March Madness is arguably the best time of the sports calendar, but which players have arisen as heroes in the history of the NCAA Tournament?
March Madness is officially upon us. No, the NCAA Tournament has yet to begin, but that hasn’t stopped fans from debating who the No. 1 seeds should be and which athlete deserves national player of the year honors.
The NCAA Tournament is arguably the best event in all of sports. Many would argue the Super Bowl, some the World Series and others the NBA Finals, but no sporting event brings people more excitement and shock than the NCAA Tournament.
March also creates lasting memories for teams who make deep runs and players who make names for themselves on the national stage. March is when heroes are born.
Being a hero in March doesn’t just mean you’re remembered by your school, and your school only, but also college basketball fans everywhere. Although there have been countless March Madness heroes over the course of college basketball history, there are a handful who deserve recognition above the others for their selfless efforts.
Some of the guys on this list have led their respective teams to national titles. Others have led underdogs out of the shadows to a national stage and there are even some who have just made incredible shots in the NCAA Tournament that will never be forgotten.
Let’s kick things off with one of the best Cinderella stories in NCAA Tournament history at No. 25.
One of the first truly memorable Cinderella teams since 2000 was George Mason. Although they lost in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament title game, the Patriots finished the regular season 23-7 and earned an at-large bid as a No. 11 seed.
In the first round, the Patriots faced No. 6 Michigan State and everyone assumed Tom Izzo’s Spartans would roll, but George Mason pulled off the mammoth upset. The improbable run didn’t end there, though, as the Patriots went on to beat No. 3 North Carolina in the next round to advance to the Sweet 16. They took down No. 7 Wichita State and No. 1 Connecticut before losing in the Final Four to No. 3 seed Florida.
The run wouldn’t have been possible without the duo of CAA Player of the Year Jai Lewis and CAA All-Defensive team honoree Will Thomas. They combined to average 24.8 points and 16.2 rebounds per game to lead the Patriots to the first Final Four in school history.
It was tough to pick just one from this team as the entire starting lineup deserves a mention, but Thomas and Lewis really stood out in the frontcourt.
There aren’t many players in college basketball who deserve to have something named after them, but Jimmer Fredette was lucky enough to conjure the term “Jimmer range” on the hardwood.
How did that term arise? He had the innate ability to pull up about five or six feet behind the 3-point line and drain shots, even off-balance, with ease. He was never afraid to knock down 25-footers in the face of an unsuspecting defender.
During the 2011 NCAA Tournament, 3-seed BYU made a run to the Sweet 16 before getting knocked out by Florida, but even though the Cougars didn’t make it to the Elite Eight or Final Four, it would have been a shame to leave one of the most exciting players of the 2010s off the list.
In that tourney, Fredette led the Cougars, averaging 32.7 points and six assists per game. He led BYU to an impressive 32-5 final record, averaging over 28 points on the year. He wowed crowds throughout March, including in the conference tournament, dropping 52 points in a win over New Mexico.
Although he flamed out in the NBA and played a lengthy career overseas, Sean May will always be known in the college ranks for leading North Carolina to the national title. He’s now working as the director of operations for the Tar Heels.
It’s hard to think that his dominance in the NCAA Tournament happened over a decade ago and his professional basketball career is over.
During the regular season of his junior year, his final with North Carolina, he averaged a double-double with over 17 points and 10 rebounds per game. The Tar Heels went into the NCAA Tournament with a No. 1 seed and 27-4 overall record, and all he did was dominate all the way to the national title game.
May upped his game in the tourney, averaging 22.3 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, including a 26-point, 10-rebound performance in the national championship against Illinois. He will be remembered by North Carolina fans for being one of the best NCAA Tournament heroes in school history.
In 2013, everyone raved about “Dunk City” and its star, Sherwood Brown. Florida Gulf Coast, or FGCU, was nicknamed “Dunk City” in the 2013 NCAA Tournament for its incredible high-flying act on the way to the Eagles’ first Sweet 16 ever.
Although Brown wasn’t the center of every alley-oop in the highlights shown above, he was named the 2013 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year and was a major reason behind the Eagles’ success.
I know what you’re thinking, it can’t be that hard to make it to the Sweet 16, so why do two NCAA Tournament wins make Brown a March Madness hero? When you look at what FGCU overcame to make the Sweet 16, it becomes more impressive. In fact, the Eagles were a No. 15 seed and pulled off an unthinkable upset over Georgetown, with Brown scoring 24 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
Florida Gulf Coast went on to take down San Diego State in the round of 32, becoming the first No. 15 seed in NCAA Tournament history to make the Sweet 16. Brown had 17 big points and eight rebounds in that contest.
