Favorite NCAAT Game (rd 1-6)

[upstater]

Michigan State elite 8 game in 2014 in that round for me.

I've been watching since the 1970s and this is my favorite game PERIOD outside of the National Championships.

The program was in a deep dark hole prior to this game. We were left behind by the ACC. We were suddenly conference mates with really weird schools. Calhoun was gone. We were banned for a metric which didn't even exist the year it was used against us (a metric which is laughable now in the world of transfer-craziness). The previous year, the Big East coaches decided to toss us out of the Big East tournament. We weren't recruiting well. Absolutely everything was against the program and the players.

When Michigan State clawed back from an early deficit and went into halftime looking good, Charles was talking about how they were going to blow the doors off of UConn in the second half. Michigan State were a veteran team, Magic Johnson was in the audience, as were all the head honchos of the B1G. When MSU grabbed a 33-23 lead at the 16 minute mark of the 2nd half, the announcers started talking about golf.

And then it was Shabazz-time. He went off. UConn went on a 26-6 run capped off with a Boatright 3. The UConn fans were going bonkers when he hit that 3. MSG was louder than it's ever been. Izzo was shown grimacing like he was tied to the tracks in front of a runaway freight train.

The Ancient Greeks invented the word catharsis to describe a clearing of emotion after many traumatic moments. This was the most cathartic moment in program history as all UConn fans and the team let loose with their emotions and Michigan St. and Charles in the studio didn't know what had hit them.

 

[TheHorde]

I've been watching since the 1970s and this is my favorite game PERIOD outside of the National Championships.

The program was in a deep dark hole prior to this game. We were left behind by the ACC. We were suddenly conference mates with really weird schools. Calhoun was gone. We were banned for a metric which didn't even exist the year it was used against us (a metric which is laughable now in the world of transfer-craziness). The previous year, the Big East coaches decided to toss us out of the Big East tournament. We weren't recruiting well. Absolutely everything was against the program and the players.

When Michigan State clawed back from an early deficit and went into halftime looking good, Charles was talking about how they were going to blow the doors off of UConn in the second half. Michigan State were a veteran team, Magic Johnson was in the audience, as were all the head honchos of the B1G. When MSU grabbed a 33-23 lead at the 16 minute mark of the 2nd half, the announcers started talking about golf.

And then it was Shabazz-time. He went off. UConn went on a 26-6 run capped off with a Boatright 3. The UConn fans were going bonkers when he hit that 3. MSG was louder than it's ever been. Izzo was shown grimacing like he was tied to the tracks in front of a runaway freight train.

The Ancient Greeks invented the word catharsis to describe a clearing of emotion after many traumatic moments. This was the most cathartic moment in program history as all UConn fans and the team let loose with their emotions and Michigan St. and Charles in the studio didn't know what had hit them.

The Giffey breakaway dunk followed by the loud U-C-O-N-N chants is one of my favorite all time Husky moments period.

 

[gsmooth]

I've been watching since the 1970s and this is my favorite game PERIOD outside of the National Championships.

The program was in a deep dark hole prior to this game. We were left behind by the ACC. We were suddenly conference mates with really weird schools. Calhoun was gone. We were banned for a metric which didn't even exist the year it was used against us (a metric which is laughable now in the world of transfer-craziness). The previous year, the Big East coaches decided to toss us out of the Big East tournament. We weren't recruiting well. Absolutely everything was against the program and the players.

When Michigan State clawed back from an early deficit and went into halftime looking good, Charles was talking about how they were going to blow the doors off of UConn in the second half. Michigan State were a veteran team, Magic Johnson was in the audience, as were all the head honchos of the B1G. When MSU grabbed a 33-23 lead at the 16 minute mark of the 2nd half, the announcers started talking about golf.

And then it was Shabazz-time. He went off. UConn went on a 26-6 run capped off with a Boatright 3. The UConn fans were going bonkers when he hit that 3. MSG was louder than it's ever been. Izzo was shown grimacing like he was tied to the tracks in front of a runaway freight train.

The Ancient Greeks invented the word catharsis to describe a clearing of emotion after many traumatic moments. This was the most cathartic moment in program history as all UConn fans and the team let loose with their emotions and Michigan St. and Charles in the studio didn't know what had hit them.

It was good payback, too. Michigan State had a home court advantage in 2009 with the Final Four game being in Detroit. UConn without Jerome Dyson, probably should've won that, but the missed FTs killed them in that game. I remember the crowd in Detroit roaring.

It was only right to give Michigan State the same taste in MSG.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Underrated, but that S16 game in 2014 against Iowa State was a great game. They had so much talent on that team looking back.

Melvin Ejim
Dustin Hogue (Who destroyed us)
Monte Morris (Good NBA player)
DeAndre Kane (Had an immense season)
Matt Thomas (NBA Player)
Naz Mitrou-Long (NBA player)

The 2nd half of that game was insane.

