21) 1944: Utah 42, Dartmouth 40 (OT)

When a car accident injured two of their players and left Arkansas unable to participate in the NCAA Tournament, Utah was granted a wild card bid, setting up one of the most shocking Cinderella runs in the contest’s history. Made up of mostly freshmen and with just one scholarship player on the roster, Utah was given little chance to win their opening round game, let alone advance all the way to the final. But there they were in the championship round, going up against a Dartmouth squad that was actually an all-star team of players stationed on the makeshift Naval base established on campus as part of the World War II effort. That included future Knicks star Dick McGuire, who nailed a runner at the end of regulation that tied the game and forced overtime. But Utah was resolute, ultimately winning the game 42-40 on a buzzer beater from forward Herb Wilkinson. Despite their humble beginnings, this Utah team did feature three future NBA players, including Japanese-American Wat Misaka, who became the league’s first player of color.

20) 1961: Cincinnati 70, Ohio State 65 (OT)

With Oscar Robertson graduated and off to the NBA, plus a new head coach in Ed Jucker, Cincinnati had low expectations for the ’60-’61 season. They started off slow but gelled quickly around a strong frontline duo of Tom Thacker and Paul Hogue, defeating Texas Tech, Kansas State, and Utah to advance to the National Final. Waiting there was in-state rival and defending national champs Ohio State, which boasted three All-Americans in Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek, and Larry Siegfried, and entered the game undefeated. Lucas dominated the Bearcats with 27 points and 12 rebounds but Havlicek struggled against their pressure defense and Cincinnati used their balanced scoring attack to prevail in overtime, 70-65. Though this game makes our list, it’s also notable as arguably the only National Final ever upstaged by the preceding National Third Place Game, in which Saint Joseph’s defeated Utah 127-120 in a five overtime barn burner.

19) 2010: Duke 61, Butler 59

An inch, maybe two. That’s how close Gordon Hayward’s buzzer beater attempt came to going in and clinching a stunning win for Butler, and how close this game was to catapulting up this list, likely into the top 10. Instead, the half-court heave from Hayward bounced off the rim and then onto the floor, leaving Duke victorious, clinching their fourth title under coach Mike Krzyzewski. It was a thrilling end to one of the most exciting tournaments in the modern era, featuring massive upsets from Northern Iowa, West Virginia, and Saint Mary’s, and highlighted by Butler making a “Hoosiers” worthy run to the National Final as a #5 seed. Hayward actually struggled in the championship game, finishing with 12 points on just 2-of-11 shooting. This was indicative of a relatively ugly game overall, with Butler shooting just 34.5% from the field while Duke kept the Bulldogs alive by shooting just 62.5% on free throws while turning the ball over 12 times. But it was a close contest throughout, with neither team ever leading by more than six points, and a thriller at the end, punctuated by Hayward’s unanswered hail mary.

18) 1988: Kansas 83, Oklahoma 79

When Oklahoma defeated them in an early February Big 8 Conference showdown during the ’87-’88 season, Kansas looked like a long shot to even qualify for the NCAA Tournament, let alone all the way to the National Final. But the Jayhawks persevered, winning eight of their final 10 regular season games to reach the tournament as a #6 seed, then pulling off upsets of Xavier, Vanderbilt, and Duke to set up a rematch with the Sooners. As opposed to Kansas’ ragtag bunch, Oklahoma was a powerhouse. Led by All-Americans Mookie Blaylock and Stacey King, they entered the tournament as a #1 seed and won their first five games by an average of 17.0 points. But the Jayhawks had the biggest star in Danny Manning, who finished the game with 31 points and 18 rebounds, and iced it at the end with a pair of clinching free throws. Though Kansas committed 23 turnovers, they overcame it by shooting 63.6% from the field while holding the high-powered Oklahoma offense to one of its lowest point totals of the season.

