The Top 15 March Madness Tournaments of All Time

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We remember 1966 not just for the tournament itself, but for its incredible historical significance. The national title game pitted Adolph Rupp’s all-white Kentucky team against coach Don Haskins’ Texas Western, which featured five black starters for the first time in history. Forty years after the tournament, Disney released Glory Road to retell the story. The NCAA Tournament didn’t have seeding back in 1966, but if it did, Haskin’s team would’ve likely been the underdog to Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky—the legendary Kentucky coach had already captured four national titles by 1966. Actually, they DEFINITELY would’ve been underdogs to Rupp’s men. “Rupp’s Runts” marked his last Final Four team. Texas Western guard Bobby Joe Hill drove the momentum of the game early in the first half, as the 5-10 speedster converted a steal-and-layup on consecutive first-half possessions that left the Wildcats stunned. Texas Western won 72-65, becoming an athletic symbol of the Civil Rights Movement.

The 1979 NCAA Tournament was all about the country’s two biggest stars: Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Both players delivered sublime performances throughout the competition, carrying their Indiana State and Michigan State squads respectively all the way to the national title game. There, on the tournament’s biggest stage, Johnson and the Spartans hounded Bird with double and triple teams every time he touched the ball in an attempt to force the rest of the Sycamores to try to beat them. ISU could not answer the call, and MSU took home the national title. This game launched the rivalry that many credit for saving professional basketball.

Over the course of a few hours on March 14, 1981, the NCAA Tournament truly earned its “March Madness” nickname. First, U.S. Reed of Arkansas hit a miracle half-court heave to topple Louisville. After that, Kansas State’s Rolando Blackman hit a baseline jumper at the buzzer to beat No. 1-seeded Oregon State, a team that started the season 25-0 before dropping their conference championship game just before the tournament. Finally, as St. Joseph’s trailed top-seeded DePaul by one with time running out, an epic race down court after a missed free throw found guard John Smith wide open under the hoop for a game-winning layup. It sent the second No. 1 team home that day, proving that, in the NCAA Tournament, no one is safe.

In 1983, North Carolina State set the new gold standard for Cinderella teams. Over thirty years later, it’s still hard to believe that Houston, led by Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, lost to the six-seed “Cardiac Cats.” Houston was a No. 1 seed in 1983, but head coach Jim Valvano’s Wolfpack decided three of their four regional matchups by two points or less, with two of those victories coming over the region’s No. 3 and No. 1 seeds. They played one of the best single games a team’s ever played against Houston in the final, with Lorenzo Charles’ buzzer-beating dunk from a would-be air-ball jump shot providing the most preposterous end to a tournament final ever. This game, along with Valvano’s 1993 speech at the ESPYS, helped make up the bulk of his powerful legacy in American sports culture.

1985 was the last time a tournament was played without a shot clock, and thank goodness for that. Stepping back, this tournament was full of historical nuggets. The Big East, formed just six years prior, had three of its teams reach the Final Four. It was unprecedented at the time, and it hasn’t been done since. A once-fledging basketball conference cemented itself as the nation’s best in 1985, where it more-or-less remained until the Big East was reorganized as the American Athletic Conference in 2013.

Villanova ended up as the Big East’s championship representative from that threesome. As an eight seed, they’re the lowest seeded team to win a national title. Villanova famously played the “perfect game” against John Thompson’s Patrick Ewing-led Georgetown. A bonafide one seed with 30 wins, Georgetown was heavily favored over their conference rivals in the final. In the title game, Villanova shot 78 percent from the field, sinking 22 of 28 shots to beat Georgetown 66-64.

To date, LSU is one of three 11-seeds to make the Final Four. They were also the first of the bunch to do so, and they’re the only team to beat the top three seeds in their region. BUT, their first two victories over six-seed Purdue and three-seed Memphis State happened on their home court. They got to play the first two rounds of the Southeast region in Baton Rouge, giving them a key advantage in kicking off their run. Still, knocking off No. 1 seed Kentucky and two-seed Georgia Tech in back-to-back games is an accomplishment for the ages. In the Final Four though, Pervis Ellison’s Louisville ended LSU’s tournament. They’d go on to beat Duke in the title game.

Aside from LSU’s magic and Ellison’s dominant tournament performance, second-seeded Indiana and its loss to 14-seed Cleveland State in the round of 64 remains one of the biggest early-round shockers in NCAA history. After beating Bob Knight’s Hoosiers, Cleveland State went all the way to the Sweet 16, only to be beaten back by David Robinson and Navy.

The 1989 NCAA Tournament was bookended by two of the most dramatic games of all time. In the first round, Princeton came as close as any 16th-seeded team ever has to knocking off a No. 1. Although they ultimately failed to get their game-winning shot attempt off when Hoyas’ Alonzo Mourning came through with a block, they managed to push Georgetown to the absolute brink. The final between Michigan and Seton Hall ended with all the drama you could hope for in an NCAA game. Michigan’s Rumeal Robinson stood on the free-throw line staring down two attempts, trailing by one, with three seconds on the clock. A 64 percent shooter during the season, Robinson buried both to seal the Wolverines’ first national title and capped a run that began when Michigan fired their head coach right before the tournament began. It was the stuff college basketball dreams are made of.

Anyone who refers to Christian Laettner’s jumper to send Duke to the title game as “The Shot” needs to bury their heads underground for the rest of eternity. We can’t have people who don’t recognize Michael Jordan’s 1989 playoff game-winner over the Cavs as “The Shot” running around. It’s disrespectful.

