ESPN: Xavier Denied on the Doorstep Ten Years Later

[Ignatius L Hoops]

The Big Ten mental health initiatives announcement prompted ESPN to republish an article from last month dealing with the aftermath of Xavier's Dee Dee Jerrigan's back to back missed layups versus Stanford. They also have video; but the video posted above catches everything. Skip ahead to the 2:20 mark for the missed layups and Stanford's subsequent length of the court driving game winner.

Denied on the doorstep of the Final Four: Two shots she'll never forget

Xavier's Dee Dee Jernigan missed two wide-open layups in the final seconds in the 2010 Elite Eight. A decade later, she's learning to move past the pain.

www.espn.com

Josh Weinfuss:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- This is where Dee Dee Jernigan gets nervous.
She's inside the lane, frozen where the rim and backboard meet, staring up at the basket. It doesn't matter that she hasn't been on a court in months or played in a game in years, this moment doesn't get any easier.

Jernigan still can't shoot a layup, even in an empty, quiet gym, without thinking about that night.

As soon as the buzzer sounded that Monday night in 2010, Jernigan's life changed forever.

Her college career ended in the most public, humiliating way, and basketball, the one constant, no longer offered any respite. Instead, it was more grief for someone who still hadn't mourned the death of her mother four years earlier and had nowhere to turn for support.

When she needed someone -- anyone -- no one was there. No one on her team talked to her.

It was all too much for the 21-year-old to handle. She walked away from basketball cold turkey, turning to marijuana to help get her through each day and out of her own head. The pain -- the death threats, doubt and depression -- got to be too much. She thought ending it might help.

Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of those shots. A decade later, she's still trying to move past the moments those two shots bounced off the rim and the fallout that followed.

 

[Shades]

I remember the end of that game. Was scouting Amber Harris pretty heavily. Missing two bunnies was pretty brutal.

Jennings missed the front end of an one-and-one that probably could have been a factor too.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

The back to back misses and followed by Pohlen length of court four second drive were seared into my memory. Three quick kicks to Xavier's gut.