The Five (March Madness Moments)
Cinderellas, near-misses, and the birth of a great American story.
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The eve of the NCAA tournament feels like the right time revisit a few games I’ve written about before, and one I’ve always wanted to write about.
I. March 26, 1979: Michigan State 75, Indiana State 64
There is so much about the story of Magic and Bird’s convergence that could never be replicated in the modern age, from their interactions (or lack thereof) with reporters to their interplay on the court to outside perceptions of their style. As the game recedes into history, so, too, have the distinctive circumstances that built this game into something so utterly unique. It was a flashpoint in the evolution of American culture. And that moment is gone forever. “It would be very hard to imagine seeing anything quite like it,” Lopresti says. “And it may very well be impossible.”
II. April 1, 1985: Villanova 66, Georgetown 64
From ESPN, via this newsletter:
In the spring of 1985, days after leading his team to the biggest upset in NCAA tournament history, the point guard for Villanova University stood in the Rose Garden of the White House, marveling at the copious amount of dandruff on the back of Ronald Reagan’s head. Gary McLain would later admit he found this moment exceedingly weird, and not just for the obvious reasons. He was paranoid and confused. He thought, What if I pushed this dude’s head? Just a little? Would I cause an international incident? He watched as Reagan read from the notes he’d been given, and from McLain’s muddled synapses, a rather provocative sentiment emerged.
He thought, “This guy is the smoothest con artist in the world.”
III. March 14, 1996: Purdue 73, Western Carolina 71
March 14, 1996: It's the opening round of the NCAA tournament, and top-seeded Purdue leads 16th-seeded Western Carolina, 73-71. The Catamounts have the ball with under 10 seconds to play, and point guard Joel Flemming advances it to the frontcourt. Hopkins, their head coach, chooses not to use a time-out, to let the play flow, thinking that will give him a better chance to get the ball into hands of his best scorer, Anquell McCollum. But McCollum is covered, and Flemming eyes up the rim for a three to win the game. "I'd hit a similar shot like that in our conference tournament," Flemming told me. "I felt confident I could make it."
IV. March 28, 2008: Davidson 73, Wisconsin 56
I encourage you to watch it at full speed; I encourage you to watch it in slow motion. The reason this clip is so mind-blowing is not because of what’s obvious, but because of what’s become visible with hindsight. At that moment, with Stephen Curry on the verge of leading Davidson College to the Elite Eight as a sophomore, he was still largely known as an exhilarating shooter with a questionable basketball future; he had barely even thought at that point about having an NBA career at all. One of his teammates, Bryant Barr, called this play Curry’s “Spider-Man” layup, and when he saw it happen live, his jaw went slack, because it displayed an ornate element of Curry’s game that was still in its nascent phase.
But even then, he had no idea what was coming.
V. March 13, 1998: Valparaiso 70, Ole Miss 69
It wasn’t the most prolific upset in NCAA tournament history, and in retrospect—as the NCAA tournament opened itself up to mid-major teams upsetting big-conference teams in the 21st century—13th-seeded Valparaiso’s run to the Sweet Sixteen feels relatively mild. But at the time, it felt kind of unprecedented.
The 1990s were an era when college basketball felt increasingly top-heavy, defined by historic teams and big personalities, and Bryce Drew’s shot to defeat Ole Miss was not just arguably the most purely beautiful buzzer-beater in tournament history; it felt, whether rightly or wrongly, as if it opened up the floodgates for the modern-day democratization of the sport. If a Lutheran school in Indiana with an enrollment of fewer than 3,000 could make it this far, why the hell couldn’t your school?
Since 2013 alone, four teams seeded 15th have made the same Sweet Sixteen, and one made the Elite Eight. (Also: Look at those faces in the background of the picture above! Is there any more enduring encapsulation of the utter suspense of the human experience than a still photo of the crowd at the pivotal moment of a major sporting event?)
On Friday, a generation removed from that shot, Bryce Drew will coach the 12th-seeded Grand Canyon Antelopes against fifth-seeded St. Mary’s; if GCU wins this game, it will hardly feel like an upset at all. We have grown accustomed to the fact that, at least for the next couple of weeks, anything is possible. And maybe that hasn’t been good for college basketball’s overarching popularity—but it has turned its postseason into the most purely unpredictable single event in American sports. We could use a little extra breath of democracy these days.
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