Although FGCU lost in the Sweet 16 against Florida, the improbable run won’t be forgotten as college basketball fans everywhere remember Dunk City as one of the more exciting Cinderellas of all time.
If you say Giddy Potts three times in a mirror, a sad Michigan State fan will appear. This was actually a toss-up between Potts and Reggie Upshaw Jr. because both led Middle Tennessee to back-to-back first-round upsets over Big Ten teams in the 2016 and 2017 NCAA Tournaments.
Since Potts stood out slightly more than Upshaw Jr., I’m going to stick with him on this list even though he didn’t fare too well in the round of 32 in 2016.
Potts led No. 15 Middle Tennessee past No. 2 Michigan State in 2016 with 19 points and five rebounds on 3-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. He sparked the Blue Raiders’ offense and still haunts many Spartan fans’ nightmares.
The then-sophomore guard scored just nine points in the second round as Syracuse slashed the Blue Raiders, ending the Cinderella run.
In 2017, Potts did it again, leading the 12th-seeded Blue Raiders past No. 5 Minnesota with 15 points and five rebounds. Yet again, he struggled in the second round, not scoring a single point. Can he finally put a full tournament together in 2018? Nevertheless, he’s one of the best heroes in recent memory.
Before Richard “Rip” Hamilton was leading the Detroit Pistons to the 2004 NBA title, he was one of the best Connecticut players in school history.
In fact, he led the Huskies to the 1999 national title and was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. He was also a consensus first-team All-American and back-to-back Big East Player of the Year honoree.
Even before ending his career on a high note with a national title win, Hamilton hit one of the most memorable shots of his basketball career. Facing off against No. 11 seed Washington, somewhat of a Cinderella, in the Sweet 16 of the 1998 NCAA Tournament, the Huskies found themselves down by one, 74-73, with under 10 seconds left.
A lid seemed to be on the basket for Connecticut as shot after shot was going in and out, but the Huskies were getting the offensive boards. The final tip out after a missed shot landed in Hamilton’s hands and he put up a contested fadeaway from just in front of the free throw line at the buzzer, and it fell.
Hamilton may have been the only player to ever make Jim Calhoun jump around like a schoolboy, and for that, he’s one of the best heroes March Madness has ever seen.
Tom Izzo’s teams just know how to show up in March, but not many of his squads were as memorable as 2010’s which made it all the way to the Final Four before losing to Butler in heartbreaking fashion.
Heartbreak was the theme of the locker room heading into the tournament, though, as Kalin Lucas, the all-everything point guard for the Spartans, went down in the first round with a leg injury and was ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Enter, backup point guard Korie Lucious. He was a highly-touted recruit out of Milwaukee, but would he be ready for the big stage so suddenly?
It seemed that way as he led the Spartans to the Final Four, but no shot of his was bigger than the buzzer-beater against Maryland in the round of 32 to advance to the Sweet 16.
Shout out to Delvon Roe who ducked below the Draymond Green pass to Lucious at the last second to avoid a disastrous result. Lucious was a hero for making this shot as well as taking over almost seamlessly for Lucas in the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
A national title drought for a program like Kansas seems like it would be 10-15 years, but surprisingly, the Jayhawks have only won three championships as a program. That’s still impressive for a college basketball program as only a number have won more than one.
Back to the original point, though. Kansas was in the midst of a monster title drought of over 35 years when Danny Manning was dominating the college ranks.
Manning gave Jayhawks fans a reason to be optimistic in 1988 despite having last won a national title in 1952. He was named the national player of the year although the Jayhawks entered the NCAA Tournament with a 21-11 overall record, earning a No. 6 seed.
Kansas was able to pull off a couple of wins to earn a trip to the Sweet 16. The team, nicknamed “Manning and the Miracles”, didn’t stop there, beating Vanderbilt and Kansas State to earn their second trip to the Final Four in three years. The Jayhawks then beat a tough Duke team to make a trip to the title game and then Manning put on a show against Oklahoma to win it all.
In fact, he willed the Jayhawks to their first title in 36 years by scoring 31 points to go along with 18 rebounds. He was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player and was one of the best players in school history, but this title run was his most memorable accomplishment.
