What's Up In The Missouri Valley: What's Up In The Missouri Valley 4/8/2020

March Madness immortalized: The 101 greatest NCAA Tournament games in modern college basketball history--CBS Sports

1998
39. Midwest first round: No. 13 Valparaiso 70, No. 4 Mississippi 69

There is no need to embed the video of Bryce Drew's winner because you can already cue it up in your mind's eye. Shouts to Ted Robinson, who makes the "Drew! For the win! Gooood!!" call. Since that highlight is so prevalent every mid-March, it's key to remember the context that made it possible. First off, Drew misses a 3-point attempt with five seconds left. Then Ole Miss' Ansu Sesay (did you know: the '98 SEC Player of the Year) misses a foul shot. Valpo takes its last timeout, then Sesay proceeds to miss his second. Valpo is saved because the ball is deflected out of bounds on the miss. With 2.5 to go, "Pacer" is called and a play design for the ages is revealed. Initially, Bill Jenkins gets on the baseline to inbound the ball. Then Jamie Sykes -- a former baseball player -- is instructed to handle the toss. Jenkins -- a former volleyball player -- winds up catching Sykes' inbounds pass, deftly gets it to Drew immediately and history in Oklahoma City happens.

2008
66. West first round: No. 12 Western Kentucky 101, No. 5 Drake 99

Start to finish, the best game of the 2008 tournament. Remember that one season where Drake was randomly ridiculously good? Drake got a NO. 5 SEED, PEOPLE! At the time this game sets the record for most made 3-pointers in a tournament game (30). Ty Rogers' winning 3-pointer is the memorable moment. How about this: Rogers only scored 11 of WKU's 101 points, and in fact his winning shot in OT was the only buzzer-beater of that tourney. Even wilder: it was the first game-winning shot in the NCAA Tournament at that point since Nicholas for Maryland in '03. Tyrone Brazelton put up 33 for WKU and in fact decided to pass to Rogers, who was nonetheless draped by Drake. Cash. The 42 3-point attempts is second most in tournament history (Saint Joe's-Boston College, 1997).

2010
72. Midwest second round: No. 9 Northern Iowa 69, No. 1 Kansas 67

The night "Farokhmanesh" became a verb -- no, a lifestyle. The No. 1 overall seed is overthrown in Oklahoma City. This is the monumental upset of 2010. Kansas was a machine in 2009-10. Northern Iowa was no shrinking violet -- getting a No. 9 seed out of the MVC is a signal of its ability -- but this was nonetheless not predicted by anybody. Ali Farokhmanesh's no-no-OH!! 3-pointer to put UNI up 66-62, with more than 30 seconds left on the shot clock, is "onions!" defined. You may not realize: Farokhmanesh hit a 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds two days prior to get UNI past UNLV. Kansas' loss is the first in six years by a No. 1 seed prior to the Sweet 16. It's the Jayhawks' third loss in six tournaments to a mid-major team in the opening weekend.

2016
89. West second round: No. 3 Texas A&M 92, No. 11 Northern Iowa 88 (2OT)

Not sure any team has had a wilder swing of fates in any first weekend than 2016 Northern Iowa. This collapse comes less than 48 hours removed from UNI winning by half-court heave in the first round over Texas, courtesy of Paul Jesperson. And even that was one game removed from Wes Washpun sending UNI to the NCAAs on a bouncy shot to win the Valley tournament. What we have here is the largest comeback in the shortest amount of time in the history of college basketball. From 12 down with 40 seconds remaining to getting the game to OT -- and another OT on top of it. The Panthers turn the ball over four times in 44 seconds. A&M in fact is down by 10 with less than 30 ticks to go. Admon Gilder's steal-then-layup with 1.9 seconds left send it to overtime at 71-all. Northern Iowa wins the game in OT if not for Alex Caruso's layup with 5.9 seconds remaining. Ironically, Jesperson loses his sense of place and time and releases a prayer beyond half court with more than four seconds remaining. Huge 3-pointer after huge 3-pointer dot the overtime sessions. Jeremy Morgan scores 36 for UNI, Caruso and Danuel House combine for 47.

2018
96. South Sweet 16: No. 11 Loyola Chicago 63, No. 2 Tennessee 62

When it came to some teams/years on this list and I couldn't squeeze in multiple games from a single run, some coaches in essence did the picking for me. That's the case here, as Loyola-Chicago's victory over Tennessee wins out over its first round defeat of Miami and its Sweet 16 win against Nevada, both of which were tremendous. But this one's played at an efficient level: the teams shoot better than 50% from 2-point range, 37% from 3-point range and commit 17 turnovers. The Ramblers knock off the SEC champs thanks to Clayton Custer's star-kissed/winning shot, a save after they led by 10 with four minutes to go, only to let Tennessee all the way back and take its first lead of the second half with 20 seconds left. What's more, this one capped off something that I believe is a one-time-only thing in tourney history: two final-seconds game-winners by an underdog/Cinderella in their first two games of a tournament.