Nick's Lists: Top 10 Games in NCAA Tournament History (10-6)

Tonight begins the Sweet 16, and if your bracket has seen better days, at least you can sit back, relax, and enjoy it.  As an homage to the NCAA tournament (and because we know that you WANT more basketball here at Caputo's Corner), we are pleased to bring you our latest edition of the world famous Nick's Lists.  Today's subject: the top 10 games in NCAA tournament history.

In order for a game to make this list, it must pass the Caputo's Corner criteria of course.  For this list, the games had to be compelling, but not necessarily for on-court performance.  Significant games in terms of the future of the game of basketball were heavily considered.  Upsets in and of themselves did not merit serious consideration unless the upset in question had significance beyond the game itself.  Everybody knows that upsets are going to happen in the tournament.  That's a fact.  However, unless you're from a certain commuter school in Northern Virginia, they usually just go away quietly within a round or two.  The Final Four is usually contested between the big boys, and the games usually reflect that. 

As you watch the regionals this weekend and the Final Four next, remember the superstars that came before, and enjoy Nick's Lists: Top 10 Games in NCAA Tournament History!


10) Maryland 90 UConn 82 (2002 East Regional Final)

I had to include one game from Maryland's run in 2002 to the national title.  Of course I was not going to take the championship game that year (probably one of the worst played basketball games that I can remember).  Nor was I going to take the semifinal game against Kansas (a game that we pretty much dominated in the 2nd half, save a late comeback that was too little too late).  However, the UConn game in the regional final was by far the Terps' toughest test in the bracket that year.  It is hard to argue against that.  This game was actually a rematch from the previous December when Maryland KOed UConn in the BB&T Classic in Washington.  Coming into the tournament that year, Maryland was a team with something to prove.  They had earned a #1 seed despite being knocked off by NC State in the ACC tournament, and having only split with Duke.  Siena and Wisconsin provided little resistance in the subregionals, and Kentucky was tough with Prince and Bogans, but the outcome was rarely in doubt.  UConn had a chip on their shoulder.  Caron Butler and Emeka Okafor were determined to make sure the Terps saw a completely different team than the one they beat in DC.  For 36 minutes, one could argue that UConn was clearly the better team.  Then, Juan Dixon arrived at the party. 

3 minutes later, Steve Blake, who only had 2 points and no made field goals to this point, decided that it was his turn to take the big shot, the shot that would propel Maryland to their second consecutive Final Four.

From then on UConn had to resort to fouls.  Back then, Maryland could actually make free throws so the game was effectively over.  Maryland entered the semifinals against Kansas knowing that whoever won that game probably would win the title, as Indiana and Oklahoma in the other semifinal seemed outmatched (despite Oklahoma beating both Maryland and Kansas earlier in the year).  Maryland exorcised the demons of the previous year's run to the Final Four (where they blew a 22 point lead to Duke) and won its first national championship.

9) Valparaiso 70 Ole Miss 69 (1998 Midwest Regional First Round)

From wnst.net


Bryce Drew, who?  The team that came to define the term "Cinderella" in the 1990s ignited an improbable run to the Sweet 16 in 1998 thanks to the heroics of one coach's son who desperately wanted to take the last shot.  Why not?  He scored 22 points in the game, including several 3 pointers.  Ansu Sesay had a chance to ice it at the free throw line with 4.1 seconds left, but missed both of them.  Valpo rebounded the second and immediately called timeout so that coach Homer Drew could diagram the play "Pacer" in the huddle.  The play called for the inbounds pass to get to midcourt, where Bill Jenkins would immediately pass it to Drew at the 3-point line for a quick catch and shoot.  The play was executed brilliantly as Drew had a wide-open look at a 3-pointer, a shot he made with consistency all day.  Of course the shot went in and Drew's subsequent belly flop and mob scene entered NCAA tournament lore forever.  In 1998, Valpo exemplified the team that truly had "nothing to lose" being in the NCAAs.  The Mid-Continent Conference champions were just happy to be there playing in the first round.  Anything beyond that was simply gravy.  The went on to beat Florida State (themselves an upset winner) in the second round before finally falling to Rhode Island (ANOTHER upset winner over #1 Kansas) in the regional semifinal.  Stanford went on to win the region if for no other reason than the competition who was supposed to challenge them kept tripping all over themselves.  Nevertheless, Valpo's determination served as a reminder to every double-digit seed that there is a reason we play the games. 

