1. There were so many layers to what Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery and Grant Hill, calling Sunday’s UConn-Duke game on CBS, did on the stunning game-winning three-pointer from the Huskies’ Braylon Mullins.

Let’s start with this: The fact that there were .3 seconds left on the clock, (which became .4 seconds after a review) prevented Eagle from having the FULL moment of calling a game-ending shot. However, this also showed why Eagle is so damn good at his job because he let viewers know immediately that the game wasn’t over and .3 seconds remained.

It would’ve been very easy for Eagle to unleash a “UCONN WINS, UCONN WINS,” but he didn’t lose his composure for even a split second during a frantic moment and kept viewers informed of exactly what was going on.

Kudos to Raftery and Hill for staying silent while Eagle detailed the action. Those guys could’ve easily jumped Eagle’s call, but they let Eagle do his thing and even stayed quiet for about another four seconds after Eagle finished his call, which only added to the drama.

Then Raftery finally chimed in to give us vintage Raftery: “Utterly impossible. The deflection, the reaction and then the major onions. Out of Indiana. They all can shoot. NYLON from deep! Astounding.”

Hill then weighed in with the most significant piece of analysis, saying, “All Duke had to do was hold the ball there. They didn’t need to get rid of it.”

The trio met the moment and came through during one of the wildest moments in tournament history.

And this was only the beginning.

Shortly after the game ended, the video of Eagle, Raftery and Hill’s reaction started circulating on social media. Watching Raftery and Hill watch Mullins’s shot go in was just as good as anything you’ll see in sports.

It was natural, it was real and it was authentic. Raftery was legitimately in shock, while Hill, the Duke alum, looked like every single person who went to Duke in that moment.

It doesn’t get any better than this.

2. For more fallout from UConn’s shocking 73–72 win:

• The Duke play-by-play guy was so distraught after the shot that he wanted a technical foul called on UConn, which was just pathetic.

• We have one heck of a reaction from Dan Hurley’s mom.

• We have a TREMENDOUS Jim Ross dub.

• We have a Sopranos cut of the final shot.

• We have a fan who tore his Achilles on the game-winning shot.

3. One weekend into the Major League Baseball season, I’m declaring the new ABS challenge system a smash hit. The challenge ended up adding a new layer of excitement to baseball games. Just look at what happened in Cincinnati on Saturday.

Here’s the breakdown of how the challenges have gone since the start of the season, based on who has called for them.

  • Batters: 33-for-78 (42.3%)
  • Catchers: 59-for-92 (64.1%)
  • Pitchers: 2-for-5 (40%)

4. If you don’t think a 7'4" center can drive to the hoop and dish out a behind-the-back pass, think again.

5. John Cena spent a year telling us that he was completely done with wrestling once he retired at the end of 2025.

Cena just announced he’ll be the host at WrestleMania this year.

6. We dropped two SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcasts for you last week.

NBC’s Jason Benetti joined me to talk about becoming the voice of Sunday Night Baseball, getting called into emergency duty on the NCAA tournament, an unusual entry on his Wikipedia page and much more.

In addition, SNY broadcasters Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling appeared on the podcast to talk about their popularity among Mets fans, the unfortunate circumstances of getting shut out of the playoffs, analytics on a broadcast and more. Plus, Hernandez talked about Seinfeld.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: This is one of my favorite bits in wrestling history.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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