After a wild weekend of college hoops, we get ready to place our bets at the top college basketball betting sites as we’re headed to the Sweet 16 in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Therefore, let’s look back at some of the best games in Sweet 16 history and hope we can add more games to this list after Friday’s games.
2019: Virginia Tech vs. Duke
In the East Regional Semifinal, Virginia Tech took on Duke in an ACC-versus-ACC matchup.
This was ultimately the season when Duke landed Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish for one year. It was expected that this team would make at least the Final Four as the one seed.
With just over two minutes to go, Duke was leading by six points. Even with 38 seconds, Virginia Tech was down by four. But Virginia Tech forced a charging violation on Zion Williamson and proceeded to make a couple of foul shots to cut the lead to two.
With under 30 seconds, Duke didn’t score on their next possession and gave it back to Virginia Tech, up two. The Hokies struggled to score on an inbound play from a timeout. But with 1.1 seconds left, Virginia Tech got one more opportunity after the previous shot deflected off Duke and out of bounds.
Virginia Tech drew up the perfect baseline out-of-bounds play, only for the Hokies player to miss the easy layup and give Duke the win.
Duke survived that game but didn’t survive in the Tournament later on.
2017: Wisconsin vs. Florida
Wisconsin was coming off a huge upset win against Villanova, who had won the Championship last year. So they came into this game as a No. 8 seed, going up against No. 4 seeded Florida.
Both teams were very balanced and matched up well against one another. Wisconsin led early, but Florida led late. It was a back-and-forth game throughout. With 1:30 to go, Wisconsin cut a 72-64 game to a 72-67 game. But they still needed to battle to cut the lead even more.
The Badgers got a stop and then scored on their possession off a three-point miss. The Badgers got two second-chance points on an offensive rebound to push the game to a three-point game with 48 seconds.
After another stop, the Badgers drained a three with 2.3 seconds to go on a runner one-step three-point shot. The game went to overtime.
In overtime, Wisconsin had the lead with only four seconds to go. But Florida inbounded the ball and their own running three to win the game. We had multiple ridiculous three-point shots in crucial moments. Florida survived!
2019: Purdue vs. Tennessee
Purdue and Tennessee were expected to be in this game.
While many stars were featured in this game, Ryan Cline was the star of the show. He drained seven threes and scored 27 points in a massive win over Tennessee as the underdog.
But what made this game so fun was Purdue’s enormous lead in the first half but Tennessee’s ridiculous comeback in the second half.
The Vols took the lead for the first time since 18:34 in the first half, with 5:18 to go in the second half. But when it all seemed like the tables were turned, Purdue answered back and forced the game to overtime.
Eventually, Purdue held on for a 99-94 win over a likable Tennessee squad that many believed in that year.
2010: Xavier vs. Kansas State
Kansas State defeated Xavier in a double-overtime thriller that finished with 197 total points. Even better, Gus Johnson was commentating on this game. Prime Johnson makes anything more enjoyable.
This game was right throughout and only had about 130 points in the game with two minutes to go. By the end of the second half, Xavier was fouled on a three with five seconds to go, down three. Of course, Xavier made those shots to force overtime. Eventually, they went to a second overtime, and Kansas State finally escaped a pesky Xavier squad that was a six-seed.
2013: Kansas vs. Michigan
The No.1 seed Kansas Jayhawks fell to No. 4 seed Michigan, 87-85. Michigan trailed Kansas by 14 points with seven minutes to go. But Trey Burke forced overtime with 4.2 seconds in the second half and then helped Michigan survive in overtime to advance.
Down by two, Kansas still had a chance to tie or win over Michigan, but the shot from three was too strong, and Michigan survived.
There weren’t crazy dunks or flashy plays. But this was an all-time upset, and what makes Sweet 16 upsets so exciting.
