.50. 1999-UConn Upsets Duke
One year after Hamilton's heroics agianst Washington, Rip and the Huskies make it to the Final Four, where they earn a trip to the national championship game to face off against Duke, who entered the game on a 32-game winning streak and were 9 1/2 point favorites.
But behind Hamilton's game-high 27 points, the Huskies stun the Blue Devils 77-74 to give UConn its first national championship.
49. 2010-Ali’s Gutsy Shot
The #9 seed Northern Iowa Panthers were clinging to dear life as they held a 63-62 lead over #1 seed Kansas after the Panthers had built up a 12-point lead over the overall #1 seed in their round of 32 game.
With 42.8 seconds left, UNI had the ball and presumably going to hold on to the ball as much of the 35-second shot clock as possible before taking a shot.
But once the ball got to a wide-open Ali Farokhmanesh at the 3-point line, he decided to take the shot.
In the ultimate “No, No, Yes” moment, Farokhmanesh’s 3-pointer was good and broke the backs of the Jayhawks as UNI went on to pull out the 69-67 upset.
48. 2009-Reynolds’ Floater
With 5.5 seconds left and the game tied at 76, Villanova’s Dante Cunningham lobs an inbounds pass to Reggie Redding, who then hands it off to point guard Scottie Reynolds, who then proceeds to dash down the court and then floats a shot over Pitt’s Gilbert Brown and into the basket for the game-winner with 0.5 seconds left to give ‘Nova a 78-76 win and send the Wildcats to their first Final Four since their national championship in 1985.
47. 2017-"Maye" The Force Be With You
After Kentucky guard Malik Monk hits the game-tying 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left in the South Regional Final, North Carolina's Theo Pinson drives the length of the court with the basketball and passes it off to Luke Maye, who fires a shot from just inside the 3-point line that goes through the hoop with 0.3 seconds left, to give the Tar Heels a 75-73 win and send them to their 20th Final Four.
46. 2015-Literally, Falling Out of His Seat
Coaching from a stool because of a torn Achilles tendon he suffered during his team’s celebration of clinching a NCAA tournament bid, Georgia State head coach Ron Hunter watches his team come back from a 12-point deficit in the final 2:39 by going on a 13-0 run, with the last three points coming of a 35-foot 3-pointer by his son, R.J., with 2.7 seconds left that knocks Hunter to the floor as the Panthers pull off a remarkable 57-56 win over Baylor.
45. 2022-Rock Chalk Comeback
Kansas' bid for a fourth national championship in school history looks to be perilous as the Jayhawks go into the halftime break down by 15 points to North Carolina following a six-and-a-half minute stretch late in the first half where the Tar Heels go on a 16-0 run.
However, the Jayhawks would erase that deficit with a 31-10 run that would give them a six-point lead midway through the second half as Kansas would go to win the game 72-69 as they overcome the largest halftime deficit in a national championship game.
44. 1977-McGuire Goes Out on Top
In his final game as head coach, Al McGurie wins the national championship as Butch Lee's 19 points and Jerome Whitehead's 11 rebounds lead Marquette to a 67-59 win over North Carolina.
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| 1977 NCAA Tournament MOP Butch Lee celebrates with head coach Al McGuire following Marquette's win in the title game against North Carolina. |
43. 2001-Hampton Knocks off Iowa State
Tarvis Williams scores the game-winning basket with 6.9 seconds to go, giving #15 seed Hampton a shocking 58-57 win over #2 Iowa State after they trailed 55-44 with eight minutes to go.
The enduring image of the game comes after the buzzer sounds when Hampton head coach Steve Merfeld is lifted up in the air in celebration by one of his players, David Johnson.
St. Peter's University, a private Catholic school out of Jersey City, New Jersey, stuns the sports world with an historic run to the Elite Eight.
The #15 seeded Peacocks upset the #2 seed Kentucky Wildcats with a 85-79 overtime win in the first round to become the 10th #15 seed to win a NCAA tournament game, then become the third #15 seed to make it to the Sweet 16 following their 70-60 win over #7 seed Murray State.
Following their 67-64 win over #3 seed Purdue in the Sweet 16, the Peacocks become the lowest seed ever to reach the Elite Eight where their Cinderella run would come to an end as they would defeated by North Carolina 69-49 in the East Regional Final.
41. 2008-Steph Curry and Davidson’s Run
The basketball world is introduced to Steph Curry, the son of former NBA player Del Curry, who almost single-handedly leads Davidson to the brink of the Final Four.