When you think of clutch shots in recent NCAA Tournament memory, Trey Burke must come to mind. The Michigan point guard saved the day back in the 2013 NCAA Tournament against the Kansas Jayhawks.
Michigan was the 4-seed while Kansas was the favorite as the No. 1 seed in the region as the two faced off for a spot in the Elite Eight. It was an evenly-matched game, but it looked to be in the bag for the Jayhawks, but you can never count a John Beilein-coached Michigan team out.
With 12 seconds left, the Jayhawks stepped to the line for a 1-and-1 opportunity, up by three. A make would have almost put the game out of reach and two may have sealed the deal. Unfortunately for Kansas, and fortunately for Michigan, they missed the front-end of the 1-and-1 and the ball found its way to Burke with the clock winding down.
Who better to trust with the game on the line than the point guard who got the Wolverines to the Sweet 16? He saw an opportunity to shoot the ball from about eight feet behind the 3-point line and he drilled it to tie the game.
Michigan would go on to win in overtime and the Wolverines went on to make the national title game against Louisville, eventually falling there. Burke was an absolute monster in the tournament run, though.
Bryce Drew is a Valporaiso legend. The former guard led Valpo to one of the most surreal moments in NCAA Tournament history and it’s still hard to believe to this day.
In the first round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament, No. 13 Valporaiso found itself down 69-67 with No. 4 Ole Miss at the free throw line. The Rebels missed both free throws and the rebound was tipped out of bounds, giving the ball to Valporaiso with less than three seconds left and 94 feet to go.
It would take a nearly flawless inbounds pass down the floor to get the job done, and luckily that’s exactly what the Crusaders got. The pass made it about midway between the 3-point line and mid-court and Drew’s teammate shoveled it off to him streaking down the court. He caught it and hoisted up a leaning 3-pointer which hit nothing but the bottom of the net.
“Byrce Drew did it!” can still be heard echoing around the halls at Valporaiso University and Drew was an instant hero. He scored 22 points in the win and then led the Crusaders to their first-ever Sweet 16 with an overtime win over Florida State before losing to Rhode Island.
Drew came back to coach his alma mater, leading them to two NCAA Tournament appearances and a 124-49 overall record in his five years before accepting the Vanderbilt job in 2016.
There was a point in time when Northern Iowa was considered one of the most dangerous mid-major programs in college basketball. While the Panthers are still a force to be reckoned with in the Missouri Valley Conference under Ben Jacobson, his best season had to have been 2009-10 when they made it all the way to the Sweet 16.
That wouldn’t have been possible without the help of JUCO transfer Ali Farokhmanesh who hit the biggest shot of his career against No. 1 seed Kansas in the round of 32.
For those who don’t remember the shot, it was one of the gutsiest in NCAA Tournament history as he essentially made every Northern Iowa fan in the building go from “oh no” to “oh yes” in a matter of seconds.
Just watch.
With 42.8 seconds left on the clock and Northern Iowa up one on Kansas, Farokhmanesh received a pass down the court and didn’t expect to be wide open. Instead of wasting time or forcing the Jayhawks to foul, he decided to take matters into his own hands and shoot the ball. He drained the shot which essentially put the game away and led the Panthers to an incredible upset.
Every Kansas fan can tell you where they were when Ali hit the three.
Not many people realize just how good Gordon Hayward was for the Butler Bulldogs. Right now, he’s looked at as one of the better NBA stars. Before he made his way to the league, he was leading a mid-major in Butler to the NCAA title game.
Butler was able to make it back to the national title in 2011, but Hayward left after the 2009-10 season, his second with the program. He and Brad Stevens really put the Bulldogs on the map and he will always be remembered for nearly hitting a half-court shot to beat the Duke Blue Devils in the national title game.
Duke missed a free throw with under three seconds left and up by two and Hayward pulled down the rebound, sprinted to half-court and heaved up a prayer. That prayer was almost answered as it clanked off the backboard and the rim, ending the game with heartbreak.
While “almost” hitting a game-winning half-court shot at the buzzer doesn’t really make someone a hero, Hayward was the reason the Bulldogs made it that far. If he had made that shot, Hayward might be No. 1 on this list. Not many mid-majors can make the national title game, let alone win it.
One of the best one-and-dones in college basketball history had to have been Carmelo Anthony. Jim Boeheim and the Syracuse Orange wish he would have stuck around another couple of years to bring more than one title, but he led the program to its first ever national championship in 2003.
