Watch Cardinals’ Kevin Ware get his shining moment at NCAA final

Kevin Ware is forever going to be linked to this year’s NCAA basketball tournament.

Unfortunately, the image many of us have of him is one that is sure to make us cringe.

We’ve all seen the video by now, of the Louisville guard awkwardly coming down on his leg while trying to block a shot. The injury that followed is one that probably won’t be forgotten by the millions who have seen for a long, long time.

But maybe we can replace it with a much happier one. After all, Ware didn’t wallow around in self pity. He was up and about the next day and able to accompany his team to Atlanta for the Final Four, sitting on the bench with his leg propped on a chair.

And the teammates who couldn’t hold back the tears at the time of the injury ended up rallying around their fallen teammate, going on to crush Duke in that Elite Eight game and wearing warm-up jerseys with his number this past weekend.

In the end, Louisville emerged as the national champion, beating Michigan, 82-76, in Monday night’s championship game. And the last person to cut down the net for the Cardinals? It was Ware, who was grinning from ear to ear as he snipped away after the goal was lowered for him to reach from his crutches.

That should be the image of Ware we take with us from this tournament.

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