The 25 greatest NCAA tournament games of the 21st century

While Duke's main rival is North Carolina, the Duke-Maryland rivalry in the 2000s was something to behold. The two met in the Final Four at the peak of their rivalry (this would be the fourth time the two met that season). Duke had beaten the Terps in College Park in a miracle comeback finish, which foreshadowed what would happen in Minneapolis. Maryland soared to an early 22-point lead over the stacked Blue Devils, but the "Miracle Minute" in College Park reminded everyone that Duke wouldn't just roll over. Duke made a frantic comeback, as they would outscore the Terps 78-45 the rest of the way. Jay Williams scored 23 points, Carlos Boozer added 19 and Shane Battier led the way with 25. Duke would win 95-84 and go on to the national championship game versus Arizona.  

Arizona was one of the top teams in the nation and a favorite to win the national championship. Gonzaga, at that time, was the nation's Cinderella but they weren't the power that we know them today. So when the two met up in Salt Lake City, no one expected the double-overtime thriller to come. Salim Stoudamire scored five points with 2:03 left in the second OT to pull out the 96-95 win -- no one scored after that bucket. Tony Skinner, who scored 25 points in the game, missed a three pointer with seconds left and Blake Steppe, who also scored 25, missed a layup at the buzzer that would've given Gonzaga the win. Channing Fyre was amazing -- 22 points, 12 rebounds, and played the final 15 minutes of the game with four fouls. 

There was a time not too long ago where it was strange that one freshman could put a team on his back and carry them to a national championship. Carmelo Anthony did just that in his one season at Syracuse. However, it was the Orangemen's Gerry McNamara who hit six threes in the first half to give 'Cuse an 18-point lead and an 11-point lead at the half. The Jayhawks, led by Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison, came back to within two points late. Syracuse's Hakeem Warrick missed two free throws with 13.5 seconds remaining but flew in and came up with a huge block on a Michael Lee's corner three with 1.5 seconds left. Hinrich's three at the buzzer wasn't close and Jim Boeheim finally wins his first national championship (beating Roy Williams, who was also looking for his first title). Anthony scored 21 points in the win and was the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

Two other notes from this game: I mentioned Warrick's missed free throws. That was a theme of the night as the two teams combined to go just 22 of 47 from the line. This would also be Roy Williams' final game at Kansas as he would leave to take the North Carolina job the following week. 

West Virginia's win over Wake Forest is the highest scoring NCAA tournament game on the 2000s. Both teams shot over 50% from the field --though both struggled from three -- and combined for 75 free throw attempts in the 111-105 double overtime Mountaineers victory. Neither team could stop the other (well, except for the Demon Deacons Eric Williams blocking Johannes Herber's layup at the end of the first overtime). What made this game great was how competitive the overtimes were. Wake's Chris Paul scored 10 points in the first overtime while West Virginia's Mike Gansey scored 19 of his 29 points in both OTs. Paul fouled out early in the second OT and the 'Neers took advantage. Wake's 105 points is the second most for a losing team in tournament history. 

The 2005 regional final was one of the best weekends in NCAA tournament history (more on that later). The Spartans-Wildcats game was absolutely bonkers. The game was back and forth but saw Kentucky trailing with less than 20 seconds left. Kentucky missed two threes before Patrick Sparks' double pump shot at the buzzer hit every part of the rim before slowly falling through the net. Officials spent an eternity reviewing the replay to see if Sparks' foot was behind the line (and it couldn't get much closer) before counting it. The game would go into overtime where Kentucky took an early lead before Michigan State came storming back. Michigan State would pull away in the second overtime to secure a 94-88 win and a berth in the Final Four. 

The Illinois Fighting Illini ... with their trio of Deron Williams, Dee Brown and Luther Head ... spent most of the season atop the rankings and an NCAA title favorite in 2005. All their hopes were about to be dashed in Chicago by Arizona in the Elite 8, as the Wildcats built a 15-point lead with around four minutes left in the game (the Illini's biggest deficit all season was nine points up to that point). Illinois got hot and went on a 20-5 run to end regulation, forcing several Arizona turnovers and a late Williams three sent the game to an 80-80 tie into overtime. The Illini stayed hot into the extra period and fended off a furious Wildcats rally to win, 90-89.

This game was part of one of the most remarkable rounds of basketball the NCAA tournament had ever seen. Louisville came back from a 20-point deficit to beat West Virginia in overtime; North Carolina barely slipped by Wisconsin; Kentucky's Patrick Sparks hit a late three to send their game with Michigan State into overtime before falling to the Spartans. 

