Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. Oh how this game still hurts 20 years later. I became a huge fan of these West Virginia teams prior to their run to the Elite Eight during the 2005 NCAA Tournament. I was living in Champaign, Illinois, preparing to move to Raleigh, North Carolina, when I watched West Virginia make a run to the Big East title game in 2005. I fell in love with this unselfish team. While everyone loves Kevin Pittsnogle, my heart was partial to Mike Gansey, one of my all-time favorite college basketball players. Coached by John Beilein, this West Virginia team featured Joe Herber, Darris Nichols, J.D. Collins, Frank Young, Rob Summers, Tyrone Sally, Patrick Beilein, D'or Fischer and others. While falling short of the 2005 Final Four, West Virginia was my sleeper team to make it there during the 2006 NCAA Tournament. After Duke fell to L.S.U. in the prior game, the opportunity was there for the Mountaineers. Unfortunately, LaMarcus Aldridge was a beast this game. How I didn't see that Aldridge was the better prospect than Tyrus Thomas blows my mind all these years later. Admittedly, I was not a Texas fan at the time, though I came to respect the program under Head Coach Rick Barnes. Back to the West Virginia-Texas game, things looked bleak late, until Pittsnogle hit a ridiculous three to tie the game. Instead of calling timeout, Barnes let this team rush the ball up court, leading to a Kenton Paulino three at the buzzer. What a devastating loss for WVU but a great NCAA Tournament game. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. At the time of this game, I was moving from one apartment to another in Raleigh, North Carolina. In the living room I had this game playing. In my bedroom I had the LSU - Duke game playing. I was obviously more interested in the Tigers - Blue Devils game than the Braves - Tigers game. I do remember running in and out of my bedroom to check on the progress of this game, which was never really close from my recollections. Nonetheless, Bradley had an awesome run, and Patrick O'Bryant played himself into the NBA lottery during the 2006 NCAA Tournament. These pre-Derrick Rose Memphis teams are always a bit blurry to me, though Joey Dorsey scared the living daylights out of me and Chris Douglas-Roberts was a bucket. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I remember this game quite well. I was working for a company, and we had an outing at a Go-Kart place after work. I was getting a bit nervous as this game was tipping off soon and thus came up with some excuse to leave. This was a shocker of an upset at the time as Duke seemed destined to be Final Four bound during the senior seasons of J.J. Redick and Sheldon Williams. LSU's Tyrus Thomas would earn himself a lot of money this game with his defensive activity at the rim. Sadly, the Bulls would draft LaMarcus Aldridge and trade his rights for Thomas during the 2006 NBA Draft. At the time, everyone was praising the move. Of course, it was a mistake, though I liked Thomas on the Bulls. He was always a fun wildcard. A few years later I was working out in Deerfield, Illinois, where the Bulls used to practice. I would frequently see Thomas and James Johnson on the train from Chicago to Deerfield for summer workouts. Thomas actually seemed pretty cool. I remember one time he stepped aside and let an older woman get on the train. Johnson and he would also take photos with fans, though I never bothered to ask them. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I remember being torn watching this game as I had picked Villanova to win the whole 2006 NCAA Tournament. I remember seeing them the season before put a smackdown on Kansas during a December game in Philadelphia, and of course, I was still upset that the Wildcats got robbed against North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen of the 2005 NCAA Tournament. With guards Randy Foye, Mike Nardi, Allan Ray and Kyle Lowry, this Villanova team was an incredibly fun watch. As for Arizona, I was at the waning stages of my fandom of the Wildcats, which were my favorite team besides Illinois from 1997 to 2007. This Arizona team had some players I really loved, including Hassan Adams, Mustafa Shakur and a freshman named Marcus Williams. Ultimately, this was a close game that would go down to the wire. Note: This game is broken up into two parts. The 2006 NCAA Tournament was the first I recorded on DVD. To ensure the highest picture quality, I would never record more than two hours per disc, though that would change in time. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. From what I remember, this was a very close second-round game, with a less-talented Kentucky team under Tubby Smith giving a more-talented UCONN team under Jim Calhoun a very competitive challenge. I remember not buying this UCONN team as a Final Four contender, though it seem destined after the Huskies survived Kentucky and Washington before facing George Mason in the Elite Eight. I was not the biggest Rudy Gay fan in college, though I came to respect him more as a pro. Gay was so talented but seemed disinterested at points in college as did this experienced UCONN team. Sometimes it is hard to find the mental edge to get back to a Final Four, and this UCONN team struggled in this area with several holdovers from its 2004 national championship team. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I am not going to lie, I don't remember watching much of this game, as my attention was drawn on George Mason shocking North Carolina and Bradley upsetting Pittsburgh on this day. This would be Herb Sendek's last game as N.C. State Head Coach. The Wolfpack fan base could not wait to get rid of him after this loss to a Texas team featuring LaMarcus Aldridge and P.J. Tucker, who was from Raleigh. I remember more of the aftermath of this loss, how N.C. State thought it was getting John Calipari from Memphis before having to settle for Sidney Lowe, the point guard on the Wolfpack's 1983 national championship team. Things did not go well for Lowe at N.C. State. However, at least he was a Wolfpack legend and left in better standing than Will Wade, who returned to LSU after just one season at N.C. State following a first-four loss to Texas during the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Talk about an all-time snake move. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. To this day, this upset shocks me. I could not believe that George Mason got through Michigan State and North Carolina in the first and second rounds. Both teams had made the Final Four during the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Quite simply, this George Mason team did not blink against a North Carolina team that showed its youth. This game is a really fun watch, especially as the fans at the UD Arena began to side with the Patriots in the second half. Twenty years later, George Mason's run is one of the more improbable and captivating experiences I have had as a fan. I absolutely loved this George Mason team, especially its lefty power forward Will Thomas, who was money in the post. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I do not remember much specifically from this game, though I was excited to see Bradley get another upset after shocking #4 seed Kansas in the first round. With Illinois eliminated against Washington in the second round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament, Bradley was the team I adopted, along with George Mason. This would be an exciting day of upsets as Bradley would beat Pitt and then George Mason would shock North Carolina. Come to think of it, the 2006 NCAA Tournament had a lot more upsets than I realized. I wish the 2026 NCAA Tournament could say the same thing. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I have absolutely no recollection of this game, probably because I was depressed after Illinois had just lost to Washington earlier in the day. I do remember the media being all about Duke's J.J. Redick and Gonzaga's Adam Morrison during this season. While I respected Morrison's game, I absolutely could not stand his antics on the court. I remember after the Bulldogs' first-round victory against Xavier in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, how some Musketeers' players commented about Morrison allegedly saying some inappropriate things to them on the court, something along the lines of "I hope you get run over by a train." It was quite weird. While Gonzaga would defeat the Hoosiers, the Bulldogs would blow a big lead against UCLA in the Sweet Sixteen, resulting in Morrison breaking down immediately after the loss. Months later I couldn't believe when Michael Jordan's Charlotte Bobcats drafted Morrison, who would have a short NBA career, though he did win two titles as a reserve with the Los Angeles Lakers. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. Oh, how this game still hurts to this day as it was the last game in the Orange and Blue for Dee Brown and James Augustine. I remember watching this game while on the phone with my Dad, trying to figure out how to do my taxes given that I had lived in two states, Illinois and North Carolina, the previous year. I was quite annoyed as my attention was being taken away from a game during which Washington came out and punched the Illini in the face. Illinois would have an incredible rally and even lead by 10 points at one point in the second half. After finishing my taxes, I remember getting on the phone with my brother to talk about how if Illinois continued to play like this, the Illini could beat #1 UCONN in the Sweet Sixteen. Of course, Washington came back to take the lead. Illinois had a final shot to win the game, but Brown missed a three over the outstretched arms of Washington's Bobby Jones. I will never forget the CBS cameras following Brown running into the locker room for the last time as an Illini. The realization hit me then and stays with me today: one of the greatest eras in Illinois basketball history, the Dee Brown years, had come to an end. :-( Luckily for me, I got to witness three of those amazing four years as a student at the U-of-I. To this day, Illinois has had better basketball players than Dee, but no one player was more important in the program's history than the orange headband-wearing Brown! :-)