Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. From what I remember, this title game was controlled by the Gators, with UCLA posing no real threat, thus capping a bit of a disappointing Final Four. With that said, I absolutely love this Florida team of Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Lee Humphrey and Taurean Green. I always wondered what if Noah declared for the draft after the 2006 NCAA Tournament. How high would he have gone? Of course, the Gators decided to run it back and went back-to-back the following season. The Bruins would return to the 2007 Final Four, where it would get knocked out in the semifinal by Florida! UCLA would reach the Final Four again in 2008 with freshman sensation Kevin Love. How I long for the days of rosters that developed together for three or four seasons in college basketball! :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I remember feeling a bit disappointed after Florida knocked out George Mason in the first Final Four game. Thus, I was hoping LSU-UCLA would be a better game. I was disappointed again as UCLA seemed to control the Tigers from what I recall. I was a bit surprised by this result as LSU had defeated two impressive opponents, #1 Duke and #2 Texas, to reach the Final Four. Seeming to have the momentum from its Sweet Sixteen comeback against Gonzaga, the Bruins continued what I thought was a surprising run to the title game. I will add that I had a friend at the time who predicted a Florida - UCLA national title game in his initial brackets. I was quite impressed with that prognostication as I did not see the Gators and Bruins reaching the Final Four, yet alone, getting to the title game. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I remember having just moved into a new apartment in Raleigh, North Carolina, on this day, finally getting settled to watch the Final Four. My cousin Jim called me from Chicago, and we talked pregame about whether or not George Mason could beat Florida. We were of the opinion that George Mason could beat Florida; however, reality was much different as the Gators ended the Patriots' miracle run. Little did we know that Florida would be establishing itself as an all-time team that would win back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. After George Mason's thrilling upset of UCONN, I was hoping Villanova would pull through against the Gators. Villanova was my pick to win in tall, but the Wildcats were looking shaky heading into the game against Florida, which won an ugly Sweet Sixteen contest against Georgetown. Well, on this day, the Gators would control the Wildcats. I'll never forget Joakim Noah exclaiming after the game that "The Gator Boys were going to the Final Four." :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. Years later I will never forget this day that George Mason truly shocked the world. After defeating Michigan State, North Carolina and Wichita State, George Mason's run seemingly had to come to an end against all powerful Connecticut, right? On this day my Dad had asked me to drive from Raleigh, North Carolina to nearby Virginia to look at a home he was thinking of renting for a summer trip from Chicago. I was kind of mad that I had to go, but I did it anyway, having to listen to most of this game on the radio. While the potential rental property turned out to be a Dud, this game was an absolute Stud. It seemed like UCONN was pulling away in the second half when George Mason rallied. Luckily for me, I got back home to my apartment just in time to see UCONN's Denham Brown hit a crazy reverse layup to send the game into overtime. Thinking George Mason would succumb in overtime, I was proven wrong once again as the Patriots took the lead and held on, with Brown missing a game-winning three at the buzzer. I will never forget Verne Lundquist's magical call at the end of the game: "By George, the dream is alive." Man, I miss listening to that guy call tournament games. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. For years I thought this game had gone missing from NCAA Tournament games that I recorded. I know I was in the middle of moving from one apartment to another when recording this game, and I figured it must have been lost in the move. Actually, this game was hiding on the second disc of the LSU and Texas game. Usually, I would not record another game on a disc with a game already on it. Apparently, I did on this day, forgetting to label that UCLA and Memphis was on this disc. Oh well. I am glad I have found this game, which, from what I remember, was quite ugly. UCLA would win 50-45 as Memphis would lose in two straight Elite Eights before the arrival of Derrick Rose would get them to the Final Four during the 2008 NCAA Tournament. UCLA had a bunch of  pros on this team, including Jordan Farmar, Aaron Afflalo, Ryan Hollins, Darren Collison and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Amazingly, UCLA would make three straight Final Fours from 2006 to 2008. This game was definitely foreshadowing two of the premier programs in college basketball at the time. UCLA Head Coach Ben Howland had things cooking in Westwood, though his fall would come quite quickly after this run. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I remember being on the LSU bandwagon after the Tigers knocked out Duke during the Sweet Sixteen. For some reason I cannot remember, I was not a big fan of Texas basketball at the time. With age and wisdom, I have really come to respect Rick Barnes as a basketball coach. I hope he can get Tennessee to a Final Four before he retires after three straight losses in the Elite Eight. Anyways, there are a lot of future pros bouncing around in this game, including LSU's Tyrus Thomas and Glen "Big Baby" Davis and Texas' LaMarcus Aldridge and P.J. Tucker, who I became a fan of when he helped the Milwaukee Bucks win the NBA Title in 2021. Note: This game is broken up into two discs. I am excited to note that the second video contains the full Elite Eight game between #2 UCLA and #1 Memphis. For years, I couldn't find this game, though it was on the second disc of LSU and Texas. I did not label the disc correctly as I was in the middle of a move. The UCLA-Memphis game was quite ugly, with a final score of 50-45. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I don't remember much from this Sweet Sixteen game between the Hoyas and Gators as I was watching the overtime classic between the Huskies of UCONN and the Huskies of Washington. I wish I had paid more attention as this Florida team would be marching its way to the school's first national championship with Head Coach Billy Donovan and star players Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey. Georgetown was hardly mince meat, with Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green, and would make the Final Four the following season. I forgot how close this game was, and how low scoring it was. Also, Noah looks so young in these games. I fell in love with Noah as a player during the 2006 NCAA Tournament. I remember him being projected as the #1 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft at the start of the 2006-07 college basketball season. Amazingly, Noah would drop all the way to #9 in the draft to my hometown Chicago Bulls. I was so excited to have Noah in Chicago, though the mediocrity of the Bulls organization would eventually cause me to lose interest. It stinks when bad organizations make it hard to watch fun players like Noah. :-) 

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I remember feeling quite confident that George Mason would win this game after defeating Michigan State and North Carolina during the first and second rounds of the 2006 NCAA Tournament. My confidence was proven correct as the Patriots took care of the Shockers during a game that I feel was not all that close, though my attention at the time was on the Boston College-Villanova game. :-)

Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. I remember still stewing from Washington's victory against Illinois in the second round, especially the free-throw shooting disparity, at the start of this Sweet Sixteen game. However, as Washington was giving UCONN a game, my rooting interest turned to the Huskies of Seattle rather than the Huskies of Storrs. It looked like Washington was going to win this game at the end of regulation before Rashad Anderson hit a ridiculous three to send it to overtime. UCONN's tourney of playing with its food would come to an end in the Elite Eight against Cinderella George Mason. Note: This game is broken up into two parts as I had to record the overtime on a separate disc. :-)