What Were The Most Memorable March Runs In College Basketball?

So it’s August and this is somewhat the dead time in hoops. We’re a little bit away from the start of preseason in the NBA, we’re past the July recruiting period, so really all we have are some international trips and any surprise trades. So with that in mind I decided August will be the time to reflect on the past and get yelled at by putting out different blogs involving the best/worst/rankings/whatever. So if you have something in mind, let me know. I started this with the 10 best programs in college hoops from the last 10 seasons.

Today we’re going to address the tweet below:

So with that in mind, we’ll limit it again to the last 10 seasons (2008-09-2017-18). As for what makes it memorable, it can be anything from a shocking conference tournament run to a title run like Kemba had back in 2011. This is the beauty and terrible part of the NCAA Tournament and March in general rolled into one. Conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament are win or go home. It rarely gives us the best team winning the tournament, but it gives us some awesome memories. Let’s get into the most memorable runs.

10. Aaron Harrison’s heroics send Kentucky to title game in 2014
Kentucky was a No. 8 seed heading into the 2014 NCAA Tournament. They were a young team that was struggling through the regular season. However, they made the SEC Tournament title game where it lost in the last second to No. 1 overall seed Florida. Then the NCAA Tournament came along. They beat undefeated Wichita State in the Round of 32 which was one of the best games of recent memory. Then Aaron Harrison took over as he hit big time threes against Louisville, Michigan and Wisconsin all in a row.

9. Dayton flies to the Elite Eight in 2014
The run started by beating Aaron Craft and the big boy in the state Ohio State. That win alone seemed to be enough for Dayton fans since they beat the school that didn’t want to play them. However, they won another close game by beating Syracuse by two in the Round of 32 and then Stanford in the Sweet 16. We were introduced to all-time name Scoochie Smith during the run and this team was actually fairly deep and led by Jordan Sibert.

8. Despite losing Gordon Hayward, Butler gets back to the title game in 2011
We all know about 2010 and what Butler was able to do as a 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. However, the year after was the more memorable run because Butler had 0 reason to even be in the second weekend. They beat Old Dominion by 2 in the first round and then had the wild ending against Pittsburgh where there was a foul call 90 feet away to give Butler the win. They won five games by a combined 21 points.

7. South Carolina makes its way to the Final Four thanks to defense
It’s not like South Carolina entered the NCAA Tournament on fire. The Gamecocks lost in the first game of the SEC Tournament and was just 22-10. They did have a win over Florida, Syracuse and Michigan State that got them into the NCAA Tournament and then from there Sindarius Thornwell and South Carolina’s defense took over. The notable win was over Duke in the Round of 32 where South Carolina scored 65 points in the second half.

6. Wichita State gets to a Final Four in 2013
Before we knew all about Wichita State the run in the 2013 NCAA Tournament happened. Wichita lost the MVC title game to Creighton and went into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 9 seed. This was the year where everyone thought Gonzaga was overrated and didn’t deserve a No. 1 seed because, well, it was Gonzaga. Wichita didn’t help the takes as they beat Gonzaga in the Round of 32 and then the notable game was the Elite Eight win over Ohio State by four. This team was full of talent though when you look back on it and see Cleanthony Early, Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet.

5. Loyola hits a couple of late shots to get to the Final Four in 2018

First it was the game-winner against Miami. Then it was the late game-winner against Tennessee. Then it was the close win against Nevada. Then it was dominating Kansas State. Yeah, Sister Jean was a thing, but it was Loyola’s beautiful passing and patience that I’ll always remember. Clayton Custer was the leader of this team but what made Loyola so damn good was the fact that they didn’t rely on just one person. They went to whoever was open.

4. VCU goes from First Four to Final Four in 2011
VCU was the team that everyone yelled didn’t deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament back in 2011. They were just 23-11 and went 12-6 in the CAA including losing 4 of its last 5 regular season games. However, they were one of the last teams in and then just blew everyone away to start the NCAA Tournament. The First Four victory over USC was by 13. Then they beat Georgetown by 18 and Purdue by 18 before the close games. The Sweet 16 was a 1 point overtime win over Florida State and then the Elite Eight was a 10 point win over a Kansas team that should have won the NCAA Tournament that year. This run made Shaka a media darling and start lining him up for every major opening until he took the Texas job.

3. This time it’s Shabazz’s turn to make a run in 2014
UConn was a rebound away from being eliminated in the first round to St. Joe’s. Instead the game went to overtime and UConn ended up winning. That game alone should be talked about more. Then UConn beat Villanova back when everyone beat Villanova in the Round of 32. Shabazz was absolutely phenomenal during the run, but what helped him out was Ryan Boatright turning into the perfect sidekick to him in the backcourt. They went on to beat Iowa State, Michigan State and the No. 1 overall seed in Florida before beating Kentucky in the national title game.

2. Dunk City becomes America’s team in 2013
For a team that made the Sweet 16, there may not have been a more talked about run. Florida Gulf Coast, a No. 15 seed beat Georgetown and San Diego State to get to the second weekend before losing to Florida. But, it didn’t matter. We had the highlights. We had the smokeshow model as the coach’s wife. We had the dunks. This team didn’t even win the ASun regular season, which makes it even a bit crazier as they became the first No. 15 seed to make the Sweet 16. 

1. Kemba’s run in 2011

I mean, we could just talk about the dance with Gary McGhee and everyone would be happy, but this was the ultimate run by UConn and Kemba. It started in the Big East Tournament where UConn had to win 5 games. They entered the Big East Tournament as the No. 9 seed after going just 9-9 in the regular season. After beating DePaul, they beat four ranked teams in a row to get the automatic bid and actually a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Then came the memorable games in the Elite Eight and Final Four against Arizona and Kentucky. Now, every March we start asking who can pull a Kemba, thanks to this.