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.