It’s hard to believe the Orange have just one national title banner, but no one will forget who led them there. Anthony was one of the greatest tourney performers in recent memory, averaging 20.2 points and 9.8 rebounds while shooting 48 percent from both the floor and behind the 3-point line.
Syracuse would not have been able to make the unbelievable run in March without the star freshman and it’s not easy to excel on the big stage in year one, but Anthony was able to do just that and it’s one of the reasons he was a top-five draft pick just months later.
Just how heroic was the freshman in that 2003 NCAA Tournament? Well, Syracuse began the season unranked and earned a 3-seed in the tourney. He scored a total of 53 points and grabbed 24 points in the Final Four and earned the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award.
Come to college, play one year, lead your program to its first ever title while earning the freshman of the year and most outstanding player of the tourney awards and earn the No. 3 pick in the draft. Can’t script it much better than that.
The 2008 NCAA Tournament was a rare one for college basketball followers. It was one of the only times all No. 1 seeds made the Final Four, which made it that much more of a heavyweight battle.
Kansas emerged from the Midwest Region to face off against Memphis from the South. The Jayhawks had just demolished North Carolina in the Final Four and stopped a Steph Curry-led Davidson Cinderella story in the Elite Eight. To say the Jayhawks were riding high would be an understatement.
However, John Calipari’s Memphis Tigers were also dismantling teams on the way to the national title. The game went down to the wire, and that’s where Mario Chalmers came in.
Derrick Rose made a free throw to put Memphis up by three with 10.8 seconds left and the Jayhawks went down the court and hit Chalmers, who took a dribble to his left and nailed the tying 3-pointer at the top of the arc, sending the game to overtime.
Chalmers finished with 18 points in the title game and helped lead the Jayhawks past Memphis in overtime for the win. He was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.
Connecticut players are no stranger to being March Madness heroes, and pint-sized Shabazz Napier fits that mold. He is one of the biggest heroes in school history following the run he led the Huskies on in 2014.
While he was a strong regular season performer, winning the AAC Player of the Year award, he didn’t really break out as a household name until the NCAA Tournament began. Once the bright lights were shining, this kid was an absolute menace.
Coming out of the AAC, Connecticut was just a No. 7 seed and it looked like they had a relatively tough draw in the East, having to play Villanova in the second round. The Huskies took care of the Wildcats behind Napier’s 25 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. They then drew Iowa State in the Sweet 16 and this was when everyone started to believe. The Huskies toppled the Cyclones on Napier’s 19 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Then, regional favorite, despite being the No. 4 seed, Michigan State awaited in the Elite Eight. The Spartans had plenty of talent, including Gary Harris, Adreian Payne, Denzel Valentine and more eventual NBA picks. The Huskies took care of the Spartans as Napier went off for 25 points again.
The Huskies then beat No. 1 Florida in the Final Four and No. 8 Kentucky in the national title game to beecome one of the lowest seeds to ever win the national title. Napier’s leadership and clutch shooting led the Huskies to the title, making this the second-most memorable point guard-led Connecticut title run in school history.
Just about every Indiana fan who was old enough to remember the Keith Smart shot in the 1987 national title game knows just where they were when it happened.
Smart, a junior college transfer from Garden City C.C., was in his first season with Bobby Knight and the Hoosiers and was trusted to make the biggest shot of the season, resulting in a national title triumph for Indiana.
Indiana had the ball with less than 30 seconds left after a missed free throw by Syracuse and trailing by one. The Hoosiers dribbled the ball around and couldn’t find an open shot. With about 10 seconds remaining, panic seemed to set in, but Smart kept his composure, passed it to his teammate on the baseline, got it back, took a dribble and hit the game-winner as he was fading to his left.
The officials put one second on the clock for Syracuse to try and toss the ball downcourt and pull off a miracle buzzer-beater, but it was intercepted by — guess who — Smart. He will go down in Indiana history as a legend.
When you think back at some of the all-time most selfless players, Joakim Noah has to be near the top of the list. Not many guys have the chance to go pro after winning a national title just to pass it up and come back in order to win another. Not only is that a selfless move, but it’s also a bold one.
What would have happened in Noah came back for his junior year after winning the 2006 national title and his draft stock dipped and he didn’t win? He may have been forced to stay for his senior season to salvage the stock and by then it may have been too late. Essentially, Noah and his teammates called their shot in 2007.
