The eternal sports question – what is the best team of all-time? – always proves impossible to answer. Games inherently change over time, and as the decades pass it becomes too difficult to properly compare eras. College basketball may be the foremost example of this. Elements such as the dunking, the three-point shot, freshman eligibility, and players leaving to go pro have been a part of some seasons, and not a factor in others.

But in narrowing the scope to the last 20 years, the best teams of this era can be compared based on the merits of their accomplishments and on-court abilities. While this list includes some teams that did not win the national championship, NCAA tournament results are weighed heavily when ranking these teams. Here are the best 16 college basketball teams since the turn of the millennium. Continue reading →

The idea started simply enough, with an innocent question earlier this week in a group text: “What is the best year ever in tournament history?”

My friend Alex was of course getting at the idea of CBS and the other networks that usually broadcast the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament showing the entire tournament from a select year in lieu of the cancelled 2020 edition. But my brain immediately starting considering the prompt literally; What was the best year ever for the tournament? The March packed with the most drama, the highest quality of basketball, and most unforgettable moments.

To determine the best year of March Madness objectively, there are multiple factors to consider. We want to have our share of first weekend upsets – it is March Madness after all. But usually the best, most competitive, Final Fours happen when the highly-seeded titans are the last ones standing. There also needs to be an abundance of drama. Back-and-forth games, outcomes in doubt, and buzzer-beaters all packed into a four day stretch that leaves you exhausted from sitting on the couch watching it all. Essentially, this exercise it to determine the tournament that would be most exciting to re-watch in this absence of sports.

But the tournament expanded to 64 teams (basically its current format) in 1985. I was born in 1990. So while I can look up and read results of classic games from the 1980s, I cannot, proclaim which years had the best March from that time. So, effectively this list is looking at the last 25 years. Here are the Top 8 tournaments (Because any self-respecting list about March Madness has to be a number that is a multiple of 4):

8) 2018 – This year is remembered for 11-seed Loyola Chicago’s Cinderella run to the Final Four. The Ramblers had one-possession wins in each of their first three rounds. The third win was over 7-seed Nevada who had two wild comeback wins over Texas and Cincinnati.

The best finish of the tournament was Michigan’s last-second shot to knock out Houston in the second round, propelling the Wolverines to a championship-game run. They lost in the title game to Villanova, who had a fairly undramatic run to their championship.

But 2018 will always be known for UMBC becoming the first 16-seed to win a game as they rolled past top-seeded Virginia and forever altered the concept of an upset.

7) 1999 – Years 1996-1998 all had great moments, either in the first weekend, or in the Final Four, but 1999 put it all together, making it the best March of the late ‘90s. The first round was wild, with 14-seed Weber State knocking off North Carolina as the biggest upset. Miami Ohio also grabbed headlines in the first weekend, beating Washington and Utah behind star shooter Wally Szczerbiak who scored 43 points in the first game. But the nation’s Cinderella was an upstart 10-seed: Gonzaga. The Bulldogs beat Minnesota and Stanford the first weekend, both schools which had recently been to the Final Four. But the Zags did not stop there. Their stunning win over Florida gave them an improbable Elite Eight berth and forever changed the course of their basketball program.

But the climax of the 1999 tournament was the championship game, a matchup between two juggernauts: 37-1 Duke and 33-2 Connecticut. Despite this matchup featuring two 1 seeds, Duke was heavily favored, riding a 32-game win streak. UConn pulled off the ‘upset’ in a thrilling 77-74 game with Richard Hamilton scoring 27 points. There are many years when the title game does not feature the clear two best teams from that season. 1999 not only had that, but probably two of the better teams of the decade.

6) 2016 – This year had a great first weekend, and a fantastic championship game, but the middle weekend was not especially rousing other than a furious comeback by 10-seed Syracuse over 1-seed Virginia to win the Midwest Region.

That Midwest Region was particularly crazy in the first round, when under-seeded 15 Middle Tennessee shocked Michigan State and 12-seed Arkansas Little Rock won a double-overtime thriller over Purdue. In the West, Northern Iowa hit a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to stun Texas in the first round, and then improbably lost a 12 point lead in the last 40 seconds in the next round against Texas A&M. The best game of the second round however, was 14 seed Stephen F. Austin nearly knocking off 6-seed Notre Dame.

The 2016 championship game was one for the ages between top seeded North Carolina and 2-seed Villanova. UNC had a lead at halftime, but Villanova played a terrific second half to take a 3 point lead into the final minute. Carolina’s Marcus Paige hit a spectacular three to tie the game. Villanova used the last 4.7 seconds perfectly to set up Kris Jenkins game-winning shot at the buzzer.

