Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. With Arizona advancing to the final with a convincing victory against Michigan State, I simply figured Duke would beat Maryland to set up the inevitable title game. For one half, Maryland had other plans, leading by 20 points at one point in the first half and seemingly avenging an incredible Duke comeback against the Terps earlier that season. Of course, Duke would rally in the second half and pull out the win. For the 2000-01 Maryland team, its season would be remembered for allowing two devastating comebacks by Duke. This stinging loss during the Final Four would pay off a year later as the Terrapins would return to the Final Four and win the whole enchilada against Indiana, a Cinderella that upset defending-national champion Duke during the Sweet Sixteen. Thanks to the DukeBluePlanet Vault YouTube channel for these clips of both Duke comebacks against Maryland. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. While I was still dealing with the sting of Arizona beating Illinois during the Elite Eight, I was rooting for the Wildcats this game. Honestly, I liked both programs a lot, though it became clear that Arizona was the superior team this night. As talented as any team in the country at the time, Arizona put it all together at the right moment, with Richard Jefferson locking down Jason Richardson during this contest. It is crazy to think that Arizona would not return to the Final Four until 2026 after this triumph. Of course, the Wildcats would get close again in 2003 and 2005, with the latter including Illinois getting revenge for its loss to the Wildcats four years earlier in San Antonio. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. Oh how this game still hurts 25 years later. Rather than watching this game at a bar, as was the case for the Illini's Sweet Sixteen game against Kansas, my buddy Rich and I decided to hunker down in my dorm room, order Chinese food and watch closely. This was what I had been waiting for with this Illinois team for the past three seasons, a chance to play in the Final Four. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be for this Illini team as Gilbert Arenas got Arizona off to a hot start. The Illini battled back all game long, behind the strong play of Robert Archibald and Cory Bradford, and even led for seconds in the second half after back-to-back threes from Lucas Johnson. Ultimately, Arizona's talent and the refs' whistles were too much to overcome. Six Illini fouled out, and Arizona shot 56 free throws. While I loved this Arizona team and would root for the Wildcats during the Final Four, this Illinois team was so special and close. After the tight loss, I remember having to go to a Sunday night meeting for the student newspaper, The Daily Illini. That turned out to be a depressing walk, seeing fellow students leave the bars with dejected faces. Still, the 2000-01 Illini were a special team, as these highlights from a local television station in Champaign demonstrate.