Let’s start with his heroic win in 2006. The sophomore big man was a monster down low, wreaking havoc on opponents in the post. He averaged 16.2 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.8 blocks and 3.2 assists in the NCAA Tournament, earning the Most Outstanding Player award. He could have left and been a lottery pick.
Noah came back in 2007 and led the Florida Gators to another title and didn’t need to score as much to do so. He averaged just 11.5 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks as the Gators came away with back-to-back titles. The unselfishness makes him a hero, and his performances are just a cherry on top.
When teammate Hank Gathers collapsed on the court during the WCC Tournament quarterfinal and was rushed to the hospital, Bo Kimble was forced to move forward with a heavy heart. In fact, the entire Loyola Marymount squad in 1989-90 was heartbroken.
Gathers was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after and Kimble lost his best friend. How does a team even move forward after that? Losing a 23-year-old star to an apparent heart condition in shocking fashion isn’t easy to overcome, but Loyola Marymount made the NCAA Tournament and an improbable run to the Elite Eight.
Loyola Marymount was granted a No. 11 seed after winning the regular season title and they went on to take down No. 6 New Mexico State, then Michigan and then Alabama to reach the Elite Eight.
The second-team All-American Kimble led the Lions with 35.8 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game in the Elite Eight run, scoring over 40 points twice. He became even more of a hero when he shot his first free throws of the tournament left-handed in honor of Gathers who tried so hard to improve his left hand.
Magic Johnson was one of the most exciting players in NCAA history and became one of the best NBA players of all time, spending his professional days with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Before he won title after title with the Lakers, he helped lead Michigan State to its first-ever national title in 1979 ever undefeated Indiana State and Larry Bird — the two had a budding rivalry which continued in the NBA as Bird played for the Celtics.
Magic returned for his sophomore year to help lead the Spartans to the national title game and he did just what he set out to do.
In that magical, no pun intended, NCAA Tournament run which made him a national hero, he averaged 21.8 points, 10 assists and 8.8 rebounds per game. He even recorded two triple-doubles on the way to the title game against Bird. He was arguably the best player on the floor at all times and many credit the matchup of Bird and Magic in the 1979 title game for putting college basketball on the map.
Moreover, the 1979 National Championship was one of the most viewed in college basketball history at the time.
Did the 2008 NCAA Tournament make Steph Curry? That’s not quite fair to say, but it definitely brought him into the spotlight and he became an instant sensation for the performances he put on in front of millions of viewers.
Before the 2008 NCAA Tournament, fans wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between Steph Curry and an end-of-the-bench player for a mid-major. He wasn’t a household name although he had averaged over 25 points per game in his three-year career at Davidson. It was the 2008 NCAA Tournament that made him a lottery pick.
In case you don’t remember Curry’s heroic run to the Elite Eight, let’s just go over the type of numbers he put up. In a first round win over No. 7 Gonzaga, Curry scored a whopping 40 points and made 8-of-10 shots from 3-point land. In an improbable win over Georgetown, he scored 30 despite a cold shooting performance. He capped off the run with 33 points against Wisconsin and 25 versus Kansas.
The small program from North Carolina made that incredible run on the back of Curry’s 32 points per game and eye-popping 3-point shooting. He became a superstar overnight.
How could Lew Alcindor, also known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, be left off the list? Imagine being so good at the game of basketball, that the entire sport makes a rule to limit one of your best moves. That was the case with Abdul-Jabbar, known as Alcindor in his college days, as college basketball outlawed the dunk for 10 years because he was so good at scoring that way.
After spending a year on the freshman team, per NCAA rules, in 1966, Alcindor made his way to the varsity club in 1967 and excelled, leading the UCLA Bruins to three straight national titles during one of the most dominating eras of college basketball by one single team.
Alcindor didn’t just lead the varsity team to three straight titles, he was also the first-ever Naismith Player of the Year in 1979 and he was a three-time first-team All-American. How does this make him a March Madness hero? He won three straight Most Outstanding Player awards in the 1967-69 NCAA tournaments.
In 1967, he averaged 26.5 points and 15.5 rebounds in the tourney while shooting over 65 percent to lead the Bruins to the national title. In 1968, he averaged 25.6 points and 18.8 rebounds in March while shooting 66 percent from the floor to win his second straight title. And in 1969, he ended his NCAA Tournament career by putting up 23.8 points and 16 rebounds, shooting 62 percent from the floor.