17) 2022: Kansas 72, North Carolina 69

There was inherent drama and prestige in this game even before it started, with a battle between two of the all-time great programs, one of which had made a Cinderella run up to this point as a #8 seed. But add in the fact that Kansas made the biggest comeback in National Final history and you have a game elevated to all-timer status. The Jayhawks erased a 15-point deficit to earn its fourth title in NCAA Tournament history while denying the Tar Heels a chance at their seventh. Senior center David McCormick was the hero for Kansas, finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds and hitting the last two baskets of the game, a go-ahead jumper with 1:21 left and then another shot to extend the lead with 22 seconds left. It was a disappointing end to an otherwise exhilarating NCAA Tournament for North Carolina, which entered as an overlooked #8 seed but pulled off upsets of Baylor, UCLA, and Duke, in what was the final game of coach Mike Krzyzewski’s storied career.

16) 2003: Syracuse 81, Kansas 78

In 1987, in a game we’ll get to later in this list, Jim Boeheim and Syracuse had their hearts ripped out in the Superdome by Indiana in the National Final. A quarter century later, the Orangemen returned and finally won their first national title in another thriller that came down to the final moments. Freshman sensation Carmelo Anthony led the way for Syracuse with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists, but Hakim Warrick provided the heroics at the end, blocking a potential game-tying shot from Kansas’ Michael Lee with 0.7 seconds left. Kirk Hinrich then missed a desperation heave at the buzzer, closing out a wild finish in which Kansas nearly erased a 12-point deficit in the final five minutes but fell just short. Three players in this game were then drafted in the subsequent lottery, with Anthony going #3 overall, Hinrich at #7, and Kansas’ Nick Collison, who dropped 19 points and 21 rebounds in the losing effort, at #12.

15) 1997: Arizona 84, Kentucky 79 (OT)

With All-American Ron Mercer leading the way and their patented full court pressure defense, Kentucky was heavily favored to repeat as champions heading into the 1997 NCAA Tournament. Expectations were much lower for Arizona, with a paltry 19-9 regular season record and three underclassmen in the starting lineup, including freshman point guard Mike Bibby. But it all came together in March for Lute Olson’s squad, setting up this battle of the Wildcats in the National Final. While all previous opponents had been overwhelmed by Kentucky’s athleticism and depth, Arizona managed to expose it. By systematically breaking down Kentucky’s pressure defense and attacking the basket, Arizona got to the line 41 times, compared to just 17 for their opponent. As a result, five Kentucky players fouled out, including Mercer, leaving the team short-handed and overwhelmed in the overtime period. In fact, Arizona’s five point lead at the final buzzer was the largest of the game for either team. It capped off an incredible tournament run for Arizona, who became the only team to defeat three #1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, having previously knocked off top overall seed Kansas and North Carolina, in Dean Smith’s final game as coach.

14) 1979: Michigan State 75, Indiana State 64

The pomp and circumstance of this one are obviously pivotal to basketball history but it’s also worth mentioning that the game itself was well played but relatively dull. The result was never really in doubt, as Michigan State opened up an early 18-8 lead and then cruised to a 75-64 victory. But this was the start of the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird rivalry that would come to define basketball in the succeeding decade and arguably beyond. Bird actually struggled in this game, finishing with 19 points on 7-of-21 shooting as the Spartans defense double and triple-teamed him all night. Johnson led all scorers with 24 points and added seven rebounds and five assists, en route to earning Most Outstanding Player honors. Approximately 40 million fans tuned for this one, giving it the highest television ratings for any basketball game in history, college or pro. Not only did this game launch the reputations of its two biggest stars but also the sport of college basketball itself, which would build on this momentum to explode in popularity in the ‘80s.

13) 2019: Virginia 85, Texas Tech 77 (OT)

In a wild back-and-forth affair between two teams making their National Final debut, Virginia avenged their historic loss a year prior in the first round against #16 seed Maryland-Baltimore County. Those demons seemed all but exorcised when Virginia opened up a 10-point lead over Texas Tech midway through the second half. But the Red Raiders went on a 25-12 run over the next nine minutes, taking a brief lead before Virginia’s DeAndre Hunter hit a game-tying three pointer to force overtime. The Cavaliers then dominated the extra period, at one point scoring 11 straight to open up an insurmountable lead. It was the fittingly wild culmination of a topsy-turvy tournament for Virginia, who overcame a double digit deficit against #16 seed Gardner-Webb in the first round, then mounted late, miraculous comebacks in wins over Purdue and Auburn. 