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. After sleeping off my Saturday night and waking up during the first half of this Elite Eight contest, I was clearly distracted with Illinois set to face Arizona in the next game. From what I remember, Michigan State had a comfortable lead for most of this game. Later that night my childhood buddy Jeff would email and call me. A freshman at Michigan State, Jeff called to console me about Illinois losing to Arizona in the Elite Eight. As for the Spartans, I wished Jeff "Good luck" against Arizona at the Final Four. For the third straight season, MSU would make the Final Four. In this case MSU had an advantageous route, playing no team higher than a nine-seed. As for Temple, I loved the Owls' lefty guard Lynn Greer. That kid had game! 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. After missing most of the prior Elite Eight game between Maryland and Stanford, I hunkered down and watched the entirety of USC versus Duke. While I was hoping USC could pull the upset, I knew that was not going to happen. USC played Duke relatively tough, but the Blue Devils were just too talented with Jay Williams at the point and Shane Battier as a senior leader. Most notable from this game was Carlos Boozer continuing to get some minutes after returning during the Sweet Sixteen from a broken foot. As for USC, I would use this surprise Elite Eight  run to have the Trojans as a dark horse during the 2002 NCAA Tournament. As a four-seed, USC would get upset in the first round by #13 UNC-Wilmington. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. For some reason, I think it was a study session, I missed most of this Elite Eight game between Maryland and Stanford. As I got back to my dorm room, I was surprised to see Maryland winning rather comfortably late in the game, though this really wasn't an upset. The Terps were a legitimate contender with Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, Lonny Baxter, Byron Mouton, Terrence Morris, Chris Wilcox and others, with Maryland certainly giving Duke all it could handle a week later during the Final Four. As for Stanford, the Cardinal could never capitalize on that magical Final Four run in 1998, getting eliminated in the second round as a two- and one-seed, respectively, during the 1999 and 2000 NCAA Tournaments, before falling a game short in this Elite Eight affair. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. Oh what a great night this was watching Illinois defeat Kansas during the Sweet Sixteen of the 2001 NCAA Tournament. My buddy Rich and I went to Murphy's on Green Street to watch the festivities. While you only had to be 19 years old to get into the bars, I did not have a fake ID. Rich did, however, and we were introduced to Long Island Ice Teas on this night as Frank Williams dominated the Jayhawks. I'll never forget Kansas getting out to a 4-0 lead as Drew Gooden hit back-to-back buckets in the post to start the game. Surprisingly, I was not all that worried as Illinois quickly got back into the game. I remember starting an And-One and air ball chant at the bar as Williams scored on a fastbreak layup and some Jayhawk put up a shot that caught air. With Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" playing in the background of Murphy's immediately after the victory, I couldn't believe Illinois was just one game away from the Final Four, with Arizona waiting in the Elite Eight. As celebratory Rich and I were on this night, we would have our game faces for the Elite Eight game, choosing to order Chinese food and watch from my dorm room. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I remember kind of paying attention to this first slate of Friday night Sweet Sixteen games back in my dorm at the University of Illinois while I was preparing to go out and watch the Kansas and Illinois game at a bar with my high school buddy Rich. Honestly, I think I was more worried about how I looked heading out to the bars than watching these games. From what I remember, Michigan State proved too physical for the Bulldogs, and Ole Miss gave Arizona a tougher game that I expected, though the outcome never felt in doubt. If Illinois could get by Kansas, it would face the Wildcats during a win-or-go-home rubber game that felt inevitable after two memorable contests between the two schools earlier this season. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. After digesting USC's upset of Kentucky, I expected Duke to take care of UCLA, which the Blue Devils did. UCLA competed hard, but Duke was just the better team. The big story from this game was the return of Carlos Boozer, who had missed the first two NCAA Tournament games with a broken foot. As for Stanford vs. Cincinnati, the Cardinal won as I expected at the Arrowhead Pond, a court that brought back bad memories of Arizona's loss to Utah during the Elite Eight of the 1998 NCAA Tournament. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament. I remember being back on the University of Illinois campus, post-spring break, making an executive decision to go play some pickup basketball after classes in the late afternoon. I ended up getting back during the second half of the USC-Kentucky game, shocked to see the Trojans controlling and winning the game. USC would be up 19 at the break before Kentucky rallied in the second half to lose by four points. Moving on, USC would actually give Duke a fairly competitive game during the Elite Eight. I liked this USC team of Sam Clancy, Jeff Trepagnier, Brian Scalabrine and company. As for Georgetown-Maryland, this was an unexpected Sweet Sixteen game, with the Hoyas taking advantage of playing #10 seed Hampton in the second round as opposed to #2  Iowa State. Maryland would win this regional rivalry game by 10 points and advance to the Elite Eight to take on and upset the #1 seed Stanford Cardinal. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. After shooting some pool with my childhood friend, we got back to my parents' house and watched the end of this tight Notre Dame-Ole Miss game. I need to research this Ole Miss team more. They were a tough squad, as seen during a competitive loss against Arizona during the Sweet Sixteen. Anyway, my friend and I bid adieu, promising to stay in touch. We have not talked during the 25 years since. After the game, I had to take the bus back down to Champaign. On the way down, a very cute girl sat next to me. We spent the next few hours talking about her spring break. Dumb me didn't get the girl's number, and we never saw each other again on campus! :( Going to an all-boys high school for four years sure was a hindrance my first year in college. :) Note: I believe my VHS ran out of tape at the end of the ND-Ole Miss game. I have included the ending from the great YouTube channel of TG Classic Sports, an Iowa State fan channel. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. As I alluded to in the prior post, I spent the Charlotte-Illinois game playing some pool with a good childhood friend who randomly called me out of the blue. Thus, I didn't really watch this game too closely, which was unusual for me, an Illinois fanatic. I was very confident Illinois would get past the 49ers, which proved to be the case. I remember glancing up from the pool table to see Illinois up about 8-12 points seemingly all game long. Looking at the box score, Illinois got incredible balance from its starting lineup, as was the case for Arizona against Butler. Ultimately, this set of games was previewing an Elite Eight clash just one week later between the Illini and Wildcats. Back to the Illini game against Charlotte, the 49ers were led by two of my favorite shooters from the late 1990s/early 2000s, Diego Guevara and Jobey Thomas. Three years prior as a freshman during the second round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament, Guevara nearly shot UNC Charlotte past an amazing North Carolina team during a classic overtime game that is somehow not on YouTube! :( 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I remember being back home in Chicago for the last day of spring break before heading down to Champaign to finish up my freshman year at the University of Illinois. One of my childhood buddies randomly called me out of the blue the night before to catch up. We ended up going to play some pool, as Kansas crushed Syracuse and Illinois took care of Charlotte on televisions in the background. Of course, Syracuse would get revenge against Kansas two years later in the NCAA Tournament, winning the 2003 Title Game behind the heroics of Carmelo Anthony and now Head Coach Gerry McNamara. As for Kansas, the Jayhawks had me worried after dominating the Orangemen in the second round, with Illinois next in the Sweet Sixteen. 

