Ten greatest Final Four games of the 21st Century

7: Connecticut vs. Duke (2004) 

Who doesn’t love a Final Four showdown between blue bloods? Similar to San Diego State and Florida Atlantic, Connecticut jumped out to an early lead only for Duke to storm back and take a 7-point advantage into the halftime locker room, thanks in large part to 1st half foul trouble for Big East Player of the Year Emeka Okafor. Connecticut battled the entire 2nd half, cutting the Blue Devils lead to just a single point with just under ten minutes to play, only for Duke to extend their lead back to eight with just three minutes to go. From that point on, UConn would go on a 12-0 run, led largely by Okafor, who scored all eighteen of his points in the 2nd half, including the go-ahead lay-in with 25 seconds to go.

The Huskies would go on to win the National Title, defeating another ACC opponent (Georgia Tech) in the Championship Game. It would be Jim Calhoun’s second of what would eventually be three titles, and the first of four Connecticut championships in the 21st Century.

6: Virginia vs. Auburn (2019) 

You can’t tell the story of Virginia and Auburn’s Final Four showdown in 2019 without first recapping how the Cavaliers even reached the Final Four in the first place. Just over a year earlier, Virginia had the dubious distinction of becoming the first 1-seed in NCAA Tournament history to get bounced in an opening round match-up with a 16-seed, when UMBC ran the Cavaliers out of the gym, beating the #1 overall team in the tournament by 20 points in what remains one of the most stunning upsets I’ve ever seen in any sport. With much of that very same group coming back for the 2018-19 season, Virginia faced an uphill battle that no team in the sport’s history had ever had to climb.

Virginia shrugged off postseason disappointment and once again cruised to a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. But once again, Virginia would be challenged early on. In their opening round match-up versus 16-seed Gardner Webb, the Cavaliers once again found themselves in a deep hole against an overmatched opponent. Gardner-Webb led by 14 with just over six minutes left in the 1st half and took a 6-point lead into half. Virginia would find their form in the 2nd half, outscoring the Runnin’ Bulldogs by 21 in the 2nd half. Virginia would face smaller 1st half deficits in their next two tournament games, first versus Oklahoma in the Round of 32 and then Oregon in the Sweet Sixteen.

By the Elite Eight, it looked as if Virginia’s run was on its last leg. They once again had to dig themselves out of yet another 1st half deficit, and found themselves trailing by three with just under six seconds to go. Ty Jerome stepped to the free throw line and coolly knocked down his first attempt, but missed the second, resulting in a mad scramble and a Mamadi Diakite buzzer-beater.

Virginia would go on to win in overtime, but the drama was just starting. Once again, the Cavaliers would find themselves trailing late, this time to Auburn in the Final Four. Down by 2 with just over 1 second remaining, Kyle Guy was fouled while shooting a three-pointer from the corner, sending the 83 percent shooter to the line with a chance to send Virginia to the National Championship Game. Five years later, the debate still rages on as to whether a foul should’ve been called on the three-point attempt.

5: Duke vs. Maryland (2001) 

I’ve already spent plenty of time documenting a handful of the most memorable comebacks in Final Four history, but perhaps none is more significant than the deficit the 2001 Duke Blue Devils dug themselves out of in a Final Four matchup with then-ACC rival Maryland, in what was the fourth meeting of the season between the two schools. The Terps, who would go on to win the National Championship in 2002 with most of their team from the previous season returning, stormed out of the gate and opened up 22-point 1st half lead over the Blue Devils, who were 4.5 point favorites heading into the game.

Behind AP Player of the Year Shane Battier (25 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks), All-American Jay Williams (23 points and 4 assists) and sophomore Carlos Boozer (19 points and 4 rebounds off the bench), the Blue Devils didn’t just erase Maryland’s 22 point lead… they absolutely throttled the Terrapins over the last 27 minutes of the game, outscoring Maryland 78-45 from the point that the Terps took a 39-17 lead. After the game, freshman guard Chris Duhon told the media, “It’s a 40-minute game and they beat us for 12 minutes. If you’re going to beat us, you’ve got to do it for 40.” Duhon wasn’t wrong. Duke would go on to beat Arizona in the National Championship Game, winning Coach K his third of five National Titles.

4: Kentucky vs. Wisconsin (2014) 

3: Wisconsin vs. Kentucky (2015) 

Now I’ll concede that Wisconsin/Kentucky I was a more dramatic and exciting game than Wisconsin/Kentucky II, but the edge here goes to their second Final Four meeting in a row if only because of the stakes. In 2014, Kentucky and Wisconsin met in a Final Four donnybrook that was capped by Aaron Harrison’s (not to be confused with his twin brother Andrew) game-winning three-pointer with 5.7 seconds left. It was Harrison’s third consecutive NCAA Tournament game with a late game-clinching jumper, and Kentucky, an 8-seed, was back in the National Championship Game for the second time in three years. As for Wisconsin, it was the Badgers first Final Four appearance since making a surprising run as an 8-seed in 2000.

