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1942

Head coach Adolph Rupp leads Kentucky in its NCAA Tournament debut with a 46-44 victory over Illinois in the East Regional Semifinals in New Orleans. The Wildcats subsequently lost to Dartmouth in the Regional Final.

1945

Pat Riley is born in Rome, New York. His father Leon played 22 seasons of minor league baseball and four games in the major leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies.

1950

CCNY defeats Bradley 71-68 in the National Final to become the first and only team to win the NCAA Tournament and NIT in the same season. Their celebration is short lived, as an ensuing point shaving scandal irreparably damages the program.

1954

Milan High School wins the Indiana Boys State Tournament by stunning heavily favored Muncie Central High School in the final. With an enrollment of only 161 students, Milan became the smallest school ever to win an Indiana state title and provided the inspiration for the 1986 film Hoosiers.

1966

Wilt Chamberlain of the 76ers is named NBA league MVP for the ’65-’66 season, his second such award. He becomes the first player to earn the trophy with two different teams, having won it previously in 1960 with the Warriors. Jerry West finishes second in voting, followed by Oscar Robertson in third.

1967

Daron “Mookie” Blaylock is born in Garland, Texas. His nickname was granted to him in childhood from his older sisters.

1971

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) is named NBA league MVP in just his second season in the league, in a runaway voting result over second place Jerry West. It’s the first of an eventual record six MVP trophies for Abdul-Jabbar.

1974

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar earns his third NBA league MVP award in just his fifth season in the league. Scoring champion Bob McAdoo finishes a close second in voting, followed by Bob Lanier in third.

1980

Jamal Crawford is born in Seattle, Washington. He led Rainier Beach High School to the Washington state title in 1998, and the school later retired his #23 jersey.

Michelle Snow is born in Pensacola, Florida. She was named “Miss Basketball” Florida in 1998 while starring for Pensacola High School.

1982

John Thompson becomes the first Black head coach to lead a team to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament, as Georgetown defeats Oregon State 69-45 in the Regional Finals.

1985

NBA veteran Ronnie Brewer is born in Portland, Oregon.

1990

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has his #33 jersey retired by the Lakers in a pre-game ceremony.

1992

Despite matching up against a #3 seed Arizona team that featured seven future NBA players (including eventual Rookie of the Year Damon Stoudamire), #14 seed East Tennessee State pulls off a shocking 87-80 upset in an NCAA Tournament Southeast Regional first round game in Atlanta. The Bucs were subsequently defeated in the second round by Michigan’s “Fab Five.”

1994

#9 seed Boston College stuns top overall seed North Carolina in an NCAA Tournament East Regional second round game in Landover, Maryland.

1998

Johnny Moore has his jersey #00 retired by the Spurs. At the time of the ceremony, he was the franchise’s all-time leader in assists.

2004

Charles Barkley has his jersey #34 retired by the Suns. Though he spent just four seasons with the franchise, Barkley made an indelible impact, including winning league MVP in ’92-’93 and leading Phoenix to the NBA Finals.

2005

LeBron James finishes with 56 points and 10 rebounds in a 105-98 Cavaliers loss to the Raptors. It breaks the Cavaliers franchise single game scoring record, previously held by Walt Wesley for 34 years (now held by Donovan Mitchell). At 20 years and 80 days old, James also becomes the youngest player in NBA history to score 50 points in a game (a record that was later broken by Brandon Jennings) and the only player under 21 years old to finish with a 50-point double-double (something that only Kevin Porter, Jr. has accomplished since).

2008

One of the greatest first round games in NCAA Tournament history ends with a Ty Rogers buzzer beater to lift Western Kentucky to a 101-99 victory over Drake in double overtime. The game set the NCAA Tournament records for most combined three-point attempts (70) and most combined three-point field goals (30).

2019

Nick Collison has his jersey #4 retired by the Thunder. The longtime role player spent his entire career with the franchise and was the first player to be honored specifically by the team since its 2008 move from Seattle.

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