Ah. March Madness.
There have already been a lot of upsets this year—not the least of which was the friggin’ historic 16-seed UMBC blowout of #1 overall seed UVA—but on the eve of the second weekend of games, we wanted to take a moment to look back at some of the all-time greatest buzzer beaters the Big Dance has ever given us.
Note that we’re intentionally not including the 2016 Kris Jenkins shot that sunk UNC in the title game… not because it wasn’t sensational, but because it’s been played about a million times the past couple years already. And maybe because this writer is a Carolina fan, too. But who knows!
Anyway, let’s embrace the Madness!
Ulysses “U.S.” Reed of Arkansas was not only apparently patriotic af, he was also clutch af. With one second remaining, he swished a more than half-court game winner that pretty much impaled the hearts of Cardinals fans everywhere.
Upstart N.C. State—you know, that “other” basketball school from North Carolina you’ve probably never heard of—mounted the ultimate Cinderella story in 1983, squeaking out tournament win after tournament win under insanely charismatic head coach Jim Valvano. In the ’83 title game, they went up against the “Greatest Team to Never Win It All,” Houston, a.k.a. “Phi Slama Jama.”
Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler should have been too much for NCSU, and technically, they were… but Dereck Whittenburg’s last-second air ball ended up being an accidental alley-oop to Lorenzo Charles, who snatched the shot out of the blue and completed the play with a dunk as time expired. Wild!
Yeah, it was only ’92, but the nation was already tiring of Coach K and Duke. And a big part of that was Christian Laettner. However, while Laettner was undeniably dirty as a player on the court, his skills were also undeniably filthy.
Case in point: This shot against Kentucky to reach the Final Four, which rocketed the Blue Devils of NC to a second-straight national title (the first time that was accomplished since Wooden’s UCLA days in the ‘70s). Laettner also had a buzzer beater against Connecticut in the 1990 Elite Eight, but no way in hell are we officially listing “dook” twice on this list. Disclaimer: Again, this writer is a Carolina fan.
You would think that with only 4.8 seconds left you wouldn’t pull any razzle-dazzle, but nah, UCLA’s Tyus Edney went for the style points as he beat the clock against Missouri in the Round of 32.
Another perfectly executed long inbounds pass a la Duke & Laettner results in a buzzer-beating upset 3 for Valpo over Ole Miss in the opening round of the 1998 tournament. March Madness in full display.
Richard “Rip” Hamilton and the Connecticut Huskies kept America on the edge of their seat as shot attempt after shot attempt rattled around the rim in the waning seconds of their ’98 Sweet Sixteen game… before Hamilton finally swished a fall-to-the-court fadeaway as the buzzer sounded, crushing 11-seed Washington’s heart.
Not every shot has to be a long bomb or a fallaway jumper. Here, Nova fends off feisty rival Pitt to advance to the Final Four thanks to the heroics of Scottie Reynolds, who drove the length of the court to finish in traffic at the rim as time expired.
Oh, no biggie here. Northern Iowa’s Paul Jesperson just knocked off Texas in the Round of 64 by hitting a HALF-COURT BANKED-IN DAGGER AT THE BUZZER. Ridiculous.