Maryland freshman star Derik Queen saved the day Sunday for his team with a buzzer-beating bank shot from just outside the painted area to lift Maryland past Colorado State and into the Sweet 16. But one of the key pieces of the Terps’ “Crab Five,” a self-labeled nickname for the team’s starting five, might have done some crab walking to do it.
Queen gathered the inbounds play with 3.7 seconds remaining and went into attack mode from the top of the key. He took two dribbles, gathered and launched into the air off his right foot while fading left, hanging just long enough in mid-air to get a shot that smooched the glass and went in.
The shot fell, the horn sounded, and the game ended: Maryland 72, Colorado State 71.
If only it were that so simple. A closer inspection of the play reveals Queen did indeed travel on the play as he attacked the basket. It was not called.
Current NCAA rules allow a gather and two steps. A slow motion view of a separate angle, posted by March Madness and slowed down by me, shows he clearly gathered and subsequently took three steps.
Here it is below in sequential order. The right foot of Queen strikes first (in first screenshot) after gather; the left foot strikes next (second screenshot); then finally the right strikes again as he launches into air for the shot.
One veteran official spoke with CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander after the game and confirmed: Queen traveled.
Here’s another courtside angle of the play so you can decide for yourself.
Because the first right leg strike and the gather were so close together — and nearly coincided — it makes it a nearly impossible call to make in real time.
As always with traveling, though, a caveat: it’s only a travel if it’s called on the floor.
It wasn’t. Now Maryland’s dancing, errr, crab walking its way into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2016.