Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I was so pumped up for this opening set of Thursday night games of the Sweet Sixteen, especially the Gonzaga game against Purdue. I remember having to run to the mall after school with a friend, who wanted to get some new shoes, hearing the amazing Supergrass song "Pumping On Your Stereo" for the first time, thinking that Gonzaga would knock off Purdue. That would not be the case as Purdue surprisingly handled the Bulldogs, ruining my dreams of Gonzaga making the 2000 NCAA Final Four. With that said, the Syracuse-Michigan State game was a classic. The Spartans had a miserable first half, getting down at halftime to a game Syracuse team in front of a stunned crowd at the Palace of Auburn Hills. As was the case during a second-round comeback against Utah, Michigan State would take control of the Syracuse game in the second half, leading to an all-timer of an Elite Eight matchup two days later! 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. Perhaps I have been a bit too negative on the 2000 NCAA Tournament, as this Gonzaga-St. John's game was a classic, with prime Gus Johnson doing a great job on the call. After being down following Arizona's loss to Wisconsin in the prior set of games, Gonzaga and St. John's provided a compelling game that took my mind off of what happened to the Wildcats. Just like the second round of the 1999 NCAA Tournament, #10 Gonzaga proved itself worthy against a #2 seed, taking care of St. John's as the Bulldogs had done against Stanford the year before. After defeating the Johnnies, Gonzaga was certainly going to the Final Four, at least in my mind, with Purdue, Wisconsin and LSU left in the region. That would not be the case though for the Bulldogs, which forever changed as a program these two tournaments thanks to the play of Matt Santangelo, Richie Frahm, Casey Calvary and many others. To this day, these 1999 and 2000 squads are my favorite Gonzaga teams of all time, a testament to when the program was an upstart as opposed to a West Coast blue blood. 

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.