ATLANTA — Dane Fife keeps replaying the blunder in his head, even though it didn't keep Indiana out of the Final Four.
He knows a missed free throw was the only thing that kept him from joining an ignominious list that includes Michigan's Chris Webber and Georgetown's Fred Brown.
"I really can't stop thinking about it," Fife said. "It's the most idiotic play in Indiana basketball history, potentially."
Webber is still remembered as the guy who called a timeout that Michigan didn't have in the waning seconds of the 1993 championship game. Brown mysteriously threw the ball away to North Carolina's James Worthy in the '82 title game.
Fife's bonehead play occurred with 4.2 seconds left in the regional semifinals and Indiana holding a 74-70 lead over defending national champion Duke.
Jason Williams hit a 3-pointer, and Fife, who raced over to contest the shot, slapped Williams on the arm — giving Duke a chance to tie the score with a free throw.
Indiana coach Mike Davis, about to pull off the Hoosiers' most significant victory since the 1987 national championship game, rushed to his seat, kneeled down and buried his head. Then he ran back to the court and mouthed to Fife: Don't foul the shooter.
Fife's immediate thoughts spanned a wide range.
"You can't imagine what went through my mind in those 15 seconds Jason Williams was shooting the free throw," he said. "I thought about my family and whether people were throwing things in the stands at them. I thought about whether I would be able to get a job, because at Indiana University there are some jobs that are easy to come by. It was a really rough time."
Williams missed the free throw, and Carlos Boozer botched the putback that would have ended the Hoosiers' season.
This week, Fife could only grin.
Fife has been at the center of attention almost from the moment he arrived in Bloomington, Ind. His hard-nosed style has often drawn the ire of opposing fans and sometimes opponents. During his sophomore year, he bit Iowa's Duez Henderson on the forearm.
And at Illinois in February, when Illini center Robert Archibald stepped on his chest, Fife grabbed Archibald around the ankle and yanked him to the floor. Four days later, against Northwestern, Fife again yanked an opposing player to the floor after a rebound, then shoved Tavaras Hardy in the chest. That drew a technical foul and a spot on the sideline.
"He really has no tolerance for the crazy things I tend to do in certain games," Fife said, referring to his shouting matches with Davis.
As much as Fife has been a part of the Hoosiers' success, though, he also nearly became the reason for a defeat.
A week later, Fife remains thankful he didn't become the answer to that dreaded trivia question: Who cost Indiana its upset of Duke in the 2002 NCAA tournament?
"Kidding aside, if we had lost that game, I don't know what the heck I'd be doing," he said. "I don't know if I could have come back to Bloomington."