WATCH: Wichita State Drains SHOCKING Shot of the Year on Day 1 of the College Basketball Season

College basketball tipped off Tuesday night and even though we won’t crown a champion for five more months, we may have already witnessed the shot of the year, courtesy of Wichita State’s Tyson Etienne.

Tied with Jacksonville State at 57 and less than 20 seconds left in regulation, the Shockers gave the ball to their best player. Etienne wasted the clock inside of five seconds, before shocking the crowd by taking a 31-footer. The three drained through the basket, leaving just 2.2 seconds left on the clock, leading his team to victory and sending the Wichita State Shockers’ Charles Koch Arena into euphoria.

“It didn’t really feel like an out-of-normal shot,” Etienne said after the game. “I was confident I would make it because I’ve made it so many times (in practice).”

If a college basketball player took the same shot in the same situation 15 years ago, they’d be in danger of getting benched for the rest of the season.

Making the decision to settle for a logo three-pointer with the score tied and 10-seconds remaining on the clock, and ultimately taking the shot with 5-seconds left (still plenty of time to get a higher percentage attempt) would literally have been a head-scratching gaffe 15 years ago.

But Etienne’s three is a sign of the Steph Curry effect. Curry has not popularized the sport the way Michael Jordan did, but his impact on the way the game is played has been equally evident.

Watch above via CNN (courtesy of ESPN+)