15 most memorable men's March Madness moments since 2000

With March Madness approaching, we are entering the best time of year to be a college basketball fan. To usher in a new year of upsets, stellar performances and champions, here are 15 moments from 2000 to now that are some of the most memorable moments in March Madness history.

This is an honorable mention because it did not happen in the NCAA tournament, but instead in the Big East quarterfinal game, which led up to UConn’s tournament victory, which led to a national championship.

Every March, the Kemba Walker highlights start rolling around again. He is one of the best, if not the best UConn Husky in the history of the program. One specific moment where his creative ability to juke out defenders was in 2011 against Pitt, a game Walker himself calls the best of his UConn career.

You know the move. Cross up one way, come back and cross up the other way to really shake the Pitt defender, step back, shoot and sink the buzzer beater and win the game. It’s a moment of college basketball history too iconic to not include, even if it occurred a game before the 2011 run.

Sophomore Ja Morant and the Murray State Racers entered the 2019 tournament as the 12-seed. They faced off against fifth-seeded Marquette and pulled away with the dub, courtesy of Morant’s 17 points, 16 assists, and 11 rebounds. Morant became the fourth player to ever record a triple-double in the tournament. Other names on that list include Dwayne Wade, Cole Aldrich and Draymond Green.

Not many knew the talent of Stephen Curry before he brought Davidson on a legendary March Madness run. Curry and the No. 10 Wildcats won their opening-round game against No. 7 Gonzaga 82-76, with 40 points from Curry. Next round they faced No. 2 Georgetown. Down with just under 18 minutes left to play, Curry surged for 30 points total on the day to move on. Sweet 16, Curry does what he does best; shoot 3s. He had six 3s and 33 points to take down No. 2 Wisconsin, who had the best defense in the country. The Elite Eight opponent is No.1 Kansas. The magic runs out as they lose to the eventual national champs, but Curry put himself, and Davidson, on the map as a top-tier basketball program.

Last year it was supposed to be Purdue’s turn to win it all and claim their first title. They were a top seed, and performed well all season, finishing atop the Big 10 and winning the Big 10 tournament.

Then a school named Fairleigh Dickinson showed up. They weren’t even supposed to be in the tournament. They had lost in their conference’s championship game to Merrimack. But, Merrimack was in a transitional phase from DII to DI, so they were ineligible for the tournament. So, the Knights were given a second chance, and did not waste it, as they took down Purdue in the opening round. The first 16-seed to take down a 1-seed since another school, which we will talk about a bit later.

The 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats had a roster full of future NBA stars. Trey Lyles, Devin Booker and Karl Anthony-Towns were freshmen and relied on heavily. Junior Willie Caulie-Stein was garnering attention from NBA scouts and not many players had graduated. They entered the tournament undefeated, the 19th team in history to do that, and won their first four tournament games.

Watching an undefeated team continue to play is exciting for a few reasons. You want to see how long they can keep it up, if they are going to take it all the way to the championship, and most importantly, who could be the team to stop the run. In the Final Four, they ran into Wisconsin, who ended the winning streak. We will talk about this era of Wisconsin basketball a little bit later, but just remember for now that they were the ones who ended the Wildcats’ perfect season, causing them to finish 38-1.

While teams are exciting to watch as they play as a unit, individual performances are largely the name of the March Madness game. In 2021, No. 1 Gonzaga was playing in the Final Four against UCLA. The game had gone into overtime, and with 3.3 seconds left on the clock, then freshman Jalen Suggs sank a buzzer-beater from half-court to send the Bulldogs to the championship game. Suggs had 16 points total in that game, and would be drafted by the Magic with the fifth overall pick after the season was over.

You will see a lot of tears in the March Madness tournament. It is part of the process. It has got to be painful to work so hard throughout the regular season, your conference’s championship tournament and whatever other obstacles stand before you, to get your seed number and a chance to run the table, all for it to fall apart at any moment. These players truly play like it is the last time they ever will.

One of the most heartbreaking displays of tears at the tournament came from Adam Morrison in 2006, when his 3-seed Zags ran into 2-seed UCLA. The Bulldogs were leading at the half, and leading by nine with three minutes to go, it all seemed like it was going to end in their favor. But, UCLA completed the comeback, and sent Morrison and his teammates back to Washington. The TV broadcast showed Morrison, one of the best scorers and big guys in college basketball, sitting at center court, tears streaming down his face in defeat, before laying on his stomach to try and hide some of the emotions.

On a happier note, let’s talk about something that was alluded to earlier, the first time a 16-seed beat a 1-seed was when UMBC did it in 2018. They beat Virginia 74-54 for their first tournament win in school history.

