March Madness: 25 greatest buzzer-beaters in NCAA Tournament history

15. Rip Hamilton: No. 2 UConn vs. No. 11 Washington – 1998 Sweet 16

We don’t have much footage of March Madness before the 90s, so we have to take advantage of this wonderful grainy footage we get from these mid-90s games. Here, Rip Hamilton needed a miracle shot to send Connecticut to the Elite Eight.

It wasn’t just the shot though. UConn spent a full 10 seconds trying to get the ball into the net to give themselves the lead. Two missed shots and three missed tips led to Hamilton getting a second chance with just two seconds left. He took a fadeaway jumper that went in as the clock turned to zero.

This helped UConn avoid one of the bigger Sweet 16 upsets in history. A double-digit seed very rarely makes it to the Sweet 16 at all, let alone winning on that huge stage. Hamilton’s Huskies lost in the Elite Eight but it was the mad scramble and the sheer will that puts this play into the top 15. Hamilton already missed a shot in this 10-second sequence but he didn’t let it hurt his confidence and took the fadeaway from inside the paint.

This is one of those shots people still talk about to this day. UConn has so many better memories since this, including National Championships in both men’s and women’s basketball, but those who watched this game still talk about it. Seeing as a team is close to taking you out, only to make an improbable shot to win it makes it as memorable as any play they’ve had.