12) 1999: Connecticut 77, Duke 74

You wouldn’t know it from glancing at the team’s seedings and records but this was technically the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament National Final history. Connecticut entered the game as a 9.5 point underdog, a fact that surely became bulletin board material for coach Jim Calhoun and his staff. Duke certainly was formidable, featuring four players who would become lottery picks in the subsequent NBA Draft in Corey Maggette, William Avery, Trajan Langdon, and Naismith Award winner Elton Brand. But Connecticut’s tenacious back court of Khalid El-Amin and Richard Hamilton controlled the pace throughout, while Brand was hassled inside by the burly Jake Voskuhl. While Langdon led Duke with 25 points, the normally reliable ball handler also committed a pair of turnovers in the final minute that doomed the Blue Devils. He committed a traveling violation with 5.4 seconds left and Duke trailing by one, then subsequently fell down and lost control of the ball when attempting to put up a buzzer beating tying three-pointer.

11) 1966: Texas Western 72, Kentucky 65

Sometimes sports, politics, and culture converge into a single player or team and that was the case with the ’65-’66 Texas Western Miners. Coach Don Haskins made the controversial decision to start five Black players, a previously taboo concept that drew plenty of praise and respect but also derision and even death threats. Amidst all the controversy, Texas Western (which is now called University of Texas-El Paso, or UTEP) steamrolled their opponents, heading into the National Final with a 27-1 record. Waiting in the final game was a perfect avatar for American segregation in Kentucky, with their all-white roster and racist coach Adolph Rupp. On an evening in which few bared live witness (television broadcasts at the time were still regional and mostly tape delayed), Texas Western used their balanced attack and some solid free throw shooting (28-of-34) to log a historic 72-65 victory. Kentucky’s two biggest stars, Pat Riley and Louie Dampier, combined for 38 points but on only 15-of-40 shooting (37.5%). It may not have been the most exciting National Final of all time but it was arguably the most important. By the end the ‘60s, nearly every major basketball program had at least one Black player in their lineup, including Kentucky.

“Their innovative lineup won, and won big, especially against teams from the segregated south, when coach George Ireland would encourage his players to pour it on to teach their opponents a lesson.”

10) 1989: Michigan 80, Seton Hall 79 (OT)

A neophyte interim coach thrust into service. Two big time scorers dueling it out. An unlikely hero winning it at the free throw line. Overtime for the first time in 26 years. The 1989 National Final had a little bit of everything. Even making it here was a shocker for both squads, with Seton Hall upsetting Indiana, UNLV, and Duke en route, while Michigan stunned their conference rivals Illinois in the National Semifinal on a Sean Higgins buzzer beater. Michigan coach Steve Fisher certainly wasn’t supposed to be here. He was an assistant under Bill Frieder just a few weeks prior but was promoted to interim head coach on the eve of the NCAA Tournament, when Frieder took a job at Arizona State. The stars of the game were Seton Hall’s John Morton, who finished with a game high 35 points, and Michigan’s Glen Rice, who scored 31, which clinched his status as the all-time leading scorer in a single NCAA Tournament (a record that still stands). After Rice missed a potential game winner at the end of regulation, overtime came down to a controversial foul call which sent Michigan’s Rumeal Robinson to the line with three seconds left and Seton Hall ahead by one. Though he was just a 66.6% free throw shooter in his collegiate career, Robinson calmly sank both to give the Wolverines their first title in program history. 

9) 1957: North Carolina 54, Kansas 53 (3 OT)

How does a championship game between two blue blood schools featuring Wilt Chamberlain, three overtimes, and numerous clutch plays finish so low on this list? Well, check the final score and recall that it took three overtime periods just to get to 54-53. The teams shot a combined 39.1% from the field, 63.6% on free throws, committed a copious amount of turnovers (which weren’t officially tracked back then), and spent much of the game passing the ball around the perimeter, taking advantage of the lack of a shot clock. North Carolina’s leading scorer Lennie Rosenbluth fouled out with two minutes remaining in the second half but this surprisingly sparked a late Tar Heels run to force overtime. As for Chamberlain, this game was a perfect microcosm of his career, with impressive stats (23 points and 14 rebounds), huge defensive plays (including a block at the buzzer of the first overtime), and an obscene amount of abuse from opposing players that only occasionally drew whistles from the refs. He was named Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament despite not winning, but would later call this loss the toughest of his career.

