Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I absolutely couldn't wait for this first-round game between Penn and Illinois, which ironically happened this past 2026 NCAA Tournament. I remember being off of school this Friday for St. Patrick's Day, pumped up as Illinois was the first game of the late morning and DePaul was playing later that night at the Lawrence Joel Coliseum in Winston Salem, North Carolina. By the way, I absolutely loved the Illini's white uniforms on the bright parquet court at Wake Forest. Illinois pretty much controlled this game against Penn, leading by about ten points most of the way. I remember the Quakers were led by guard Michael Jordan (no, not that Michael Jordan) and Matt Langel, who is the current head coach at Colgate. Speaking of current head coaches, Seton Hall's Shaheen Holloway starred during the Pirates' victory against Oregon, hitting a game-winning layup on the ugly court of the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I was so sure Fresno State was going to beat Wisconsin during this first-round game of the 2000 NCAA Tournament, though the Badgers would lock down the Bulldogs and begin an improbable run to the Final Four. Led by Tark the Shark, the legendary Jerry Tarkanian, Fresno State had a guard named Courtney Alexander who would be a first-round pick during the 2000 NBA Draft. The Bulldogs also had center Melvin Ely from Chicago-area Thornton Township High School. A future NBA player himself, Ely teamed with future NFL player Antwaan Randle El, Michigan wide receiver Tai Streets, and Oakland Raiders' linebacker Napoleon Harris to have an awesome boys basketball squad at Thornton during the 1996-97 season, my freshman year in high school. In fact, Thornton knocked out Corey Maggette and Fenwick to go down state after Maggette's high school had knocked out my high school, St. Patrick, in the previous round of the Illinois High School Association playoffs. Thornton was eventually defeated by a legendary Peoria Manual squad featuring three future Illini, forward Sergio McClain, center Marcus Griffin and guard Frank Williams. How high school basketball was so good back in the day. In addition to Wisconsin's victory against Fresno State, this video contains the end of a near upset by #15 Northern Arizona against #2 St. John's. I did not realize St. John's was losing this game during the last 10 seconds before Lavar Postell had a three-point play. While suriviving against Dan McClintock and Northern Arizona, St. John's would be upset in the second round by a plucky upstart from Spokane, Washington.

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. Now here's an actual exciting game from the 2000 NCAA Tournament, #10 Gonzaga vs. #7 Louisville. In what would be the final NCAA Tournament game for Cardinals' Head Coach Denny Crum, Gonzaga would continue its March Madness magic from the 1999 tourney, upsetting Louisville during an exciting, up-and-down contest. I remember really getting into this game, in large part due to announcer Gus Johnson. This was when Johnson was very good at calling games as opposed to the caricature he has become during the years, when his excitement seemed genuine rather than forced. I absolutely loved this Gonzaga team with Matt Santangelo, Richie Frahm and Casey Calvary. Louisville also had one of my favorite college basketball bad asses at the time, forward Nate Johnson. That guy was a dude, and this was a great game. Also included is early action between #16 Valparaiso and #1 Michigan State, which would begin its run to its first national title since 1979. I was a big fan of Valparaiso Head Coach Homer Drew, who just seemed like a class act. Now the Crusaders are coached by another class act, Roger Powell Jr., my all-time favorite Illinois basketball player of all time. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. It's safe to say the first slate of games for the 2000 NCAA Tournament were not the most appealing. One thing that always frustrated me about living in Chicago at the time was that the local CBS affiliate would always put on Big Ten teams during the NCAA Tournament. Case in point, the Purdue Boilermakers, a team that I had seen enough of during the regular season. Remember that this time period was before every game was broadcast on its own station; thus, I wanted to see teams I hadn't seen all season long. I don't remember much about this Dayton-Purdue game, though I can assume it was close and probably boring. I just wasn't a big fan of this Purdue team with Brian Cardinal, a very gritty player who had a long NBA career. Of course, Purdue would get all the way to the Elite Eight, losing to Wisconsin during a slog fest. I warned you that the 2000 NCAA Tournament was pretty bad so I hope I am not coming off as negative. Unfortunately, none of these early games was a lot to write home about. :(

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I remember skipping school this Thursday to watch the first day of the 2000 NCAA Tournament. As my high school was named St. Patrick's, we were off the next day as Friday was St. Patrick's Day! Essentially, I had finagled a four-day weekend out of the opening round this year. For a double overtime contest, St. Bonaventure vs. Kentucky was not the most exciting game from what I can remember. I am going to blame this on St. Bonaventure's ugly brown uniforms and the hideous court at Cleveland State. I remember watching Indiana State vs. Texas more to scout Longhorns' center Chris Mihm, who was projecting as the top center of the 2000 NBA Draft. That's how bad the 2000 NBA Draft was! Anyways, I wasn't too impressed with Mihm, who would actually get drafted by my hometown Chicago Bulls with the seventh overall pick but then traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the rights to Michigan's Jamal Crawford. I was much happier with the Bulls landing Crawford than Mihm, who would play in the league for some time as a backup center. Also included in this set of games are live look ins of Winthrop vs. Oklahoma and Creighton vs. Auburn, which had been a #1 seed in the 1999 NCAA Tournament. I have no recollections of either of these games, with the exception of knowing that Oklahoma and Auburn advanced. Both teams would be gone by the end of the second round. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games, though I warn you to proceed with caution. In my opinion the 2000 NCAA Tournament might be the worst tournament of all time, though the team that won it all, Michigan State, was the team that probably should have won it all. By the Elite Eight, Michigan State was the only #1 seed remaining in the tourney with #1 Arizona, #1 Stanford and #1 Duke all gone. The Final Four had two #8 seeds in North Carolina and Wisconsin. Florida was the other Final Four participant, with the Gators arriving as a #5 seed. On the surface this tournament had a lot of upsets, but the games were just not all that great from my memory. In many ways the 2000 NCAA Tournament was a prelude to the God-awful 2000 NBA Draft, during which my Chicago Bulls had six of the first 34 picks. In many ways the Elite Eight contest between #1 Michigan State and #2 Iowa State felt like the national championship game. On the bright side, I guess I should have been happy that the 2000 NCAA Tournament was even taking place, meaning that civilization had survived Y2K! :-)