Games of the Decade

[dukedevilz]

Lots of good ones. What games stood out to you the most? I've separated this between conference games and NCAA Tournament games. I'll probably need to come back and include OOC games, as well. Indiana/Kentucky in 2012 and Gonzaga/Butler in 2013 come to mind.

BEST CONFERENCE GAMES
2010
MWC: #10 New Mexico 83, #13 BYU 81 (This game decided the MWC champion. Only time Jimmer didn't win the regular season title)

2011
Big East: #21 UConn 76, #3 Pittsburgh 74 (Big East Quaterfinals, Kemba had the ankle-breaking stepback jumper at the buzzer over McGee. UConn goes on to win 11 straight from Big East & NCAA Tournaments)

2012
ACC: #10 Duke 85, #5 UNC 84 (Rivers for 3 at the buzzer! UNC fans are stunned)

2013
Big Ten: #2 Indiana 72, #7 Michigan 71 (last conference game of the reg. season; Indiana wins B1G outright)

2014
Big XII: #16 Iowa State 98, #19 Oklahoma State 97 (3 Overtime Classic. Right up there with OU-KU for best game of the decade, IMO)

2015
ACC: #4 Duke 92, #15 UNC 90 OT (Duke trailed by 10 points with 3 minutes left. Forced OT and won in extra time)

2016
Big XII: #1 Kansas 109, #2 Oklahoma 106 3OT (Freakishly entertaining basketball. Hield goes off for 46 points)

2017
Pac-12: #21 Oregon 89, #2 UCLA 87 (Oregon trailed 87-83 with 12 seconds. OU hits 2 threes in the final few seconds, including a monster three at the buzzer by Brooks. Ducks would later go on to advance to the Final Four in 2017)

2018
WCC: #4 Michigan State 68, #3 Purdue 65 (Bridges drills a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left to break the tie)

2019
SEC: #3 Tennessee 82, #2 Kentucky 78 (SEC Semifinals; incredible back-and-forth action the last few minutes of the game)

BEST NCAA TOURNAMENT GAMES
2010- Sweet 16: 2-seed Kansas State 101, 6-seed Xavier 96 - 2 OT
2011- Round of 32: 8-seed Butler 71, 1-seed Pittsburgh 70
2012- Sweet 16: 1-seed Syracuse 64, 4-seed Wisconsin 63
2013- Sweet 16: 4-seed Michigan 87, 1-seed Kansas 83
2014- Round of 32: 8-seed Kentucky 78, 1-seed Wichita State 76
2015- Elite 8: 1-seed Kentucky 68, 3-seed Notre Dame 66
2016- National Championship: 2-seed Villanova 77, 1-seed UNC 74
2017- Sweet 16: 4-seed Florida 84, 8-seed Wisconsin 83 OT
2018- Elite 8: 1-seed Kansas 85, 2-seed Duke 81 OT
2019- Elite 8: 1-seed Virginia 80, 3-seed Purdue 75

Feel a little bad for Wisconsin. I have them on the losing end twice here, and I didn't include the 2015 semifinals. Just felt like the UK-ND was the best game of the tournament.

 

[lurkeraspect84]

2012 UK vs IU (NCAAT) rematch was probably the biggest/best game that stood out to me.

I'm hard pressed to think of one better.

 

[ExitFlagger]

Good list.

The last KU-Missouri game (2012) was pretty great too.

 

[schoonerwest]

2018 Kansas vs. Duke was probably the most emotional I’ve been during a game since the 2008 title run. At the time I remember saying it was a top 3 all time game I’ve ever watched. I’ll go with that.

2012 Missouri at KU was pretty huge. Both were top 5 teams. It was (and still is) the last time they played each other. Kansas was down by 19 points in the 2nd half. They came back and won in OT. It gave us the most excited public reaction I’ve ever seen from Bill Self during a basketball game.

 

[dukedevilz]

Missouri/KU in 2012 is fair. Being a Duke fan, it's hard for me to concede easily, as the Rivers shot is arguably the most iconic play in the Duke-Carolina rivalry.

 

[dukedevilz]

2012 UK vs IU (NCAAT) rematch was probably the biggest/best game that stood out to me.

I'm hard pressed to think of one better.

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You probably have a better recollection of the game than I do, but I felt like Kentucky was safely up (maybe 6+ points) for most of the second half. Kentucky has been in quite a few memorable tournament games this decade, not sure I'd have this one in the top 10, to be honest. Wichita State, Louisville, Michigan, and Wiconsin all in 2014. UNC in 2011. Notre Dame and Wisconsin in 2015. UNC in 2017. Houston and Auburn in 2019.

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

Good memories guys. I can't disagree with much.