 

[alphasigko]

'99 Championship game #1 for sure

'11 and '14 over Kentucky are pretty close 2nds

 

[CTBasketball]

R64 - St Joe’s 2014 (a classic)
R32 - Texas A&M - 2009 (Stix was showing out this tournament)
S16 - Clemson 1990 (a classic)
E8 - Illinois 2024 (close 2nd is Missouri 2009)
SF: Duke 2004 (2x feeling since 1999)
F: Duke 1999 (the best feeling ever)

 

[Spaceman213J]

For me, the hardest round is the round of 32.
Brimah's rescue against St. Joes-1st
St. Mary's-The 1st half was close until the Ducas injury
Clemson-Sweet Sixteen
Washington-Elite Eight
Duke-Okafor taking over late
Duke-I loved how the coronation and David vs. Goliath narrative changed and how Billy Packer picked up on it pretty quickly when he said he got the feeling UConn appeared more confident it could handle Duke than the Duke players felt it could stay with UConn". And I love the storyline of Ricky Moore who appeared like he could be a star when he first arrived to UConn but was banged up at times and had the maturity and presence to defer to RIP and let El-Amin be the vocal 'face/leader', but really still helped drive things behind the scenes.

 

[UofCT]

R64 - St Joe’s 2014 (a classic)
R32 - Texas A&M - 2009 (Stix was showing out this tournament)
S16 - Clemson 1990 (a classic)
E8 - Illinois 2024 (close 2nd is Missouri 2009)
SF: Duke 2004 (2x feeling since 1999)
F: Duke 1999 (the best feeling ever)

Love how you included multiple 09 games. The FF L was so painful that I don’t think I’ve ever rewatched this tournament’s highlights. I need to fire it up

 

[CTBasketball]

Love how you included multiple 09 games. The FF L was so painful that I don’t think I’ve ever rewatched this tournament’s highlights. I need to fire it up

Missouri 2009 Elite 8 was Kemba’s coming out party. In the 2H he put the team on his back and made some really tough shots.

 

[ucp990411]

I have given this lots of thought and we have had so many great games it is a difficult answer.
First round:
Hofstra 1976. Down by 18 at half. Joe Whelton and Al Weston to the rescue, we win in OT!
Bucknell 2011. Doug Gottleib picked Buckner because we would be too tired.

2nd round:
New Mexico 1999. All American Kenny Thomas looked completely dumbfounded.
California 1990. Lou Campelli said our press won’t bother them. Wonder what he thought when it was 21-2.

Sweet 16:
Iowa 1999. Two teams totally beating each other up.
Maryland 1995. Two great teams. Joe Smith.

Elite 8: So many.
Michigan St 2014. So much credit here goes to KO. 16 and a half minutes to go he calls TO down 8 I believe. From there on out our defense was unbelievable. Great game, great atmosphere.
Alabama 2004. First half may have been the best half we have ever played in the tournament.
Illinois 2024. 30-0 run speaks for itself. Nice adjustments at half by the not too bright Brad Underwood.
1999 Gonzaga. Never been so nervous in my life.

National semis:
1999 Ohio St. Jim O’Brien. Great guy.
2004 Duke. Down 8 with 3:50 to go. Calhoun again out coaches K. Rashad’s 3! Emeka offensive rebound and putback
2014 Kentucky. Always great to beat Calipari. Why foul them, they never miss.

Champs.
1999. The first one!
2023. We are back!These are the 2 after which I cried like a baby.
2024. Pure domination. Back to back! One of the best teams ever.
2014. Who would have dreamt this?
2004. Great team
2011. Kemba and the kids.

 

[uconngb]

I have given this lots of thought and we have had so many great games it is a difficult answer.
First round:
Hofstra 1976. Down by 18 at half. Joe Whelton and Al Weston to the rescue, we win in OT!
Bucknell 2011. Doug Gottleib picked Buckner because we would be too tired.

2nd round:
New Mexico 1999. All American Kenny Thomas looked completely dumbfounded.
California 1990. Lou Campelli said our press won’t bother them. Wonder what he thought when it was 21-2.

Sweet 16:
Iowa 1999. Two teams totally beating each other up.
Maryland 1995. Two great teams. Joe Smith.

Elite 8: So many.
Michigan St 2014. So much credit here goes to KO. 16 and a half minutes to go he calls TO down 8 I believe. From there on out our defense was unbelievable. Great game, great atmosphere.
Alabama 2004. First half may have been the best half we have ever played in the tournament.
Illinois 2024. 30-0 run speaks for itself. Nice adjustments at half by the not too bright Brad Underwood.
1999 Gonzaga. Never been so nervous in my life.