8) Richmond 73 Syracuse 69 (1991 East Regional First Round)



Richmond became the first 15 seed to win an NCAA game

 We just talked about Valpo's big run in 1998, but even they can't lay claim to the biggest individual upset in NCAA tournament history.  We all know that if a first round game makes a top 10 list of the greatest games in NCAA history, a big boy probably got knocked off sooner than they would have liked.  This game is no exception.  Played at Cole Field House, Syracuse entered the tournament in 1991 as a #2 seed determined to make the Selection Committee regret not giving them a #1 seed.  Well, if they had been a #1 seed, they might have been the first (and only) #1 seed to lose to a #16.  As it stands, the Orange can claim to be the first #2 seed to ever lose to a #15 seed.  It has happened only 4 times in history (most recently in 2001 when Hampton KOed Iowa State).  Upsets were nothing new to the Spiders, having in previous tournaments knocked off Charles Barkley's Auburn Tigers in 1984 and defending champion Indiana 4 years later.  However, their 15-2 upset over Syracuse remains their crowning achievement.  This was also the first year that CBS was able to broadcast every game of the first round.  Games like this and Valpo's big upset 7 years later made the investment of worth it.  This would remain the case until CBS partnered with Turner Sports (TNT, TBS, and TruTV) in 2011 to broadcast every game of the first 3 rounds nationally.  Thankfully for bracket watchers and workaholics around the country, the NCAA still offers its (free) March Madness on Demand package.

7) Syracuse 81 Kansas 78 (2003 National Championship)


Getty Images

 "So this is college," Carmelo Anthony said to himself after Syracuse won its first ever national championship in 3 cracks at the title game.  "I could get used to this."  Unfortunately for him, multiple millions of dollars in the NBA just could not wait any longer.  So instead of leading the Cuse to multiple titles, he wallows in mediocrity in the NBA (and throwing the occasional sucker punch).  Jim Boeheim knew full well that he was going to at best get one full season out of the Baltimore product.  Most other college programs assumed the same thing, so they did not want to take a chance on a player who would give them just one season.  Boeheim took that chance, and was handsomely rewarded.  The title game against Kansas featured not just Anthony, but another freshman sharpshooter in Gerry McNamara (who had a huge game).  However, in the end, it was a senior who put the final exclamation point on the affair.  Syracuse led for most of the game, but Kansas put on a spirited comeback late in the second half to cut the lead to just 3 with a chance to tie in the final seconds.  Michael Lee took a Kirk Hinrich pass in the corner with 1 second left and went up to shoot a 3 that would have tied it, but Hakim Warrick stuck a huge left paw up and sent it into the front row with only 7 tenths of a second left.  This also happened to be Roy Williams' last game as Kansas head coach as he refused to field any questions about him potentially leaving the Jayhawks to coach North Carolina (which he eventually would).  "I don't give a [expletive deleted] about North Carolina," he told Bonnie Bernstein in the post-mortem.  So much for being "sensitive" as he called it....

6) Texas Western 72 Kentucky 65 (1966 National Championship)

This game is more famous for who played rather than how it was played.  In the 1960s, prior to UCLA's rise to dominance, the team to beat was Adolph Rupp's Kentucky Wildcats.  Most observers noted that in 1966, if UCLA was not going to win it, it was Kentucky's title to lose.  Their opponent in the championship game at Cole Field House that year was little known Texas Western University, today known as UTEP.  The big difference was that Texas Western coach Don Haskins started a team of 5 African American players versus Rupp's all-white squad.  Nobody gave Texas Western much of a shot, but scrappy defense and determination took the Miners over the top.  After the game, Coach Haskins said that he never intended to be some sort of racial pioneer.  He just wanted to put his 5 best players on the court, regardless of skin color.  It paid off in a 72-65 win, and another major motion picture based on a true story: "Glory Road."  Here is a clip from that film.  Love John Voight's nose in this...

There you have the first half of our countdown of the most important games in NCAA Tournament history.  Do you think you can figure out what the top 5 are?  As always, feel free to leave questions, remarks, or moving picks in the comments section below!