Top 10 NCAA March Madness Moments of All-Time

Folks, it’s March again. That means another month of madness of college basketball as the NCAA Tournament is about to roll. Just in case the thought of 68 teams competing in a single-elimination tournament doesn’t excite you enough, a list of some of the greatest and memorable tournament moments might just do it for you.

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Greatest March Madness Moments of All-Time

10. Chris Webber’s folly

Pardon if this list doesn’t start with a positive one. Anyway, if you’re from North Carolina, you’re going to love this. You remember the Fab Five, that core of the 1993 Michigan Wolverines team that had too much swag and game that it captured the imagination of every basketball fan.

Unfortunately for the Wolverines, it all came crashing down when Webber called a timeout late in the national championship game against the Tar Heels when his team didn’t have any left. The technical free throw that followed that foolish decision by Webber sealed the deal for the North Carolina.

9. Bo Kimble pays tribute to Hank Gathers

Loyola Marymount was dealing with a tragedy when it played in the 1990 March Madness. Forward Hank Gathers collapsed in a game during the WCC tournament and died shortly after. You’d imagine then that the 11-seed Lions would be so overcome with emotions that they’ll just be bounced out of the national tournament early.

Turns out it only inspired the team, which made it all the way into the Elite Eight. The highlight of the tournament for Loyola Marymount was Bo Kimble resorting to his left hand to shoot free throws as a tribute to Gathers, who was a lefty.

8. Don Haskins breaks the barrier

In 1966, Texas Western, which is now UTEP, reached the national title game and found itself matched up against the mighty Kentucky Wildcats of Adolph Rupp. Texas Western coach might not have it realized it then, but when he paraded an all-black starting lineup against Kentucky’s all-white lineup, he essentially helped bookmark a significant moment for the civil right movement of the 1960’s.

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7. George Mason takes the pumpkin ride

Eleven seeds aren’t supposed to make a deep run in March. But the 2006 George Mason Patriots did exactly that when they took down one giant after another to make an improbable appearance in the Final Four.

And which teams did George Mason beat before losing to Florida in the national semifinals? The Patriots defeated Michigan State in the first round, sent home North Carolina in the second round, victimized Wichita State in the Sweet Sixteen, and upset the top-seeded UConn in the Elite Eight before running out of miracles against the Gators.

6. Bird vs. Magic

The rivalry between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson was electric from the get-go. In 1979, Bird won the National Player of the Year award and spearheaded the Indiana State Sycamores to a clean 33-0 record. That team went on to play in the national championship game against Magic’s Michigan State Spartans in what became the most watched college basketball game ever.

To this day, Bird remains bitter of the fact that the Spartans with Magic putting up huge numbers of 24 points, seven boards, and five assists got the better of his Sycamores.

5. John Wooden cements his legacy

All John Wooden did was win. The man had 10 national championships as coach of the UCLA Bruins, winning the last one in 1975 when UCLA beat Kentucky in the title game, 92-85, just before he announced his retirement. How’s that for an encore?

4. Michael Jordan buries it

Michael Jordan was clutch long before his reign in the NBA. During the 1982 NCAA national championship game, the future G.O.A.T. knocked down one of the most important shots of his career, when he drilled a 17-foot jumper near the end of the game to help North Carolina defeat Patrick Ewing’s Georgetown Hoyas. Little did Ewing know that he’d be torched by Jordan for many years to come.

3. Bill Walton’s near perfect game

Younger generation of basketball fans probably know Bill Walton as that weird dude who mans the Pac-12 broadcast booth with Dave Pasch. They also need to know that Walton was a beast back in his college days in UCLA. Perhaps Walton’s most memorable performance as a Bruin was when he exploded for 44 points on a nearly flawless 21-for-22 shooting from the field to go with 13 rebounds to carry UCLA past Memphis State in the 1973 national title contest.

2. Christian Laettner for the win

As if Christian Laettner needed more reason for Kentucky to hate him, the Blue Devil hot shot delivered one of the most memorable shots in the history of college basketball in 1992. That’s when Laettner caught Grant Hill’s inbound pass before proceeding to knock down a spinning, falling away shot at the buzzer that sent Kentucky home and Duke to the Final Four. Duke would go on to win the national championship.

1. North Carolina State shocks Houston

One of the most indelible images of March Madness was that of Jimmy Valvano running across the court, looking for someone to hug or celebrate with, after his North State Wolfpack team carved out an improbable upset win over the Houston Cougars AKA Phi Slama Jama in the 1983 national championship game.

The Wolfpack were the heavy underdogs going into the contest against a loaded Cougars team that featured the likes of Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. But a buzzer-beating tip-in by Lorenzo Charles completed NC State’s epic upset in the most dramatic way possible.

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