8) 1963: Loyola-Chicago 60, Cincinnati 58 (OT)

When Loyola-Chicago shockingly reached the Final Four in 2018, many assumed it was the mid-major’s school first such appearance. But the Ramblers had not only made it that far before but actually won the championship. The year was 1963, when much of the U.S. was still racially segregated and most of the major college programs had an unspoken quota of three Black players in their starting lineup. Loyola-Chicago broke the mold, starting four Black players for most of the ’62-’63 season. Their innovative lineup won, and won big, especially against teams from the segregated south, when coach George Ireland would encourage his players to pour it on to teach their opponents a lesson. Cincinnati was the two-time defending champion and took a huge lead early in the National Final game, as Loyola-Chicago missed 14 of their first 15 shots. But the Ramblers slowly crawled back and tied things up at the end of regulation on a jumper by their All-American captain Jerry Harkness. On the final possession of overtime, Loyola’s John Hunter missed a short jump shot but Vic Rouse was there to tap the ball back in at the buzzer for a stunning victory. Loyola was the first team to win a championship with four Black players in the starting lineup, preceding the historic run by Texas Western three years later.

7) 2008: Kansas 75, Memphis 68 (OT)

Behind their superstar backcourt of Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis looked seemingly unstoppable heading into this one. They lost just one game all season, had been ranked in the top three of the AP Poll since November, and had just blitzed a great UCLA team (featuring Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook) by 15 points in the National Semifinal. But John Calipari’s Tigers had one major weakness and Kansas surgically exploited it. When a Shawn Taggart lay-up gave Memphis a 58-51 lead with 2:30 remaining, Kansas went into hack-a-Tiger mode, fouling a Memphis player on every remaining possession. That’s because Memphis had shot just 61.4% from the line during the season, which was 329th in the NCAA out of 331 teams. Sure enough, they missed four out of five free throws down the stretch, leaving the door open for a clutch Mario Chalmers three-pointer to force overtime, where Kansas quickly pulled away and held on for a 75-68 victory. It was Kansas’ second title in program history while Memphis has failed to return to the Final Four since.

6) 1993: North Carolina 77, Michigan 71

This was the showdown everyone wanted to see conclude the 1993 NCAA Tournament and they got it. Michigan’s entire brash and NBA-ready “Fab Five” had returned for their sophomore campaign with unfinished business on their mind, looking to avenge a National Final loss in the prior year. North Carolina was a complete contrast, with a roster heavy on upperclassmen with little-to-no pro prospects looking to earn a second championship for legendary coach Dean Smith. The game was well played and intensely close throughout but the final minute is where the action really happened. When North Carolina’s Pat Sullivan missed the second of two free throws, Webber grabbed the rebound with 19 seconds left and a 73-71 deficit, and was left alone in the back court, setting off one of the most bizarre sequences in basketball history. Webber attempted to call a timeout which Michigan didn’t have, was ignored by the refs, committed a traveling violation that was also overlooked, then did call timeout, which triggered a technical foul, allowing the Tar Heels to ice the game with free throws.

5) 1985: Villanova 66, Georgetown 64

It’s only fitting that the first NCAA Tournament of the modern era finished with one of the biggest upsets in the event’s history. In the first year that the NCAA expanded to 64 teams, #8 seed Villanova was the original Cinderella, upsetting Michigan, Maryland, North Carolina, and Memphis en route to a National Final date with conference rival Georgetown. It was widely expected that the Wildcats would need essentially a perfect game to upend Naismith Award winner Patrick Ewing and the defending champion Hoyas and, well, they basically did just that. Villanova shot an incredible 78.6% from the field, 81.5% from the free throw line, hassled Ewing into foul trouble, and held Georgetown to just 54.7% shooting. Despite the statistical disparity, the game was still close the whole way, with Villanova deploying the four corners offense (this was the last National Final played without a shot clock) and some clutch free throw shooting late to pull out a 66-64 victory. To this day, Villanova remains the lowest seeded champion in NCAA Tournament history.

