Day 13 of March: From The Parking Lot

On a cold day back in 2005 in Worcester, Massachusetts, TJ Sorrentine, Taylor Coppenrath, and Germain Mopa Njila made a name for themselves as the Vermont Catamounts upset Syracuse in front of thousands of screaming fans as well as a screaming Gus Johnson. It all started with two minutes left when Cameroonian guard Mopa Njila hit a three to put the Catamounts up by one. Then, after a bad pass by Hakim Warrick, TJ Sorrentine looked like he was just burning clock as the upset minded crowd began going nuts with their U-V-M chants. All of a sudden, Sorrentine drilled a three FROM THE PARKING LOT setting off major excitement from Gus Johnson and major panic from Orange fans everywhere (pause the video at 1:13). This gave Vermont a two possession lead and all but sealed their victory. In the end, the Catamounts held on for a 60-57 win and their first ever NCAA Tournament win, while TJ Sorrentine (with help from Gus Johnson) became a hero for small schools in March Madness.

Day 12 of March: Jayhawks Win The Title

So far in my articles, I've focused more on underdogs and cinderellas, but the Jayhawks' performance in 2008 deserves it's spot. Down seven with two minutes left, Kansas rallied to tie the game on a Mario Chalmers three as time ran down. Of course, this doesn't happen if Memphis could just make their free throws. The Tigers missed plenty of opportunities to put the game away down the stretch. Derrick Rose split a pair of free throws right before Chalmers' shot that could have made it a four point game. This has always left fans wondering if it was a better comeback by Kansas or a choke job by Memphis. In the end, it was a little bit of both. The Jayhawks made big plays when they needed to, but the Tigers just couldn't put the nail in the coffin. In overtime, Kansas took the momentum they built up and coasted with an early lead. It was their first title in 20 years, and will also go down as one of the greatest championship games ever.

Day 11 of March: The Demon Comeback

Straight outta Natchitoches, Louisiana, the Northwestern St Demons met up with Iowa, and for about 32 minutes looked exactly like what you'd expect from a 14 seed representing the Southland Conference. Suddenly, with 8 minutes left, down by 17, Northwestern St launched a massive comeback led by Ben Wallace look alike Clifton Lee  and cut the lead to two with just ten seconds left. Of course a team like this will always go for the win, and while the first three was off, Jermaine Wallace grabbed the offensive board, turned around, and fired while falling down out of bounds, yet still swished it. The Demons were so pumped that they immediately started celebrating and forgot to play defense and gave up a semi open look for the win. Fortunately, Adam Haluska just missed, and Northwestern St was off to the second round. This capped off a thrilling comeback, and will perhaps go down as the greatest shot in history to not receive an "Onions!" but for the Demons it will probably remain the greatest moment in school history.

Day 10 of March: Pittsnogle and Paulino

The 2006 Sweet Sixteen featured a crazy battle full of characters between West Virginia and Texas. The Longhorns were led by Kenton Paulino, a senior guard from Maine, and solid young players like A.J. Abrams and LaMarcus Aldridge. The senior heavy Mountaineers featured Mike Gansey, Johannes Herber, and the insanely popular Kevin Pittsnogle. Texas controlled the game early, but with 15 threes, West Virginia stormed back, tying it at 71 with 5 seconds left on a Pittsnogle three, before Paulino hit another at the buzzer to send the Longhorns to the Elite Eight. This game featured all of the quick turn arounds and momentum swings that make the tournament so exhilarating and awesome. Tomorrow, we'll look at another three pointer buzzer beater from the 2006 tourney, so be sure to come back then.

Day 9 of March: Shootout in Salt Lake

Kansas St vs Xavier in Salt Lake City back in 2010 had everything you want in a tournament game. From crazy shots to clutch threes to Gus Johnson going bananas, it was the complete package. With clutch threes by Jordan Crawford and Terrell (before the Tu era) Holloway for Xavier and Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente from Kansas St, it seemed like the game would never end. With the Wildcats seemingly in control, Holloway hit three free throws at the end of regulation and Jordan Crawford hit a parking lot three in the first overtime to extend the game. In the second overtime, however, Pullen and Clemente outdueled the Musketeer guards, and Kansas St advanced to the Elite Eight and earned a date with Gordon Hayward and the Butler Bulldogs. It was an effort that even led the great Frank Martin to admit that his guys played "pretty good" in the roller coaster of a game. In the end however, it was Gus Johnson who was the star of the game. With a slew of rise and fires and p-ures, Gus stole the show once again, proving that he is the most intense and dramatic play by play man around. Hell, Gus might even be able to make NASCAR and/or tennis actually exciting. Don't worry, as there will be plenty more Gus and plenty more insane highlight videos and head down the stretch for the final week before Selection Sunday