One year later, Wisconsin and Kentucky found themselves in a highly-anticipated Final Four rematch, this time with both teams coming in with legitimate championship aspirations. Wisconsin returned nearly everybody from the 2013-14 squad, and Kentucky, in typical John Calipari fashion, had re-loaded with a group of freshman that dominated from the moment they stepped onto campus in Lexington. The Wildcats entered their Final Four rematch against Wisconsin with a perfect 38-0 record. It was the latest a team had carried an undefeated record into the tournament since UNLV did so in 1991. Unfortunately for Kentucky, their 2015 Final Four result was the same as the 1990-91 Runnin’ Rebels.

Led by March Madness icon and 2015 Player of the Year Frank Kaminsky (20 points and 11 rebounds), the Badgers stunned the favored Wildcats, securing a 71-64 win, turning Kentucky’s dream season into a nightmare.

Nearly a decade later, what stands out most when reflecting on these two match-ups is that neither of these two teams won the National Championship in either 2014 and 2015, even though over a two season stretch, they were the two best programs in basketball.

2: North Carolina vs. Duke (2022) 

Until 2022, the two schools that make up the most important and iconic rivalry in all of college basketball had never met in the NCAA Tournament. Kinda hard to believe given how much NCAA Tournament success each of these programs have had, but finally, after so many years of waiting to watch Duke and North Carolina go head-to-head in the Big Dance, the Blue Devils and Tar Heels hooked up with a National Championship Game berth on the line, and the two teams did not disappoint.

In what turned out to be Coach K’s final game as the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils, North Carolina played spoiler, knocking K and the Devils out of the tournament with an 81-77 win. Roughly one month earlier, the Tar Heels put a damper on Coach K’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, beating Duke 94-81 in front of a large contingent of Cameron Crazies, former Duke stars, and Coach K’s family. For Carolina fans, raining on Coach K’s parade in both his final home game and final NCAA Tournament game was better than a National Championship could possibly be, and that proved to be a nice consolation prize for Tar Heels faithful, because UNC would go on to blow a 15-point halftime lead against Kansas in the Title Game.

Of course Duke fans would disagree, but as an otherwise unbiased fan, it’s very easy to make the case that this was one of the most entertaining games in the long history of Duke vs. North Carolina.

1: Gonzaga vs. UCLA (2021) 

Fifteen years before meeting in the Final Four, Gonzaga and UCLA played in a Sweet Sixteen matchup that would prove to be a pivotal point in the trajectory of both programs. Led by All-American Adam Morrison, Gonzaga entered the 2006 NCAA Tournament with legitimate championship aspirations for the first time in program history after long being cast in the role of Cinderella when March rolled around. From this point on, with a few rebuilding years thrown in there, the Zags entered most seasons with hopes that they’d finally be able to climb to the top of the mountain. For UCLA, the 2006 NCAA Tournament was all about returning to the heights that the program had been accustomed to. It had been eleven years since the Bruins had won their last National Championship, and the 2005-06 squad represented the programs best chance to get back to the title game.

UCLA erased a 17-point deficit and won their Sweet Sixteen matchup against the Zags, leaving a crying Adam Morrison in a heap on the ground and turning Gus Johnson into a household name and bonafide play-by-play legend. UCLA would go on to reach the National Championship Game, marking the first of three consecutive Final Four appearances, their longest streak of postseason success since John Wooden was coaching the team. Gonzaga would need to wait another eleven years before reaching their first Final Four, and fifteen years before they had an opportunity to knock the Bruins out of the Big Dance.

In 2021, the roles had reversed. Gonzaga was the powerhouse and came into the Final Four with an unblemished record, while UCLA, under second-year head coach Mick Cronin, was an 11-seed and the proverbial Cinderella of the 2021 NCAA Tournament. While there were a limited number of fans in attendance due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, over 15 million fans tuned in to watch what is arguably one of the most entertaining NCAA Tournament games in the long history of the best postseason in sports. Gonzaga came into the game as 14-point favorites, but the Bruins went punch-for-punch with the Bulldogs. The lead for either team never ballooned beyond seven points, and in the end, 40 minutes just weren’t enough to determine who would play Baylor in the Championship Game.

With 3 seconds remaining, UCLA’s Johnny Juzang — the leading scorer in the game — tied things up at 90 with a put-back off of his own miss. It looked like we were bound to get five more minutes of free basketball, but Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs had other plans. Suggs called game and etched his name into the college hoops history books.