Curry begins his run with a 40-point performance against Gonzaga in the first round, then puts up 30, 25 of them in the 2nd half, to lead the Wildcats back from a 17-point 2nd half deficit to knock off Georgetown 74-70, which was followed by 33 more points in a easy win over Wisconsin in the Sweet 16.
But Curry and Davidson’s run came to an end in the Elite Eight as they lost to Kansas 59-57 as Curry was forced to give up the last shot when he was double teamed and passed it to Jason Richards’ whose 25-foot 3-pointer hit the top of the backboard at the buzzer.
Steph Curry averaged 32 points per game during Davidson's Cinderella run in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.
40. 1999-The Arrival of Gonzaga
Making only their second NCAA tournament appearance, the Gonzaga Bulldogs make a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight as the #10 seed of the West Regional.
After wins over #7 Minnesota and #2 Stanford, the Zags faced off with #6 Florida in the Sweet 16 where forward Casey Calvary puts back a missed shot with 4.4 seconds left for the game-winning basket in Gonzaga’s 73-72 win.
The miracle run would come to an end in the Elite 8 with 67-62 loss to UConn, but their magical run begins a string of 21 consecutive Tournament appearances as of 2019 and helped make Gonzaga one of the elite programs in the country.
39. 2003-Warrick’s Block
Trailing 81-78 in the final seconds of regulation, Kansas guard Kirk Hinrich passes it to Michael Lee who is wide open in the left corner and behind the 3-point line.
But as Lee shoots the ball, Syracuse’s Hakim Warrick comes out of nowhere to make the block, knocking the ball out of bounds with 1.5 seconds left.
Hinrich would then airball a 3-pointer as time expired to give Syracuse their first national championship, thanks in large part to Warrick’s block.
Ignoring a Mississippi state law that prohibited its state schools from playing teams with black players, the all-white Mississippi State basketball team snuck out of the state to East Lansing, Michigan, where they played the Loyola of Chicago Ramblers, a team with four black players in the starting lineup in the Mideast Regional Semifinals.
The Ramblers won the game 71-61 but the game is more significant for the Bulldogs’ defiance of Mississippi lawmakers and just wanted to play a basketball game, which became known as “The Game of Change”.
Mississippi State's Joe Don Gold(left) shakes the hand of Loyola of Chicago's Jerry Harkness before "The Game of Change."
37. 1991-The First #15 Upset
The Richmond Spiders make history as they became the first #15 seed to win a NCAA tournament game as they knock off the #2 seed Syracuse Orangemen 73-69 in their first round matchup in the East Region.
Richmond players celebrate after their historic upset of Syracuse in the first round of the 1991 NCAA Tournament.
36. 1988-Danny & The Miracles
Led by college player of the year Danny Manning, the Kansas Jayhawks make a Cinderella run as a #6 seed to capture the national title that concludes in Kansas City with a 83-79 upset over conference rival Oklahoma.
Manning averaged 27.2 points and 9.3 rebounds during the Kansas’ championship run which garnered the team the nickname “Danny & The Miracles”.
Danny Manning scored 31 points, grabbed 18 rebounds, made five steals, and blocked two shots in leading Kansas to a 83-79 win over Oklahoma in the 1988 Championship Game.
35. 1990-Laettner’s First Buzzer Beater
Two years before his famous buzzer beater that beat Kentucky in the 1992 East Regional Final, Duke center Christian Laettner hit another buzzer beater in the Elite Eight to send the Blue Devils to the Final Four.
With 2.6 seconds left in overtime and down 78-77, Laettner inbounded the ball to Brian Davis, who passed it back to Laettner, who then fired up a 14-footer that went in as time expired to give the Blue Devils a 79-78 victory and clinching their third straight trip to the Final Four.
34. 2005-An Elite 8 for the Ages
The 2005 Elite Eight saw three of the most memorable games in the history of March Madness over the span of two days.
First in the West Regional Final, Louisville came back from a 20-point first half deficit to knock off West Virginia 93-85 in overtime to send the Cardinals to their first Final Four since 1986.
Then came the Midwest Regional Final where Illinois appeared to be beaten as they trailed 75-60 with four minutes to play in regulation until the Illini went on a 20-5 run to tie the game and force overtime where Illinois would go on to win 90-89 as Arizona’s Hassan Adams missed a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer.
The following day began with the East Regional Final which was a good game but the least memorable of the weekend as North Carolina defeated Wisconsin 88-82 behind 29 points and 11 rebounds by Sean May.