One of the lasting images in the NCAA tournament this century is Adam Morrison sitting on the floor crying after UCLA mounted a massive comeback in the West Region final to end his Gonzaga career. Morrison and Duke's J.J. Redick spent an entire season in a cross-country battle for Player of the Year, but Morrison also wanted to take America's annual Cinderella to their first Final Four. The Zags dominated the game, building a 17-point lead at one point. But the Bruins kept chipping away. After two Ryan Hollins free throws, UCLA pressed Gonzaga in on the inbound, Jordan Farmar stole the ball and passed to Luc Richard Mbah a Moute for a layup to give the Bruins their first lead of the game with :09 remaining. In a hurry, Gonzaga turned the ball over again without getting a shot off. UCLA hit a free throw to go up two, but the Zags' J.P. Batista's last-second jumper missed the mark, and the game was over. All with CBS' Gus Johnson's voice cracking at the highest level. 

While we've seen Cinderella stories in the tournament before and since, this 11th-seeded George Mason victory over UConn was a bit different. George Mason upset Michigan State and North Carolina on the road to the East Region Final and had to face a Connecticut team that seemed like the overwhelming favorite to win the national championship. It looked like UConn was going to end the Patriots' run with a 15-3 run late in the first half that gave them a spacious lead. But George Mason came all the way back, going on a 22-10 run to start the second half. The two went blow for blow the rest of the way before UConn's Denham Brown hit a layup to send the game into overtime. Down two in OT, Brown's three point attempt missed the mark and the Patriots won an 86-84 stunner in Washington, DC, becoming the first mid-major school to reach the Final Four since UNLV in 1991. 

It's hard to pick just one game during Steph Curry's ascension to superstardom during Davidson's run to the Elite 8 in 2008, but their second round win over Georgetown will be my choice. Two days after Davidson toppled Gonzaga in the first round, the Wildcats had their sites set on No. 2 seed Georgetown in fan-friendly Raleigh, NC. On paper, this game didn't have the trappings of an upset. Georgetown shot well (63% from the field and 55% from three) and Davidson didn't (the Wildcats went just 6 of 28 from three). Georgetown was up 46-30 in the second half and this looked like just another power team tamping down on the mid-major with a super scorer. However, the Hoyas' main problems were turning the ball over and fouling. They turned the ball over 20 times to Davidson's five and the Wildcats went to the line 30 times. Roy Hibbert was a non-factor due to foul troubles while Curry went for 30 in the game (he scored 40 on Gonzaga). Curry and the 'Cats stormed all the way back with a 37-12 run and stunned the Hoyas, 74-70. Curry, who scored 25 of his points in the second half, was now a national star.

Throughout the entire season, Memphis head coach John Calipari brushed off the notion that the Tigers' poor free throw shooting would haunt them in the NCAA tournament. Well, in the 2008 national championship game against Kansas, it certainly did bite them. Memphis held a nine-point lead with two minutes left but failed to salt away the win. Memphis missed four of five free throws in the final 1:15 of regulation and the Jayhawks' Mario Chalmers hit a three pointer with nine seconds remaining to send the game into overtime. In that extra five minutes, Kansas dominated -- outscoring Memphis 12-5 in OT for a 75-68 win. The game would eventually be vacated due to a scandal at Memphis involving Derrick Rose. 

One of the more stunning upsets over the last 25 years was Northern Iowa knocking off top-ranked Kansas in the second round of the 2010 tournament. UNI jumped on Kansas early and held on to the lead the rest of the way. The Jayhawks would mount a comeback and shave the lead down to a single point, but Ali Farokhmanesh hit a transition three with :30 left to extend the lead back to four and then iced the game with two free throws. The shot would become legendary even though it wasn't close to a buzzer beater. It was a huge shot that slowed Kansas' momentum and it was a gutsy one at that. 

This was a Sweet 16 classic that saw multiple stars have huge games and make huge shots to give us a double-overtime thriller. Xavier's Jordan Crawford scored 29 points while backcourt mate Tu Holloway scored 26. For K-State, Jacob Pullen poured in 28 points and his backcourt pal Denis Clemente added 25 and Curtis Kelly 21. The game was tied 72-72 at the end of regulation, which means we are treated to some tight play during extra time. Except the opposite happened. The two teams combined for 30 points in the first overtime and 23 points in the second overtime. Pullen scored 8 of those points in double overtime to give the Wildcats the 101-96 victory. 

This may have not been the best played game ever, but it was thick with what could have been a historical moment. Duke, one of the bluest of blue bloods, was facing Butler, then from the Horizon League. Butler was America's team as they became the first mid-major to reach an NCAA title game since the Big West's UNLV in the early 1990s. The game was close throughout (the largest lead at any point was just six) with the plucky Bulldogs sticking with Jon Scheyer, Nolas Smith and Kyle Singler and the Duke Blue Devils. They hit a wall late, but had a chance at a win when Gordon Hayward's halfcourt heave nearly went in ... arguably the best missed shot in NCAA championship history. Duke would win, giving Mike Krzyzewski his fourth NCAA title and first since 2001. 