I am having trouble uploading this game onto YouTube thus I have included second-half footage from the great Keith Olenik. Stanford would get a scare from the Hawks, which included a freshman point guard by the name of Jameer Nelson, before holding on late. The Cardinal were upset the prior tournament as a #1 seed in the second round, that time by North Carolina. St. Joe's was led by Marvin O'Connor's 37 points on 15-for-20 from the field and 10-for-10 from the foul line! O'Connor's performance was so legendary that ESPN made a Sportscentury episode about the guard. If my memory serves me correct, Kentucky and Iowa met in the second round of the 1997 NCAA Tournament, with the Wildcats winning en route to the national title game, an overtime loss against Arizona.

I was having issues uploading this next set of NCAA Tournament games so I have included the games from the YouTube channels of CoachTroyBell (yes, the BC superstar guard) and the great Keith Olenik. USC would upset Boston College during a crazy finish while Kent State would be unable to sustain the momentum of a first-round upset of Indiana, getting crushed by Bob Huggins' Cincinnati Bearcats. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. The Georgia State-Maryland game featured an intriguing backstory, with former Terps' Head Coach Lefty Driesell now in charge of the Panthers. Driesell left Maryland shortly after the death of Len Bias in the summer of 1986. After upsetting Wisconsin, Georgia State would lose big to a Maryland team that survived a first-round scare against George Mason. UCLA would take care of a Utah State team that upset Ohio State in the first round, setting up a Sweet Sixteen game with eventual national champion Duke. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. This opening game of the second round was getting more publicity for the coaching backstory, with Missouri's Quin Snyder a former player for Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. Missouri would hang around for a bit behind the hot shooting of Kareem Rush, but Duke would be in control and win by 13 points. The Blue Devils were still without sophomore forward Carlos Boozer, who was recovering from a broken foot and would return during the Sweet Sixteen. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. The first round would conclude with an interesting battle at power forward between Xavier's David West and Notre Dame's Troy Murphy, with the Irish coming out on top. As for Hawaii vs. Syracuse, the Orangemen would win by ten points, setting up an interesting second-round 4/5 game against Kansas. I would pay attention to this game as the winner would face Illinois during the Sweet Sixteen. Kansas would absolutely demolish Syracuse, leaving me a bit more worried about the Jayhawks before the Illinois game. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I don't remember much about this slate of games. Michigan State began what would be its third-straight Final Four appearance with a relatively easy win against the Hornets. The Spartans would have a fortuitous road to Minneapolis, playing #16 Alabama State, #9 Fresno State, #12 Gonzaga and #11 Temple before losing to #2 Arizona. As for the Providence-Penn State game, the Nittany Lions controlled this game behind the Crispin brothers (Joe and Jon), Titus Ivory and Gyasi Cline-Heard. Penn State would make a surprising run to the Sweet Sixteen, knocking off North Carolina in the second round. I'll never forget this Penn State team upsetting Illinois in Happy Valley that season, with Ivory hitting a game-winner after Frankie Wiliams hit a three at the buzzer to send the game to overtime. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I remember watching this EIU - Arizona game with great interest, thinking that the Wildcats would eventually match up with Illinois in the Elite Eight, which would happen. EIU played the Wildcats very tough for the first half, behind the hot shooting of guard Kyle Hill. The Panthers also had a player named Henry Domercant, who was a big-time scorer and recently was an Assistant Coach for the Chicago Bulls. Eventually, a loaded Arizona team pulled away in the second half. To cap off the afternoon sessions, Indiana State upset Oklahoma in overtime, setting up an unlikely #12 Gonzaga-#13 Indiana State game in the second round. I was happy for this Indiana State team as the Sycamores had a player named Marcus Howard who played at Elgin High School with Sean Harrington of Illinois. Indiana State also had a big man named Terence Avery who played high school basketball for my Dad's cousin in Southern Illinois. Also in this set of games was the first-round matchup between Tennessee and Charlotte. I remember that Bobby Knight, who was out of coaching this year, was doing predictions from the Chicago Sun-Times this tournament. Knight picked Tennessee, which was highly-rated early in the season, to beat Charlotte and then Illinois. I remember being pissed about that. :-)

