Charlie remembered that we tried to do a HORSE tournament to declare the 2020 champion. So, since we only had one game, and it was getting dark, we decided to quickly go. Charlie represented Baylor, and Katie and I represented Gonzaga. The way we do this is that Katie only gets to be on the offense. She likes to play – and while she is pretty decent at hitting layups, she can’t shoot from too far away from the basket. So, if Charlie makes it, I have to make it. Otherwise, Katie and I switch turns. We also have the special rule that you have to miss twice to get E.

Neither one of us started well, Charlie made a shot from the outside that got me a letter. I hit a shot from near the free throw line to get Charlie a letter. Then, Charlie got hot and hit a couple shots. Baylor was up R to H.

But Katie was going to try to carry us. She hit a layup that gave Charlie his second letter. And then after both of us missed a shot, Katie took a couple steps back from her last shot and drilled it again. Charlie missed, got upset that Katie was the one causing him to get letters, and we were tied at R.

I would strike next from outside, and soon, Gonzaga was up S to R. Katie almost got Charlie on one of her layups. He missed the first one. Then, he hit the ball hard off the backboard, it hit the edge of the rim, and rolled in. He was still alive. The turn got back to me, and I decided it is the only way the game should end. I went out to the middle of the court, took a few steps and shot the long shot. And it went off the backboard and in!!!! I was so proud of myself. It wasn’t as far as Suggs shot it from, but it was definitely at least an NBA three-pointer.

Charlie shot the first one and missed. And then, on his second one, he turned the script. That’s because Charlie hit the shot as well. Baylor was still alive.

This also renewed Charlie’s energy. At this point, it was also got pretty dark. Katie said we should use the glow-in-the-dark ball (one of Charlie’s birthday gifts). He hit a deep shot from the left side of the basket to tie the game at R. Both of us hit some shots that the other matched. And then finally, the moment came.

Charlie hit a three-pointer from the right side of the basket. My first try hit the front and missed. And then, I folded to the pressure – my shot went up, looked like it was going in, but it rattled around on the rim, hit the back-board, hit the front of the rim again and bounced away. Katie said, I should have used the original ball that I was doing better with. Of course, she was right – the third time was the charm and it hit nothing but net.

But you don’t get three chances. Charlie rose to the pressure and won the NCAA HORSE prediction championship. Our HORSE games says Baylor will win in a tight game that goes down to the final shot.