Why would a First Four contest between two 14-seeds make a list of greatest games over the last 25 years? Well, it featured the largest comeback in NCAA tournament history. Down 49-25 with 6:12 remaining in the first half, the Cougars went on the most remarkable turnarounds in history. It began immediately as BYU shaved 10 points off the lead before halftime. The Cougars would start to figure out the zone and found easy baskets, while the white-hot Iona offense suddenly turned cold. Noah Hartsock went on a personal 7-0 run to give the Cougars a 71-70 lead they wouldn't relinquish. He finished with 23 points on a blistering 10-of-14 shooting. 

Trey Burke went scoreless in the first half but erupted for 23 points in the second half to give the 4th-seeded Michigan Wolverines the 87-85 overtime win. Kansas had a 14-point lead in the middle of the second half, but Burke and Mitch McGary took over. Down by five with less than 20 seconds to go, Burke hit a driving layup and then a deep three to send the game into overtime. Burke and McGary continued to attack in OT and built a two point lead with 9.4 seconds remaining. Kansas Elijah Johnson drove to the basket but instead of taking a floater near the basket, kicked it out to Naadir Tharpe who bricked a wild three-point attempt. Michigan would end up making a run to the NCAA title game where they'd lose to Louisville.

Interesting note: Marv Albert and Steve Kerr were on the call for this game. 

While more people remember the meeting between these two in the 2015 Final Four (Badgers ended the Wildcats' undefeated season), their 2014 national semifinal meeting was a better game. Unlike the following year, Kentucky was an underdog during the tournament (an 8th seed) who kept slaying dragons with big shots throughout the tournament. The guy who typically held that sword was Aaron Harrison, who hit a game-winning three in the regional final to beat Michigan and hit the go-ahead three late to beat Louisville the game before that. On this night, Wisconsin got out to an early lead before a 15-0 run by Kentucky that spanned both halves gave the Wildcats an 8-point lead. Wisconsin immediately followed that with their own 15-4 run to take their own lead midway through the second half. The two teams went back and forth the rest of the way when Harrison would hit a 25-foot three with seven seconds remaining to give Kentucky the 74-73 win. 

Down 56-44, the 14th-seeded Panthers went on a 13-0 run to end the game. R.J. Hunter scored 12 of those 13 points, including two threes -- the final one giving Georgia State the lead with 2.7 seconds left and knocking his father off his stool. R.J.'s father, Ron, was the head coach of Georgia State and had to sit on a stool with wheels due to him rupturing his Achilles after celebrating their Sun Belt championship the previous week. The sight of him lying on the ground celebrating his son's shot is one of the most heart-warming moments in NCAA tournament history. 

As a North Carolina fan, it pains me to put this one at the top of this list. Villanova was making its first NCAA championship game appearance in 30 years while North Carolina was surging towards what seemed like another NCAA championship. A back and forth game saw the Wildcats take a double-digit lead in the second half, but a wild comeback by the Tar Heels late made this one a nail-biter. Down three, North Carolina's Marcus Paige hit a double pump three pointer to tie the game with four seconds left. That set up one of the most iconic shots in sports history: Villanova's Kris Jenkins hit a three at the buzzer, triggering confetti flying all over a raucous celebration by the Wildcats and their fans. To many people, this is the best NCAA tournament game of the 21st century. Great players making great plays with two of the best shots in history happening back-to-back.

When you get an NCAA tournament battle with a berth to the Elite 8 on the line, where better to have it than Madison Square Garden? That was the scene for Florida's epic win over Wisconsin in 2017, which saw big shots, swag moments, and Aaron Rodgers grinning from the crowd. Down 12 with 5:24 left in regulation, Wisconsin went on a furious rally, running off a 16-4 run to send the game to overtime. The play of the game at that point was the Badgers' Zak Showalter's running, one-legged three with 2.5 left to tie the game, where he then looked at Rodgers in the crowd, did the "Discount Double-Check" celebration and pointed at the then-Packers quarterback. That would be trumped by Florida's Chris Chiozza's three -- down two with :04 left, Chiozza got the inbounds pass, dribbled the length of the floor and made his own, running, two-legged three at the buzzer to win the game. 