National semis:
1999 Ohio St. Jim O’Brien. Great guy.
2004 Duke. Down 8 with 3:50 to go. Calhoun again out coaches K. Rashad’s 3! Emeka offensive rebound and putback
2014 Kentucky. Always great to beat Calipari. Why foul them, they never miss.

Champs.
1999. The first one!
2023. We are back!These are the 2 after which I cried like a baby.
2024. Pure domination. Back to back! One of the best teams ever.
2014. Who would have dreamt this?
2004. Great team
2011. Kemba and the kids.

2014 National Semi against Kentucky??? Cmon man

 

[REB1094]

I only have deep memories of 14/23/24 and distant memories of 11, so going to pick from those years

R64 - St Joes 2014. Can you believe that this game was the closest game of that run? A team with Shabazz, Boatright, and Daniels was saved by an Amida Brimah and1. The rest was history

R32 - Northwestern 2024. We were so dominant in the first few minutes of that game, and that's when I knew the championship was ours to lose. Close #2 is Villanova 2014 - watching the supporting cast hold us over with Shabazz on the bench in the first half, then Bazz taking us home in the second was great

Sweet 16 - SDSU 2011. Kemba almost dropped 40, him and Lamb almost outscored SDSU's entire team on their own. This was the first year I really started watching college basketball and it was a magical time to start!

Elite 8 - 2014, 2023, 2024 are pretty much 1A, 1B, 1C. If I had to pick one, I'd pick Gonzaga 2023. We absolutely demolished one of CBB's premier programs by 30 and we started to feel untouchable. VERY close #2 is 2014 against MSU in the Garden, capped off with a Phil Nolan slam

Final 4 - Florida 2014. Florida was undefeated from December - March that year with 2 exceptions, UConn in December and UConn in the Final 4. The DeAndre Daniels game! Close #2 is Kentucky 2011

National Championship - Kentucky 2014. I was a student that year, cheering in Gampel with 10k people, and that night is one of my favorite memories of my 4 years. "Tapped into the hands of Boatright, with 5 seconds, and this most improbable tournament run comes to an end with a UConn championship!" will forever be burned into my memory

 

[ucp990411]

2014 National Semi against Kentucky??? Cmon man

My mistake, 2011 semis. I am old and the memory can be fuzzy.

 

[Tenspro2002]

1st Round: Iona 2023
2nd Round: Villanova 2014
Sweet 16: Washington 1998
Elite 8: Illinois 2024
Final Four: Duke 2004
Championship: Duke 1999

 

[Tenspro2002]

Great idea and wish I had a long car ride today to play this the whole way. Gonna try to pick all games I haven’t seen so far.

1st rd — 2016 Colorado. My wife and I had to drive 3 hours each way to NJ to pick up our new puppy the second this game ended. It was gonna be a VERY long drive, then Purvis took over.

2nd rd — 2011 Cincy. Mick Cronin took a shot at Calhoun over Kemba’s 1st-team all-Big East snub. If you take a shot at the GOAT, you go home.

Sweet 16 — 2002 Southern Illinois. There really isn’t a reasonable answer to this that tops what has been mentioned but going with Caron and one of the best single-player tourney runs we’ve had. Also considered, Purdue 2009: Dan Wetzel took a shot at the GOAT, Purdue went home.

Elite 8 — Alabama 2004. This was Illinois 2024 before Illinois 2024. Rashad and BG broke a fan base’s soul in the first half.

Final 4 — 2014 Florida. My wife and I had a connection through Orlando on the way to Dallas and Gator fans told us it was cute we made the trip. We got down 16-4 against a team that hadn’t loss they got Bazzed in December. Then T-Sam and DeAndre sparked the run, Boat broke Scottie Wilbekin’s will to live and the next 3 days were a celebration of What happens when you ban us.

Title game — 2023 SDSU. Anyone who was in Houston can attest that Aztec fans were weirdly cocky going in. The place got LOUD when they made their run. Then Hawk hit his 3, Newt took over and seven years of AAC, dark years, not sure we would ever be truly BACK frustration poured out all over that stadium and city.

Wasn't 2024 Illinois before 2024 Illinois actually Gonzaga 2023? Aside from the fact that building our 2nd half lead wasn't an uninterrupted 30-0 run, the games were virtually identical.

 

[HitDog]

I guess I am little surprised how little mention the Elite 8 against Gonzaga in '99 has been mentioned. After all the near misses leading up to it not sure they would ever make a Final Four. Calhoun saying he was only going to go to the Final Four if he could bring his team with him. Winning that game was so euphoric.

 

[Inyatkin]

I guess I am little surprised how little mention the Elite 8 against Gonzaga in '99 has been mentioned. After all the near misses leading up to it not sure they would ever make a Final Four. Calhoun saying he was only going to go to the Final Four if he could bring his team with him. Winning that game was so euphoric.

It was great in retrospect but in the moment it was the most stressful game I have ever watched. A loss there would have been beyond devastating.