5) 2015 – One of the most anticipated Final Four weekends of this century was 2015, with three 1-seeds and 7-seed Michigan State led by coach Tom Izzo, who was up to his usual March tricks. The 1-seeds were all Goliaths: 33-4 Duke, 35-3 Wisconsin, and undefeated 38-0 Kentucky. The whole tournament had the subplot question: Would Kentucky complete a perfect season? While they got through the first three rounds relatively unscathed, Notre Dame gave Kentucky a run right until the final seconds of the Regional Final. In the next round, they would not be so lucky as Wisconsin avenged their loss to UK in the previous season’s Final Four and knocked out the Wildcats in a classic.

The Badgers, perhaps exhausted from their slaying of Kentucky, dropped a competitive Championship game to Duke. While 2015 was highlighted by the meeting of titans in the Final Four and Kentucky and Wisconsin’s pursuit of history, the first round also had plenty of close and entertaining games. Most memorable of those was 14-seed Georgia State’s Ron Hunter and his son stunning Baylor.

4) 2008 – The first, and only, year when all 1 seeds made the Final Four, and all were basketball schools: Memphis, Kansas, North Carolina and UCLA. The semi-finals were not particularly thrilling, but the final was, as Kansas furiously came back to force overtime vs Memphis and then won Bill Self’s first, and only National Championship.

While no underdogs made the final weekend, this year was not without upsets. Most memorable was 10-seed Davidson’s run to the Elite Eight, led by Stephen Curry who put on a show that lasted until the final seconds of their loss to Kansas.

2008 also had its share of exhilarating first weekend games, some of which seem to have been forgotten, like 12-seed Western Kentucky shocking a very good Drake team.

3) 2013 – This year had craziness all over the bracket, and finished with a terrific championship game. In the East, 3-seed Marquette made an Elite Eight run squeaking out two impossible wins in the first two rounds against Davidson and Butler.

The South region saw some history as Florida Gulf Coast became the first 15-seed to advance through the first two rounds, and did so with unheard of swagger. The region was won by Michigan, who needed an incredible Trey Burke shot to get past 1-seed Kansas in overtime in the round of 16.

In the West, 14-seed Harvard shocked New Mexico in the first round, 12-seed La Salle stunned Mississippi on the last shot in the second round. Ohio State won a thriller over Arizona in the Sweet Sixteen, but then had their season stopped by the darling of the tournament, 9-seed Wichita State, who gave Louisville all they could handle in the Final Four.

Louisville needed a rally to beat Duke in their regional final, and then played two spectacular games to defeat Wichita and Michigan to take the championship. The final game between the Cardinals and Wolverines was especially contentious and a great display of high-quality basketball.

2) 2005 – This year had tremendous games and spectacular finishes throughout the whole tournament. In the first round 14-seed Bucknell came out of nowhere to shock Kansas and 13-seed Vermont stunned Syracuse in overtime. In the second round, 7-seed West Virginia and coach John Beilein knocked out 2-seed Wake Forest and Chris Paul in a double overtime thriller.

The Elite Eight round was especially dramatic. Michigan State beat Kentucky after a crazy shot put the game into overtime. Top seeded Illinois had an epic comeback to beat Arizona in overtime and advance to the Final Four.

Illinois needed a big comeback again in a compelling National Championship game, but fell just short, losing the title to North Carolina. It was one of the few good games this year that did not go into overtime.

1) 2010 – This March had it all. Upsets: 13-seed Murray State won a thriller over Vanderbilt, 12-seed Cornell made the Sweet Sixteen, and most-shockingly, Northern Iowa stunned top-seeded Kansas.

Memorable games with fantastic finishes: In the second round Michigan State responded to a last-minute go-ahead shot by Maryland with one of their own. In the Sweet Sixteen Kansas State won a sensational double-overtime game over Xavier.

Crazy: West Virginia took out 1-seed Kentucky in a much-anticipated Regional Final that saw both teams take an out-of-character amount of three’s – Kentucky went 4/32 to end their season. Butler made the Final Four in Indianapolis with close wins over Murray State, 1-seed Syracuse, and Kansas State.

The Final Four, while not always pretty, was dramatic. In the final, Butler somehow used their own 7:48 field goal drought to come back in the second half against Duke. They pulled within 1 point in the final minute, setting up a gripping finish that led to what could have been the ultimate madness-defining shot that rimmed out for Gordon Hayward and Butler. 2010 had all the build up and in the end the underdog had its day, but the best team won the championship – and that makes it the best year for March Madness in recent memory.