Day 8 of March: Jimmy Chitwood Jr

2010 was personally my favorite NCAA Tournament to watch, and Butler's run to the title game played a big part in that. It kind of surprised me how the media made them out to be such big underdogs, when in reality they were a five seed, and its not all that uncommon for five seeds to make runs. I guess its because many fans, players, and members of the media refuse to believe that good teams can come out of small conferences. The Bulldogs took out the likes of Syracuse, Kansas St, and fellow five seed Michigan St setting up a battle with Duke in Indianapolis for the Championship. Ultimately, Gordon Hayward came about half an inch away from becoming the real life Jimmy Chitwood, and Duke took home the title. (Side note: I wonder if Hickory fans got ripped for storming the court). Regardless, Butler did enough that Brad Stevens and Gordon Hayward will always go down as legends of college basketball. Plus, they did it again the next season. It was one of the most exciting runs in one of the most exciting tournaments ever, I just wish one more shot could have fallen for Hayward. I also wish CBS wouldn't have ruined that tournament with Jennifer Hudson's God awful rendition of One Shining Moment, but that's an article for another day. Check back tomorrow as we revisit the 2010 tourney yet again.

Day 7 Of March: Dunk City

You'd be hard pressed to find a more exciting team than Florida Gulf Coast last year. Led by Andy Enfield, one of very few college basketball coaches with a supermodel wife, the Eagles busted just about every bracket, and put themselves on the national map with wins over Georgetown and San Diego St. They became the first fifteen seed to ever advance to the Sweet Sixteen. With a quick strike transition offense and a barrage of monster dunks, Gulf Coast overwhelmed both teams in dominating and entertaining fashion. Usually with upsets this big, it happens with a ton of threes and a favorite going cold, but both the Hoyas and the Aztecs were completely dominated for the duration of the games. Sherwood Brown, Chase Fieler, and Brett Comer stole the show, and earned millions of fans for the tiny school who had never played in the NCAA Tournament. Florida Gulf Coast ensured that they will forever be remembered as one of the greatest Cinderella stories.

Day 6 of March: Our First Onions

Anyone who has ever watched college basketball knows that the greatest honor a player can ever receive is to make Bill Raftery scream "Onions!". For Demonte Harper and Morehead St, to have it called on a game winning upset of an instate power, it doesn't get any better than that. The Eagles were led by current Denver Nugget Kenneth Faried and guard Terrance Hill who was 5-6 from three, but coach Donnie Tyndall had a dream in which Harper won the game, and he stuck with his gut. Of course it worked out, and when Faried blocked the shot at the buzzer, it was the Cardinals hopping on the next flight back to Kentucky. I'd also like to point out that this was part of the 12:00 slate of games, along with Juan Fernandez's game winner to help Temple beat Penn State. This means that the idiots who went to class that day missed two fantastic finishes. I cannot stress this enough: Going to class or work is not worth skipping any basketball, regardless of what games are on. I have great memories of both games that afternoon, but do you really think I would've remembered what we talked about in Physics anyway? You gotta be able to prioritize, its a basic life skill. See you back here tomorrow as we take a trip to Dunk City for day seven.

Day 5 of March: Hampton Takes Down Iowa St

There's nothing quite like a huge upset in March, and considering no 16 seed has ever won (yet) this is as close as its gotten. There's also nothing quite like the way a neutral crowd jumps all over a massive underdog once they begin to smell an upset. You've probably never seen so many Hampton Pirates fans in Boise, Idaho. And when Senior forward Tarvis (that's not a typo) Williams hit the go ahead bucket late in the game, the Boisians all went nuts. Almost as nuts as Steve Merfield, the Hampton coach, that is. You gotta love the coaches who get just as excited as the players in these big games. Finally, while we're talking about my favorite things about March, why can't they go back to playing on the real floors instead of the stupid generic NCAA ones. The orange and blue is so much cooler than the plain, dull courts they play on now. Anyway, this is one of the best parts of March Madness - rallying around some school you probably have never heard of as they take on a Goliath. Sure, they'd probably lose 99 out of 100 times, but every game has the chance of being that 1%. That's what makes this the best time of the year.

Day 4 of March: Demetri Goodson Coast to Coast

Yesterday, we took a look at Western Kentucky's nice run in '08 and a year later they were back in the Second Round after another upset over Illinois. This time they were matched up with the original Cinderella, Gonzaga, coming off a double digit win over Akron. Down nine with just over two minutes left to Gonzaga, the Hilltoppers went on a crazy run ultimately tying the game on a Steffphon Pettigrew put back with seven seconds left. Those seven seconds were all it took for Demetri Goodson to drive coast to coast and bank in the runner sending the Zags back to the Sweet Sixteen. It also led to one of my favorite scenes in basketball, where an angry coach shakes hands with the winning team and pretends to show good sportsmanship. This was the highlight of Goodson's basketball career, as he ended up transferring to Baylor to play football and has entered this year's NFL Draft. Anyways, the moral of today's story is to get back and play defense. Finally tying the game up with so little time left only to lose on an uncontested runner has to be one of the most gut wrenching ways to lose, but then again 63 teams have to end their season on a bad note (I know I said 63 - the play in games don't count).