4) 1987: Indiana 74, Syracuse 73

Even before reaching this game, Indiana had already played in an all-time classic in the National Semifinals, upsetting the top overall seed UNLV in a 97-93 shootout. Two-time All-American Steve Alford was incredible in that game, leading the Hoosiers with 33 points, and the National Final was expected to be a showdown between him and Syracuse’s star point guard Sherman Douglas. But an unlikely hero emerged in Keith Smart, who was Indiana’s fifth-leading scorer during the season but took over down the stretch of this game. Smart scored 12 of Indiana’s final 15 points, including a clutch jumper with four seconds left that put the Hoosiers ahead 74-73. The subsequent inbounds pass from Derrick Coleman was stolen by – who else? – Smart, clinching the third and final title of Bob Knight’s coaching career. For the record, Alford was also great in this game, shooting 7-of-10 on three pointers and finishing with 23 points, as was Douglas, who led the Orange with 20 points and seven assists in the losing effort.

3) 2016: Villanova 77, North Carolina 74

In the modern era (since 1985), 86 NCAA Tournament games have ended on buzzer beaters. But it’s only happened twice in the National Final and this was one of them, with Kris Jenkins nailing a three-pointer as time to expired to give Villanova its second ever championship. Even more improbably, it negated an equally impressive game-tying shot from North Carolina’s Marcus Paige, a double-clutch three-pointer that had evened the score at 74-74 with 4.7 seconds left. Those two preposterous shots were the culmination of a thrilling game that featured nine ties, nine lead changes, and a furious Tar Heels comeback from a 10-point deficit with 5:29 remaining. Though the Villanova roster featured three future NBA stars in Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges, it was a game of unsung Wildcats heroes, from Jenkins’ big shot to Ryan Arcidiacono’s 16 points to Phil Booth’s team leading 20 off the bench. There were rumors at the time that this would be Roy Williams’ final coaching performance but he did return to North Carolina in ’16-’17 and led the Tar Heels to a national title.

2) 1983: NC State 54, Houston 52

“Don’t give, don’t ever give up.” That was the most platitude uttered by Jim Valvano at the 1993 ESPY Awards, right before his untimely death from cancer at age 47. No one took that advice more to heart than his greatest team, the ’82-’83 NC State Wolfpack, who entered the NCAA Tournament as a #6 seed with 10 losses and exited it as the unlikely champions. Almost all of their games during that Cinderella run were nail biting classics but none more so than the National Final. Facing off against a powerhouse Houston that featured Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, NC State deployed a classic slow down approach to delay and frustrate the Cougars. The tactic worked, taking advantage of Houston’s lack of conditioning (especially prevalent in the mountainous Albuquerque locale) and poor free throw shooting. With 44 seconds left and the score tied 52-52, Valvano drew up a final play for his star guard Dereck Whittenburg to run down the clock and then take a final shot. Some pressure defense from Houston changed the plan and Whittenburg was ultimately forced to heave up a long distance prayer that didn’t even catch rim. But Wolfpack center Lorenzo Charles was in perfect position under the rim to catch the rebound and dunk it into the basket as time expired, finishing off one of the greatest National Final games of all time and one of the most inspiring upsets in sports history.

1) 1982: North Carolina 63, Georgetown 62

Let’s start with the star power. There were three future Hall of Fame inductees on the floor in James Worthy, Michael Jordan, and Patrick Ewing, two more roaming the sidelines in opposing coaches John Thompson and Dean Smith, plus two additional All-Americans in Sam Perkins and Sleepy Floyd. Then, there’s the stakes. Georgetown was seeking its first title in school history and looking to make good on the promise of their once-in-a-generation freshman class that included Ewing. North Carolina was a quarter century removed from its last national title and Smith was anxious to shed the choker label following him due to three prior National Final losses. How about the game? It was a back-and-forth classic, with Ewing and Worthy both dominating offensively for their respective sides and numerous players making clutch plays. And the ending? Well, the hagiography of Jordan really began here, with the Tar Heels freshman hitting his first legendary clutch shot, jumper with 15 seconds left that gave North Carolina a 63-62 lead. Georgetown guard Fred Brown then committed a major mental mistake, passing the ball unintentionally to Worthy, allowing North Carolina to close out the win. With that nexus of glamour, drama, and epoch-making, the 1982 National Final stands alone as the greatest in the contest’s history.

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