The weekend was capped off with the South Regional Final between Michigan State and Kentucky which went into overtime when the Wildcats’ Patrick Sparks made a stunning 3-pointer that bounced off the rim four times before going in to tie the game and was reviewed for 10 minutes to see if Sparks’s toe was on the line, but there was no conclusive evidence so the shot was upheld.
However, the Spartans would prevail 94-88 after two overtime periods to cap off the greatest weekend in NCAA Tournament history.
33. 1989-A Michigan Man and the Phantom Foul
Days before the 1989 NCAA Tournament began, Michigan head coach Bill Frieder announced that he would be leaving the program after the postseason to take over the head coaching job at Arizona State.
But athletic director Bo Schembechler calls a preemptive strike and fires Frieder and says “A Michigan man will coach Michigan”, so he promotes assistant Steve Fisher to interim head coach for the tournament.
Fisher coaches the Wolverines to the national title game where they face off with Seton Hall where Rumeal Robinson hits the game-winning free throws with three seconds in overtime after a controversial blocking foul is called on Seton Hall guard Gerald Greene.
Michigan wins the game 80-79 and Fisher is named the permanent head coach after the tournament.
32. 1989-#16 Almost Knocks off #1
The Ivy League's Princeton Tigers almost become the first #16 seed to knock off a #1 seed as they lead throughout most of thier First Round against #1 seed Georgetown of the East Regional.
The Ivy League's Princeton Tigers almost become the first #16 seed to knock off a #1 seed as they lead throughout most of thier First Round against #1 seed Georgetown of the East Regional.
Princeton leads for the first 30 minutes of the game until the Hoyas take their first lead of the game with 10:25 left in the second half, where the margin never got larger than two points for the rest of the game.
Hoya center Alonzo Mourning hit a free throw with 23 seconds left that broke a 49-49 tie, then blocked Kit Mueller’s shot at the buzzer to allow Georgetown to escape with a 50-49 win.
Alonzo Mourning blocks Kit Mueller's last-second attempt at #16 seed Princeton's chances of upsetting #1 seed Georgetown.
31. 1996-Princeton Backdoor
30. 1957-UNC’s Double Triple
Undefeated North Carolina reaches the Final Four where they first play Michigan State in the national semifinals, where the Tar Heels prevail 74 after three overtime periods.
Then in the title game, the Tar Heels face Kansas and all-American center Wilt Chamberlain, who they held to 23 points and 14 rebounds in another triple overtime affair that saw North Carolina come out on top 54-53 thanks to Joe Quigg’s game-winning with six seconds left in the third overtime period.
29.1976-The Last Undefeated Champion
Led by Scott May’s 26 points and Kent Benson’s 25 points, the Indiana Hoosiers come back from a 35-29 deficit to defeat Big 10 rival Michigan 86-68 in the championship game, completing a undefeated season as the Hoosiers finish with a 32-0 record.
Since then, no team has finished the season with an undefeated season.
Head Coach Bob Knight, Scott May(with net around neck) and Quinn Buckner hold the national championship trophy after defeating Michigan to complete a 32-0 season.
28. 1981-Ainge’s March Through Atlanta
Down by one point with eight seconds remaining, BYU guard Danny Ainge takes an inbounds pass and drives the length of the court to put up a layup that goes over the outstretched hands of Orlando Woolridge and in for the game-winning basket with two seconds left.
Notre Dame is unable to get a shot off before the buzzer as the Cougars fans in the Omni in Atlanta go wild as BYU wins 51-50 to earn a trip to the Elite Eight.
27. 1995-Edney's Drive
In a play reminiscent of Ainge’s buzzer beater against Notre Dame in 1981, UCLA guard Tyus Edney takes an inbounds pass with 4.8 seconds left and dashes down the court until he puts up a scoop shot that bounces off the backboard and in the hoop for the game-winner as time expires to allow the Bruins to escape with a second round 75-74 victory against the Missouri Tigers.
Edney’s game-winner propels UCLA to their first national championship in 20 years.
26. 1991-Duke Ends UNLV’s Undefeated Season
In the 1990 championship game, the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels demolished the Duke Blue Devils 103-73 in the largest margin of victory in a NCAA title game.
The two teams meet again in the Final Four the following year with an even stronger UNLV team as they held a 34-0 record entering the game and had an average margin of victory of 26.7 points per game.
But the Blue Devils avenge their humiliating loss from the year before and stun the Rebels 79-77 as they go on 8-1 run in the final minutes of the game, with Christian Laettner hitting the game-winning free throws with 12 seconds left.
Two days later, Duke defeated Kansas to win their first national championship.
For the rest of the countdown, click on the numbers in parenthesis:
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