Two blue bloods during the height of their powers dueling in Memphis for a trip to the Final Four. North Carolina was in the middle of their redemption tour and facing a Kentucky team with De'Aaron Fox, Malik Monk and Bam Adebayo. The two teams met in the regular season and balled out, with Monk pouring in 47 points in a 103-100 win in Vegas. This game wasn't played at that pace, but both teams would go on runs that defined the game. First, it was Carolina, building a double-digit lead; then, Kentucky went up by five in the second half. The Tar Heels went on a 12-0 run that seemed to give them a cushy lead, but Fox and Monk stormed back with a barrage of threes to tie the game with seconds remaining. As in Roy Williams' nature, he didn't call timeout and let his team quickly inbound the ball after Monk's impossible three pointer, ran up the floor and found a then-unknown sophomore Luke Maye for the game-winning jumper with 0.3 seconds remaining. North Carolina would win the game and go on to win the national championship. 

As far as actual competition goes, this game doesn't hold up with the others. After all, the final score was 74-54. What happened on that night was one of the most magical and shocking events in NCAA tournament history and struck down one of the pillar stats of sports. Virginia blew through the ACC regular season and conference tournament to become the top overall seed in the 2018 NCAA tournament. UMBC was just another small program with an acronym as a name that no one knew. Virginia's defense was going to crush them and we just move on with our lives. After all, a 16-seed had never beaten a No. 1 seed (0-135).

Until that night, after an ugly first half that saw the game tied 21-21, UMBC began taking over the game. Fast breaks and stellar defense saw the Retrievers bolt to an 11-point lead. The crowd in Charlotte and people watching on their TVs knew that this could become history. While everyone had a feeling that the Cavaliers will make a run to take back the game ... it never happened. This wasn't some plucky plays late that snuck out an upset win -- UMBC was taking it to Virginia. They had a 19-point lead and were doing what they wanted. What fans saw as history in the making was all but decided with the game still going!  While we've seen another 16-seed pull off an upset since, this was the first one and it was in emphatic fashion. 

Quite frankly this was a game of two blue blood heavy hitters throwing haymakers at each other with a trip to the Final Four on the line. Both starting centers fouled out, there were 11 ties and 18 lead changes and a transfer who was the star of the game. Malik Newman began his career as an elite prospect at Mississippi State but transferred to Kansas for games like this. He played 44 minutes, scored 32 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in the Jayhawks 85-81 overtime win over the Blue Devils. Two plays at the end of regulation defined this game: Kansas' Devonte' Graham twisted his body to pitch it to Svi Mykhailiuk for a three that tied the game at 72-72; then Duke's Grayson Allen's jumper that rolled around the rim but fell out at the buzzer. Who guarded Allen on that play? Newman.  

You could pick four games during Virginia's championship run in 2019 to make this list, but the South Region final against Purdue was the best. For starters, Purdue's Carsen Edwards went nuclear, scoring 42 points and hitting 10 of 19 three pointers (the second highest scorer for the Boilermakers had seven). There is also one of the most clutch/lucky/unreal sequences in tournament history to end regulation. Down three with less than six seconds remaining, the Cavaliers' Ty Jerome hit one free throw then intentionally missed the second. Virginia would tap the rebound back, but the call went far into the backcourt. Virginia's Kihei Clark ran it down, turned around, took two dribbles before firing a pass to Mamadi Diakite. As soon as Diakite touched the pass he put the shot up and made it, setting off a wild celebration. In overtime, Edwards struggled and Virginia hit their free throws to secure an 80-75 win. 

Spoiler alert: you will see these two schools match up again on this list. For this entry, this was the Bubble Tournament during the pandemic when the entire tournament was in and around Indianapolis. UCLA had reached the Final Four from the First Four and faced Gonzaga, who was trying to become the first undefeated national champion since 1976. The game was back and forth all night as the Bruins Jaime Jacquez, Johnny Juzang and Tyger Campbell stayed hot. Juzang scored 29 points and could not be stopped. Neither could the Zags Drew Timme (25 points) nor Joel Ayayi (22 points) be contained as UCLA and Gonzaga played to a tie at regulation. In overtime, Juzang rebounded his own miss and hit a layup to tie the game with 3.3 seconds left. Gonzaga inbounded it immediately, and Jalen Suggs dribbled up the court and banked in a three-pointer just past half-court for the win. There were 16 ties and 19 lead changes Gonzaga would get blown out by Baylor two nights later to end their quest to go undefeated, but this shot lives on in tournament lore. 

The greatest rivalry in college basketball got to perform on the big stage in 2022. Not only was it the first time Duke and North Carolina met in the NCAA tournament ever, but it also was the final weekend of the Mike Krzyzewski retirement tour. The Tar Heels already spoiled Coach K's final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium just a month earlier -- could they end his career just short of his sixth national championship with a win at the Final Four?  

A back and forth game full of runs saw 18 lead changes and huge shots down the stretch. None were bigger than Caleb Love's pull-up three over Mark Williams's hand to give the Heels a four-point lead with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game. North Carolina held on, and one of the greatest coaching careers ever ended in stunning fashion.