One of the great games ever. Where does it rank?
A stunning double-clutch three to tie with 4 seconds left.
A brilliant three to win at the buzzer.
I can't think of a time I've seen a better game in this spot in the NCAA championship.
Where does this rank all time in college basketball? Where does it rank in all sports? (This is a "fun" thread. Recency bias is ok.)
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and good memory, too
The conventional wisdom, I believe, is that you can either have a crazy upset-filled first weekend, or you can have a series of great matchups late, but you don't get both.
This is one of those "great first weekend" situations with a lot of upsets. A lot of top teams didn't make it through.
No real surprise that Syracuse got trucked. It was rather more surprising that Oklahoma folded like a cheap tent. But the final was better than we could've hoped for.
A couple of supplemental points:
The whole game was well-played. Villanova played beautiful basketball and lookd great in its momentum runs. North Carolina's comeback was pretty epic, punctuated by both great skill plays and great grit plays (fighting for a rebound and getting a putback, etc). That shot by Paige is every bit the stunner that Burke's was or that Chalmers' was. And, of course, it was topped.
This is the first actual buzzer beater in the championship since 1983, I guess.
Now, it's not a huge upset. A 2 over a 1 in a year with no clear-cut dominant team just doesn't rate. Neither of these teams were considered all-timers, either. The 1999 UConn-Duke final has been mentioned a couple of times and I think that's a reasonable response, given what those two teams were going in. And there's no rivalry here to speak of, no all-time players to draw attention. The ratings on this game will probably be relatively low. Some people have mentioned the "If" question of the Heyward shot going in against Duke; that game had all the context this does not.
But that shot did not go in, which is part of the point. It so often doesn't happen.
1983 was so long ago, it's like comparing the 2006 Rose Bowl to the 1971 Nebraska-Oklahoma game; both great, but hard to compare eras that different. Since 1983 I feel like this game immediately joins 1992 Duke-UK at the pinnacle of college basketball games.
And as an all-sport finale it holds up well. I'm not sure it can be quite as epic as USC-Texas, and pro championships tend to be hard to compare. But it's in that conversation.
For college football, listening to Bob Griese cry at the end of the 1998 Rose Bowl was fantastic. Miami-Ohio State was an amazing game too, considering how heavy of a favorite Miami was going into the game.
I can't wait until that meme is over. It was funny, but it's been pounded into the ground.
Worst, least exciting game of all time in any sport. Some people might disagree, and that's fine, but I put it last.
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Context matters. The bigger the stakes, the bigger the game.
I saw a high school game between two schools that each had maybe 30-50 guys in their whole senior high max. A player made a miracle 30-foot three point in the last second to win. It was stunning.
But it was obviously nothing like this. Because the level of the game was a different universe.
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Time will give perspective, but as far as championship games go, that was really special.
Not just one, but two dramatic, spectacular shots.
Top 3 title games I have seen, which includes the last 25 years. The best was when duke lost by 40 to UNLV.
But I suppose if I had the capacity of looking at sports objectively, tonight's game might top the list of dramatic endings that I'm old enough to have witnessed.
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My personal favorite title game & finish was Kansas stunning Memphis when Mario Chalmers hits a deep 3 to send a game to OT that was essentially over a minute earlier.
I really enjoyed watching Villanova play this entire tourney. Villanova had the perfect team for this tournament. Nova can shoot the ball with anybody, can run the fast break with the best of them, can play lockdown defense against top competition, can out coach you, out hustle you, and their experience / chemistry was immensely fun to watch.
I'm happy for Nova. Glad the title was earned by a great group of well rounded student athletes instead of those cheating pieces of shit in chapel hill.
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I'd have to collect my thoughts a bit more on where it ranks - there have been some thoroughly entertaining championship games over the years, although a couple of them were made so primarily because Duke lost.
This game specifically? It was a very fun watch from start to finish, in my own opinion, but I also expected this one to be rather close and it more or less stayed that way. I think the largest deficit might have been UNC being down 10 for a moment late, and even then, watching them take that all the way down to three was exciting. The crafty exchange of threes that ended the game - first the tie by UNC, then the buzzbeater by Villanova - felt like the right end for that game somehow.
The refs have an incredible inside game, incidentally. Very dangerous in the post - I wouldn't want that matchup in other contexts.
The 1983 final between Jim Valvano's NC State and the brothers of Phi Slamma Jamma at Houston was pretty epic.
Also, I'd give a shout-out to the 1979 final between Magic Johnson's Staee and Larry Bird's unbeaten Indiana State. (Yup, I'm old.)
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I hadn't been focusing much on this. I thought MSU was the two-seed that was a lock to win the whole shebang. Valentine guaranteed as much, and Izzo didn't quarrel with it. Weird.
(For me, the greatest finish I've seen live was the Michigan - North Dakota game in the NCAA tournament in 1998. Just a wild ride, and ohhh, the disappointed North Dakota fans. Yost was rocking like I'd never heard it before, even though it wasn't technically a home game.
On the championship side, last night was up there. UNC's shot to tie was an amazingly difficult shot, and it seemed like a momentum-shifter. But then, with less than five seconds left, to dribble drive to the arc, dish, and convert like Villanova did last night? That was sublime.
Of course it helped that UNC had three guys parked near the rim, waiting for ... I don't know what. The only thing that might take this out of the top three for me is that the final shot was not heavily contested.)
1. Trey Burkes shot vs Kansas
2. Bryce Drew shot
3. Nova vs UNC
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That Trey shot was the only better finish to a game I could think of after the game last night.
It would be number 2 for me but i was 14 when Valpo beat Ole Miss. I had about 10 buddies at my house watching the game, its a great teenage memory.
Gives me chills how much class MJ has. GOAT
Kris Jenkins has earned MJ's respect. https://t.co/pESu5HqNcl #NationalChampionship
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) April 5, 2016
That is nice to see the appreciation of the game of basketball and the respect and acknowledgement of a great shot. Win or lose.
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He is the farthest thing from classy.
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I know a couple of people who have interacted with Michael Jordan, and they've called him one of the biggest jerks they've dealt with (and they've worked with a lot of athletes). His real personality is basically the polar opposite of the squeaky-clean image we were sold all those years.
For this reason I do chuckle a little at the Crying Jordan meme - it's a bit of comeuppance for him.
I have no issue with his reaction here, but I've heard enough stories about Jordan off the court to not want to sing the praises of his "class."
One of the best finishes in recent memory. For a tournament that started getting boring, it sure provided a bang on the way out.
Found some pretty funny meme's this morning.
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) April 5, 2016
UNC fans right now pic.twitter.com/yT3Hyjs8uh
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 5, 2016
Didnt watch it dont care to watch teams be rewarded for academic fraud.
Didnt watch it dont care to watch teams be rewarded for academic fraud.
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Yes, epic finish and epic upset.
And I don't wanna discuss the 13 that are better. Just know that it is the 14th.
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Probably the best finish I have seen since the NC State/Houston game. Well played game by two very good teams. It was nice to see two teams with upperclassmen play in the biggest game. Congrats to Villanova. Can you imagine what it must feel like to hit the game winner in a NC game?
One of the best finishes for any college basketball games. The shots from each team in the final seconds were crazy.
UM, of course.
Villanova beating Georgetown in 1985 was better in my opinion.
But this one was pretty darn special the entire game.