Memorable NCAA Tournament Games

With the start of the 2011 Men’s Final Four less than 24 hours away, I thought I would share my personal favorite moments of NCAA tournaments past. None of these are particularly obscure moments. I am sure a number of you will say, “Oh, I remember that!” or “I heard about that!” or “That is one of my favorite moments, too!”

New memories and moments are made every year. With the ebb and flow of this year’s tournament, I expect there to be some drama. Something could easily happen to crack into my top 5 at this time next year. As for the tournaments that are frozen in time via videos and photographs, here is The Daily Hat Trick Top Five Tournament Moments.


Honorable Mention

Bo Kimble’s One Handed Free Throw Shots

Loyola Marymount’s Bo Kimble shot his first free throws of each game in the 1990 NCAA Tournament left handed, in memory of the late Hank Gathers. Gathers collapsed and died from a heart condition during a game earlier in the month. Bo Kimble went 3 for 3 in his left handed tribute shots during the tournament.

Bo Kimble 1

Number 5

1985 NCAA Final Four – National Championship Game

Villanova Wildcats 66 Georgetown Hoyas 64 FINAL

Villanova, coached by Rollie Massimino, leads his team to, arguably, the biggest upset in Final Four history and one of the biggest upsets in the history of sports, denying Gerogetown coach John Thompson and future Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing a repeat National Championship. The Wildcats shot 79% from the field, only missing one field goal in the second half. Eighth seeded Villanova was the lowest overall seed ever to win the NCAA Tournament.

Rollie Massimino

Number 4

1983 Final Four – National Championship Game

North Carolina State Wolfpack 54 Houston Cougars 52 FINAL

Lorenzo Charles of N.C. State dunks the ball for the win in the final two seconds, pulling off a huge upset over Akeem Olajuwan, Clyde Drexler, and the Houston Cougars, known as Phi Slamma Jamma. N.C. State’s coach, the late, great Jim Valvano, rushes on to the court immediately after the game, an iconic image in the history of college basketball.

Number 3

1982 Final Four – National Championship Game

North Carolina Tar Heels 63 Georgetown Hoyas 62 FINAL

This game was loaded with future NBA All-Stars and Hall of Famers. The Hoyas, coached by John Thompson, had a seven foot freshmen center named Patrick Ewing. The Tar Heels, coached by dean Smith, featured Sam Perkins, James Worthy, and some freshman named Michael Jordan, who hit the game’s winning shot.

North Carolina's game winning shot by Michael Jordan. He'd turn out to be a decent NBA player, too. 3

Number 2

1991 Final Four – National Semifinal Game

Duke Blue Devils 79 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels 77 FINAL

This game was one of the most anticipated rematches in college basketball history. UNLV had obliterated Duke in the 1990 National Championship Game. Duke, a year more experienced, was poised for payback. The game saw countless lead changes before ending with Vegas’ final possession resulting in forward Larry Johnson hesitating to take an three point shot with a clean look at the basket and instead passing to Anderson Hunt for a last second, off balance miss from behind the arc. The game marked the end of an era as UNLV would be on probation the following year and never regain the dominant status it had in college basketball at that time.

The end of an era 4

Number 1

1992 East Regional Final

Duke Blue Devils 104 Kentucky Wildcats 103 Final - Overtime

In my opinion, this was the greatest college basketball game ever played. The Kentucky Wildcats program, coming off of recent NCAA sanctions, had begun reasserting itself as one of the premier programs in the country under coach Rick Pitino. Duke, coached by Mike Krzyzewski, was seeking to repeat at National Champions. The game went into overtime. After several lead changes, Kentucky’s Sean Woods makes a go-ahead shot off of the backboard with 2.1 seconds remaining. The rest is history. I doubt that many of you reading this piece are seeing the following for the first time:

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1) Image from thehoopsreport.com
2) All videos from youtube.com
3) Image from midwestsportsfans.com
4) Image from sportslifer.wordpress.com
5) Image from insidehoops.com