College basketball

The history of basketball is traced back to a YMCA International Training School, known today as Springfield College, located in Springfield, Massachusetts. The sport was created by a physical education teacher named James Naismith, who in the winter of 1891 was given the task of creating a game that would keep track athletes in shape and that would prevent them from getting hurt a lot. The date of the first formal basketball played at the Springfield YMCA Training School under Naismith's rules is generally given as December 21, 1891. Basketball began to spread to college campuses by 1893.

College basketball today is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including the United States' National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). Each of these various organizations are subdivided into from one to three divisions based on the number and level of scholarships that may be provided to the athletes.

Buzzer beater

In basketball, a buzzer beater is a shot taken before the game clock of a quarter expires but does not go in the basket until after the clock expires and the buzzer sounds. The term is normally reserved for baskets that beat an end-of-quarter buzzer but are sometimes referred to shots that beat the shot clock buzzer. If a player releases the ball before the buzzer sounds, the shot still counts if it goes in even though the clock expires before the ball goes through the hoop.

Officials in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, National Basketball Association, Women's National Basketball Association, Serie A (Italy), and the Euroleague (Final Four series only, effective 2006) are required to use instant replay to assess whether a shot made at the end of a period was in fact released before the game clock expired. Since 2002, the NBA also has mandated duplicate light strips on the backboard and scorer's table for the purpose of identifying the end of a period.

Notable buzzer beaters