Laettner’s shot, however, is arguably the top moment in March Madness history, and one of the most mind-blowing plays in American sporting lore. That play alone would be enough, but when you consider this was also the national debut of Michigan’s Fab Five—who made it to the title game as a six seed—you’ve got the type of narrative-driven drama that stands the test of time. Duke went on to beat the Fab Five in the Final, prompting Michigan’s famous freshmen to return with a (losing) vengeance in 1993.

Michigan’s Fab Five made up arguably the most famous team in the history of college basketball. At the very least, they’re the only tournament runners-up to be remembered for finishing second, because it wasn’t supposed to go down that way. They won the most single season games in Michigan history in 1992-93, and had the best amateur talent in the world: Chris Webber. The Fab Five were ultimately punished for leaning so heavily on Webber’s dominance.

His infamous illegal timeout in the Final was the defining moment of the tournament. It effectively sealed the Fab Five’s demise—Webber jumped to the draft after the confetti fell on UNC, and Michigan hasn’t achieved comparable heights since.

Although the tournament’s legacy revolves around the Fab Five and what they failed to do, there was plenty of crazy stuff going on in non-Michigan games. Future NBA stars in Cal’s Jason Kidd and Duke’s Grant Hill carried their respective teams—until of course Duke was upset by Cal in the second round, LOL. (By rule, any tournament featuring an early-round Duke exit is Top 10-worthy.) The West region saw upsets at the hands of the 12, 13, and 15 seeds, with 15-seeded Santa Clara becoming only the second team to upset a two seed. Sorry about that, Arizona.

Arizona Wildcat basketball will never be a “Cinderella,” but in 1997, you’d be forgiven for associating them with the glass-slippered girl. They’re the only four seed to win the whole thing—you can imagine the chaos within people’s hand-made brackets in 1997. Arizona’s miraculous charge through the field consisted of victories over Kansas, Kentucky, and UNC—all top seeds. They’re the first and only team to beat three one-seeds in the same tournament. For beating the best that the tournament had to offer, the Wildcats’ run is legendary.

Of the tournament’s 63 games in 1998, 16 of them were decided by three points or less. That’s absurd. One in four games were basically buzzer-beaters! Bryce Drew’s game-winner over Ole Miss rocked the field immediately and kick-started No. 13 Valparaiso’s Sweet 16 run.

From the first weekend to the last, nail-biting theatrics abounded. Eventual champions Kentucky had to fight back from double-digit deficits in the team’s first three games. Three seed Utah made it to the Final Four for the first time since 1966, upsetting one seeds Arizona and UNC to get to the title game. Tubby Smith’s Kentucky single-handedly beat Utah 78-69 to notch the Wildcats’ seventh national championship.

The 2006 NCAA Tournament was upset-heavy from early on, but out of all the double-digit seeds to make it out of the first round, George Mason lasted the longest. Eight double-digit seeds were victorious on the tournament’s first two days, but it was the 11 seed from the Washington regional that made it to the Final Four. George Mason defeated six-seed Michigan State, three-seed UNC, seven-seed Wichita State (in an epic Sweet 16 battle of underdogs), and one-seed Connecticut on their way to Indianapolis. George Mason became the first mid-major team to get that far in 15 years. In the semifinals, Billy Donovan’s Florida ended George Mason’s run en route to winning the frontend of their back-to-back NCAA titles. It was the second time in March Madness history where not a single No. 1 seed made it to the Final Four, and it made for one of the most glorious tournaments of all time.

This was one of the most frustrating years ever for brackets. Up until 2008, filling out your bracket was easier because of the historical handicap. The 2008 NCAA Tournament was the first one in which all four one-seeds made the Final Four. Before then, you could always count on at least one one-seed to slip-up. Since, every bracket has been filled out in fear of this happening again. In the Final, Memphis blew a nine-point lead to Kansas with 2:12 left on the clock. Over the final two minutes of regulation, Kansas made all of their shots and free throws, while Derrick Rose infamously bricked his own. Mario Chalmer’s three-point shot with 2.1 left sent the game into overtime. Kansas kept up their hot shooting in OT to send Memphis home with their tails between their legs.

It’s almost ironic that the tournament favorites made it to the Final Four, because this year was full of upsets. No. 10 Davidson introduced us to Wardell Stephen Curry for the first time. The power of his shot took Davidson all the way to the Elite 8. The kid just wasn’t playing fair in college, man. Asking him to only shoot from the college three-point line spelled doom for higher seeded Wisconsin, Georgetown, and Gonzaga. Elsewhere in the bracket, USC, Drake, Clemson, Vanderbilt, and Connecticut were all six-seeds that were prematurely sent home by double-digit seeds.

The Butler Bulldogs became the heroes of the 2010 tournament. The unheralded squad out of the Horizon League went on an incredible run through the tournament as a No. 5 seed before falling to Duke in one of the greatest finals in the history of March Madness. Poor Gordon Hayward probably still sees that half-court shot rim out in his sleep. The tournament also had one of the best games in recent memory, a double-overtime thriller between Xavier and Kansas State that also saw former CBS announcer Gus Johnson put on perhaps his finest-ever tournament performance.

Similar to the 2006 tournament, 2012 was all about out-of-the-blue victories. Specifically, two 15 seeds pulled off a couple of the most shocking upsets in tournament history within hours of each other. Lehigh knocked the No. 2 Duke team off the bracket and Norfolk State followed that up with a win over No. 2 Missouri. The chaos of the first two rounds quickly turned into a “chalk” Sweet 16, as each of the top four seeds survived long enough to face each other in the tournament’s third round. The Final Four saw in-state rivals meet again as Kentucky overcame a frisky Louisville squad, and Kansas beat Ohio State in a tightly contested, back-and-forth matchup.