March Madness: Which Moments Do You Remember Most?

• The 2025 Selection Show for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is now in the books and the insanity of March Madness is on its way
• While the invites and seedings always stoke debate, it’s the games themselves that create indelible memories for good and bad
• The true memories are not based on deep research or statistics, but the stimulus response at the mere mentioning of March Madness

What do you remember about March Madness? Is it because your favorite team won the title? Because they were unheralded and had a great run with a string of upsets? Because they had a super fan like Sister Jean? Or because you had a successful bracket?

Everyone who remembers a specific March Madness tournament can reference it anytime; they can picture it as if it’s right in front of them. Here are five moments that come to mind.

Keith Smart’s Game-Winner for Indiana, 1987

Indiana head coach Bobby Knight won his last NCAA Championship in 1987. This was in the aftermath of John Feinstein’s book “A Season on the Brink” about Knight and his polarizing personality and intensity. Years later, Knight endured various controversies with his abusive behavior and was forced out at Indiana. He resurfaced at Texas Tech, never replicating his success with the Hoosiers.

That year, the Hoosiers were a tournament favorite, but needed to get through some tough competition by beating UNLV in the Final Four and Syracuse in the Championship Game.

The transcendent star on the team was guard Steve Alford. In the title game, guard Keith Smart hit the game-winning shot with time winding down to win it.

“Smart takes the shot!!!

Bobby Hurley’s Upset Stomach, 1990

Duke was ranked 15th in the nation that year and they had four future NBA players on Mike Krzyewski’s team with Bobby Hurley, Christian Laettner, Brian Davis, and Alaa Abdelnaby.

They probably advanced further than could have been reasonably expected given how young they were. Hurley was a freshman and Laettner and Davis were sophomores. They ran into a star-studded UNLV team led by the towel-chewing Jerry Tarkanian. The Runnin’ Rebels were loaded with Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, and Greg Anthony all having long NBA careers.

UNLV destroyed Duke in the Championship Game and the indignity of a 109-73 massacre was Hurley suffering from an upset stomach and running back to the locker room mid-game.

Duke, after adding Grant Hill, got its revenge in 1991 beating UNLV in the Final Four and winning in the Championship Game over Kansas.

Chris Webber’s Time-Out, 1993

The 1993 Michigan Wolverines were already famous because of their 1992 Fab Five freshmen starters Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson. Head coach Steve Fisher had a superlative recruiting class. That team lost in the Final to Duke as the Blue Devils won their second consecutive championship.

In 1993, Michigan was an overwhelming favorite beating fellow #1 seed Kentucky in the Final Four. They faced #1 North Carolina in the Final. Dean Smith’s Tar Heels did not have the star power of the Wolverines.

With NC leading 73-71 and time winding down, Webber did not know what to do as he brought the ball down the court. First, he traveled and the referee did not call it. Then, with 11 seconds remaining, Webber tried to call timeout. But Michigan was out of timeouts. The technical foul gave NC the title.

Jim Valvano Running Across the Court, 1983

The late Jimmy V is one of college basketball’s most beloved figures for his generosity and kindness. In 1983, his NC State Wolfpack entered the NCAA Tournament as a #6 seed in the West after a 26-10 season. They beat #1 Virginia in the West Regional Final, #4 Georgia in the Final Four, and heavily favored Houston of Phi Slamma Jama with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.

NC State won on a Lorenzo Charles dunk after a desperation shot by Dereck Whittenburg fell short.

Magic vs Bird, 1979

It’s easy to forget now, but back then, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird couldn’t stand each other.

Bird’s #1 seed Indiana State Sycamores went 33-1 under head coach Bill Hodges. They squeaked by #2 Arkansas in the Midwest Regional Final, and #2 DePaul in the Final Four before facing Magic and #2 Michigan State.

The Spartans had gone 26-6 under Jud Heathcote beating #1 Notre Dame in the Midwest Regional and upstart Pennsylvania in the Final Four. The Championship Game was not particularly close with MSU winning 75-64. Magic scored 24. Bird was held to 19 points.

March Madness Begins

The First Four games start on March 18. Then the craziness will get going in earnest later in the week. Every year, there are upsets, blowouts, bad calls, great plays, missteps, coaching errors, and just about everything else.

So which are your prominent memories of past March Madness tournaments and who do you think is going to win?

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