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I remember being home back in Chicago for spring break on the day of this first round game between Northwestern State and Illinois. I woke up late that morning, frantically turning on the television to see Illinois was out to a 10-0 lead. I popped in a VHS and began recording. The Illini would cruise comfortably, with most of the players sporting shaved heads in unison of a hopeful deep tournament run. After the Illini game, CBS switched over to Gonzaga and Virgina. The Bulldogs would pull the upset late as tourney hero Casey Calvary put back a Dan Dickau layup that was blocked off the glass. For the third straight season, Gonzaga would advance to the Sweet Sixteen! Note: I have included the beginning of Northwestern State-Illinois from the docsdaname2000 YouTube channel and the entire Gonzaga-Virginia game from Zags' Greatest Hits. 

Note: I tried to upload the first round game between Kent State and Indiana from the 2001 NCAA Tournament, but the picture quality was so poor due to it raining in Chicago throughout this Thursday. Thus, I have included video from the amazing channel of Keith Olenik. I remember my local CBS affiliate cutting in to the end of the Hampton and Iowa State game, shocked to see the Pirates pull of the upset. I'll never forget one of the Hampton players lifting up the Pirates' Head Coach after the stunning victory. Even without Marcus Fizer, then playing for the Chicago Bulls, Iowa State seemed dangerous with star point guard Jamaal Tinsley, though a deep tournament run in consecutive seasons would not be in the cards. 

Note: I tried to upload the first round game between Kent State and Indiana from the 2001 NCAA Tournament, but the picture quality was so poor due to it raining in Chicago throughout this Thursday. Thus, I have included video from the amazing channel of Keith Olenik. Honestly, I don't remember much from this first-round game, except that Kent State pulled off the upset. I think I had enough this day, with such poor reception and nothing but Big Ten teams being shown (Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Indiana). Indiana would get its revenge during the 2002 NCAA Tournament, knocking off Kent State during the Elite Eight after ironically upsetting defending national champion Duke in the Sweet Sixteen. Of course, Duke began its 2001 title run with a first-round victory against Monmouth. To this day, I am still shocked Indiana knocked off Duke during the 2002 NCAA Tournament. That Duke team was loaded with Jay Williams, Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy and Chris Duhon .

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I honestly don't remember much from this slate of opening day games during the first round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament. I believe Iowa was coming off winning the Big Ten Tournament Championship, defeating an Indiana team that upset Illinois during the semifinals. I forgot that Iowa won four games in four days to secure an NCAA Tournament bid. The Hawkeyes would knock out a Creighton team that would lose to Illinois during the second round in the 2002 NCAA Tournament. Also featured within this slate was Maryland's opening round game against George Mason, five years before Jim Larranga's program reached the Final Four. Of course, Maryland would reach the 2001 Final Four, where it would blow a 20-point first half lead and lose to Duke, setting the stage for the Terrapins' 2002 title. I did not realize that Maryland only beat George Mason by three points. Talk about a first-round scare. Note: Please excuse the poor video quality. I was home from college for spring break. In Chicago, my parents' TV reception was awful for the CBS station when it rained. This Thursday was raining all day, and my recorded games are of terrible quality. I have included first round coverage via the awesome Keith Olenik if interested in watching these games. 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. The 2001 NCAA Tournament started off in a bad way for the Big Ten, with Ohio State losing in overtime to Utah State and Wisconsin falling by one to Georgia State. I don't remember much of the Utah State - Ohio State game, though I know the Buckeyes had a few holdovers from the 1999 Final Four team, most notably center Ken Johnson. I was thrilled when CBS cut in to the end of the Georgia State - Wisconsin team. I absolutely could not take Wisconsin's style of play under Dick Bennett, and was thrilled to see Lefty Driesell's Panthers pull off the upset after watching the Badgers make the 2000 Final Four. Note: Please excuse the poor video quality. I was home from college for spring break. In Chicago, my parents' TV reception was awful for the CBS station when it rained. This Thursday was raining all day, and my recorded games are of terrible quality. I have included first round coverage via the awesome Keith Olenik if interested in watching these games.