9. The Leg
It all started as a normal basketball play. With 6:33 remaining in the first half and his Duke team trailing Louisville 21-17 in the Elite Eight, Tyler Thornton hoisted a 3-point attempt from the right wing. The Cardinals' Kevin Ware was late on his rotation, but leapt at Thornton to contest the shot.
The pair did not make contact, but by the time gravity pulled Ware back to the floor there was a bone protruding from his right leg.
Thornton ran back up the court, covering his eyes. Louisville's Peyton Siva, Wayne Blackshear and Chane Behanan fell to the floor. Tears rolled down star guard Russ Smith's face.
“It was a gruesome sight,” said Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, who admitted after the game he almost threw up on the floor. “Nothing like I’ve ever witnessed before in my life or a basketball game.”
Ware remained on the floor for nearly nine minutes as he was tended to by Louisville's training staff. For the 540 seconds between the injury and the time Ware was carted off on a stretcher and immediately into surgery, a crowd of more than 34,000 in Lucas Oil Stadium was stunned.
Duke was not playing its best basketball until that point. The Blue Devils' shots were not falling, but they still found themselves in a tight matchup against the top-seeded Cardinals. When Ware hit the floor, the game could have gone one of two ways—Louisville would either lose focus or be inspired by the loss of a fallen teammate.
“We had to do this for Kevin,” said Siva, who had his best game of the tournament, scoring 16 points to go along with four assists and a steal. “That’s our whole thing. Coach told us that we need to get him back home.”
The Cardinals found new life and held Duke without a field goal for a span of 8:15 in the second half to run away with a 22-point victory. One week later, Ware would watch from the sidelines as Louisville hoisted the national championship trophy.
Falling one game short of the Final Four, the loss to the Cardinals should have been remembered as the last game Mason Plumlee, Ryan Kelly and Seth Curry ever played in a Duke uniform. Instead, it is a game that will forever by synonymous with Ware's freak injury.
“I don’t think any of us, with what we had to witness, could have overcome it, if it wasn’t for Kevin Ware… saying to the guys, ‘I’ll be fine. Win the game,’” Pitino said.
Check out the rest of The Blue Zone's top 10 stories of 2013:
3. The Comeback—Duke lacrosse rallies from 2-4 start, five-goal deficit to win national championship
4. The Commitments—Building Duke's monster 2014 recruiting class on the hardwood
5. The Expansion—ACC grows to 15 teams
6. The Return, part III—Andre Dawkins makes his long-awaited return to the Blue Devils
7. The Return, part II—Coach K commits to Team USA and Duke through 2016
8. The Return, part I—Ryan Kelly goes for 36 against Miami in his first game back from injury
9. The Leg—Kevin Ware sparks Louisville to Elite Eight victory against Blue Devils
10. The Pick—Sean Renfree becomes Duke's first NFL draft selection since 2004
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