Gonzaga found itself another heartbreak five years removed from Morrison’s tears, this time at the hands of BYU’s Jimmer Fredette. Fredette was a cover athlete for the Cougars, and his tournament performance in 2011 was no different, dropping 34 points on BYU’s quest for the title. His performance garnered attention from everyone around the country who was watching, pro athletes like Kevin Durant included, calling Fredette “the best scorer in the world.”

Fredette and BYU lost in the following round in OT to Florida, but he was drafted 10th overall in the 2011 draft by Sacramento. He still plays basketball professionally, most recently winning silver at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup and gold at the 2023 3x3 Pan American tournament.

Wisconsin has not won a national championship since 1941, but in 2015, the Badgers were led by Frank Kaminsky, whose performance against Kentucky (the perfect season ruiner that was mentioned earlier), was one of the best in recent tournament history. He had 20 points and 11 rebounds against the Wildcats, and then another double-double in the championship game, 21 points and 12 rebounds. He was the AP Player of the Year in 2015, and the season prior, he led the Badgers to victory over No. 1 Arizona. Frank the Tank was arguably one of the best college players of the 2010s, and his dominance has not been forgotten, especially when March rolls around.

People watch sports to be entertained. There is no denying that. The good thing about March Madness is that it is entertaining and when you couple that with a good Cinderella story moment, you get Florida Gulf Coast’s 2013 run. Arguably one of the most fun Cinderella stories to watch. FGCU came into the tournament as the No. 15 seed. They cruised past No. 2 Georgetown in the opening round 78-68, with five dunks happening in the final half. Next round, they did the same thing to beat No. 7 San Diego State. Their magical run came to an end via in-state foes Florida, but the world had so much fun watching FGCU take flight in their sixth year as a DI program.

Michigan State won the national title in 2000, and many consider that tournament to be the most boring March Madness tournament of all time. Even if it wasn’t as exciting as some others, there were still some really good individual performances; like Tayshaun Prince’s.

Kentucky would have lost in the first round of the tournament if Prince did not score 28 points. They were the No. 5 seed and had a season that was atypical for one of college basketball’s greatest teams. They lost in the conference tournament to Arkansas. Sophomore Desmond Allison was arrested for drunk driving on the day the Wildcats were selected as the fifth seed and suspended by the program. With all that looming overhead, they went into their first-round game with only nine players on the roster against No. 12 St. Bonaventure and ended the game, which should have been an easy win, tied. The person to send it to OT and keep his team’s hopes alive — Prince with a three-pointer from the wing to tie it. Additionally, his composure from the free throw line added to his points total, and helped to keep Kentucky alive.

The UConn roster in 2006 featured a couple of future NBA players: Rudy Gay, Hilton Armstrong, Marcus Williams, Josh Boone, and Denham Brown. They were playing in Washington, D.C. against a school that no one had ever heard of outside of the people in Fairfax, Virginia. George Mason had worked its way to the Elite Eight to face off against one of the rising juggernauts of college basketball, and beat them in overtime, becoming the first double-digit seed in 20 years to make the Final Four. One of the best upsets in college basketball history.

The 2016 Texas A&M men’s basketball team had a pretty good season. They were SEC co-champions and secured the No. 3 seed in the West. They won their first tournament game against Green Bay with ease, and squared off against Northern Iowa for round two. Down 12 points with 40 seconds to go, it looked bleak for the Aggies. Still, they persevered. Down 10 with 30 seconds to go, the Panthers make some costly turnovers to allow the Aggies to come close to tying the game up. With 1.9 seconds left, freshman Admon Gilder stole the ball for a layup to force overtime. Some big three-point shots in the first overtime kept it tied, and a fatal miss by UNI in the last three seconds of double OT sealed victory for the Aggies.

Maybe it’s the talent, and maybe it’s Sister Jean, we might never know. But what we do know is that Loyola Chicago’s 2018 tournament was incredible. First, they beat sixth-seeded Miami, then No. 3 Tennessee, shooting more than 50% from 2 and 37% from 3. The Ramblers were locked in and playing some highly efficient ball. The Volunteers forced OT, but a buzzer-beater by Clayton Custer secured victory.

Then, they beat Kansas State to win the South and secure a spot in the Final Four. While they couldn’t beat Michigan, it was a magic run, one of the best in recent history.

I can’t remember a better championship game in the last 24 years that ended in a nail-biter like this one. I think it is the best championship game that the tournament has had as long as I have been alive. It had everything a good championship game should have, a close game, two great teams playing great basketball, and of course, a buzzer-beater to seal victory. Kris Jenkins was the hero, shooting the ball with no one on him straight into the bucket for three.