Remember when I said Shabazz Napier’s run to the Final Four with the Huskies in 2014 was the second-best of any point guard in Connecticut history? Well, here’s the first. Kemba Walker put together one of the most astounding string of games in NCAA Tournament history, and that was after the Huskies had to go through a grueling stretch of playing five straight conference tournament games.
Walker’s heroics actually came slightly before the NCAA Tournament as the Huskies won a game in five straight days to put together one of the most memorable Big East Tournament title runs in the history of the conference. Walker averaged 26 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists to piece together the incredible run.
Five days later, the third-seeded Huskies defeated Cornell in the opening round, showing that fatigue wasn’t an issue. Walker scored 18 and dished 12 assists in that win.
Connecticut then beat Cincinnati comfortably thanks to Walker’s 33 points. He dropped 36 against San Diego State in the Sweet 16 and 20 versus Arizona in the Elite Eight. He combined for 34 points in the two Final Four games, obviously both wins, capping off a history run to the 2011 national title.
Walker won the Most Outstanding Player award and his performance set the standard for heroic showings in March.
Everyone loves to hate Christian Laettner. That was especially true back in the early 1990s when he was one of the most hated Duke players to ever don the blue and white and if you ask anyone who has been a college basketball fan for 30-plus years, they’ll probably tell you he tops the list of most hated.
Why did everyone hate Laettner? Because he was good. He was your typical Duke player who was good at just about everything and that set people off. He wasn’t just good, he was good and he’d let you know it.
Throughout his illustrious college career, though, he will always be remembered for one play. That play still haunts Kentucky fans as it was their opportunity to play for the 1992 national title. In the Elite Eight back in the 1992 NCAA Tournament, Laettner became a Duke legend, as if he wasn’t already, for sending the Blue Devils to the Final Four with one incredible shot.
With 2.1 seconds on the clock and Duke down 103-102, the Blue Devils inbound the ball from 94 feet away, but Grant Hill threw a perfect strike to Laettner who caught it, turned around and drilled a jumper from the free throw line to win. He led the Blue Devils to their second straight national title.
While the entire play deserves recognition, it’s Laettner’s catch, turnaround and shot that will be remembered forever.
Honestly, I was debating on whether to give this No. 2 spot to Jim Valvano or Lorenzo Charles, but since we are sticking with the theme of players as heroes, we will go with the latter.
Although, Valvano deserves some recognition for what he did with the 1983 NC State Wolfpack. The sixth-seeded Wolfpack made an improbable run to the Final Four, beating fourth-seeded Georgia and No. 1 seed Houston to win the national title.
How the Wolfpack did that is what gives the hero honor to Charles. With 44 seconds on the clock and the national title game knotted up at 52-52, NC State passed the ball around the perimeter and near half court to melt the time down. The Wolfpack wanted to get the last shot, obviously, and as the time was under 10 seconds, the passes got a little sloppier.
With four seconds on the clock, NC State hoisted up a deep 3-pointer and it came just short, but Charles was there to catch it and dunk it as time expired. NC State would win in shocking fashion.
Valvano will always be remembered for his celebration after the victory as he was looking around for someone to hug after Charles made the game-winning dunk as time expired. The head coach passed away at the age of 47 in 1996 after a battle with cancer and people still remember him to this day as an inspiration.
The 2016 national title game may go down as the best in NCAA Tournament history. Not only did it feature an improbable champion in Villanova, but also one of the craziest final two minutes of basketball in the history of the sport.
North Carolina found itself down by six points with about 1:30 left to play when the Tar Heels hit a three to cut it to three, 70-67. After plenty of back-and-forth action and some fouls, the Tar Heels were down 74-71 with time ticking away under 10 seconds. Marcus Paige got the ball at the 3-point line, went up for the shot, double-clutched to avoid being swatted and made an incredible tying three.
With 4.7 seconds to go, Villanova’s Ryan Arcidiacono took the inbounds pass up the floor, turned to find the inbounder, Kris Jenkins, trailing and hit him for the open shot. What happened next was one of the greatest shots in college basketball history.
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Jenkins drained the 3-pointer to give the Wildcats the national title at the buzzer as his teammates stormed the court and buried him faster than he could imagine. Jenkins finished the game with 14 and scored in double-figures in each NCAA Tournament game, but this shot is still goosebump-inducing.