Half court

Half court is a term used in basketball for a shot taken from half court (the middle line of the basketball court). It is most commonly used as a buzzer beater. It is also a streetball term where the teams only use half of the full court.

Notable half-court shots

• The current record holder for most half-court shots in a minute is Green Bay point guard Eric Valentin, with eight shots scored in 60 seconds.
• On January 22, 2010, during a winter sports pep rally, students of Olathe Northwest High School wanted to play a prank on coach Joel Branstrom, a former University of Kansas walk-on, and promised him tickets of the final four game if he scores a shot from half court while blindfolded - the catch was that the crowd was instructed to cheer regardless whether he scores the shot or not. Branstrom did, however, score the shot. The students didn't have any tickets to offer. It was widely reported in the media; while filming a teaser for WDAF-TV, reporter Rob Low jokingly attempted to recreate the shot by standing in the same court with his back to the hoop and throwing the ball - he also scored the shot, much to his surprise. According to Low, when he later interviewed Branstrom, and asked him to repeat the blindfolded feat, he, again, scored it. Branstrom attended the 2010 NCAA Men’s Final Four as a guest of the NCAA.