March is a special month here at MMH. Last night, we had the Academy Awards, next week we have the NCAA tournaments, and today is a date with a band named after them (311) – that’s the holy trinity! And yet…this month used to be even bigger for me. I looked forward to March Madness more than Thanksgiving and Christmas combined. That first weekend was electric. I may have told the story before of students in my high school all trying to finish our class work as quickly as possible to try to convince the teacher to turn on the TV to watch the early games. Now, my interest in the tournament feels very different, and it’s not just because I’m older.
Ever since the explosion of the transfer portal and the influx of NIL money, the men’s tournament just has a new feel to it. While the one-and-done era also caused a seismic shift in the continuity of the sport, even then many players kept sticking around for multiple years. I am a lifelong Florida Gators fan and I could not name more than three guys on their team right now. Players flow like oil on water from one team to another in search of more playing time or more money. I do not fault these young players at all. It simply changes my perspective when I don’t have any connection whatsoever to the people I’m supposed to be rooting for. I’m only vaguely curious if Dalton Knecht on Tennesee is more J.J. Reddick or Adam Morrison. I wonder if Rob Dillingham can emerge as a true star with the name Rob Dillingham, unlike Cody Williams who I have no questions about with a name like that.
Just to be clear, those feelings extend only to the men’s tournament. Into that interest vacuum has stepped the women’s NCAA tournament. Because of the continued wage disparity between men and women professionals, the women’s college game has benefited in one surprising way. Players stick around and fans can develop actual attachments. I can’t wait to see if we get a rematch between Angel Reese and Caitlyn Clark. I am eager to find out who can give perennial powerhouse South Carolina trouble. The consistency creates stakes.
My relationship with the Oscars is on a similar trajectory. I mean, I used to actually look forward to it every year. I watched the red carpet beforehand for goodness’ sake! Granted, I studied screenwriting and filmmaking in college and thought I’d maybe make it to the event at least as a seat filler one day, and I gave up a similar basketball dream far earlier. Now, I try to catch the movies as I can and I follow the nominations, but I don’t find the awards themselves particularly meaningful.
Quite a long intro to get to the point of this piece, I realize, so here we are. With my interest in the current product flagging, I want to take refuge in nostalgia once again. Or, rather, I want to highlight some of the historical successes. In homage to the Academy Awards, I am going to hand out Oscar-style honors to the best players in NCAA tournament history. Time to put on my tux.
We’ll start with some nominees that didn’t quite get there.
Best Actor That Came up Inches Short
Gordon Hayward
The 2009-2010 Butler Bulldogs were a balanced and talented team. They earned a fifth seed when the tournament rolled around. Gordon Hayward was their leading scorer and their best rebounder throughout a magical run to the finals and a matchup against the bluest of blue-blood schools, Duke. Butler had four players score in double figures, but Hayward wins this award due to how close he was on the final shot. I mean, come on, that would have been incredible.
The only knock on this award is that Butler was good enough to make it back to the National Championship game without Hayward the following year.
Best Actor to not make the Final Four
Stephen Curry – Davidson
I will remember Steph Curry’s 2007-2008 tournament run forever, and he certainly wins the award for player with the most consequential tournament that did not reach the final weekend. That team had no business making it to the Elite Eight and only losing by two to the eventual champion Kansas, which had four future NBA players. Curry played all 40 minutes and had 25 points despite being the sole focus of the defense. That capped performances against Gonzaga, Georgetown, and Wisconsin in which he scored 40, 30, and 33 points, respectively. More than stats though, watching college Curry was a vibe. He was already drilling threes from all over the place. And unlike other great college shooters, there was a flow to his game even then that was mesmerizing.
Best Actor in a Breakout Role
Carmelo Anthony – Syracuse
I was going to go with Best Newcomer here, but I’m pretty sure that’s an AVN award. Or a BAFTA. Melo was a dominant player from the moment he stepped onto campus for the 2002-2003 season. Other freshmen like Zion, Shaq, and Greg Oden have had similar seasons. However, those three didn’t win the title. Melo started out slower in the tournament, but then broke out with games of 33-14 and 20-10-7 to push the Orangemen past stacked Texas and Kansas squads to win the final four. Melo certainly had some help in his own cast, but he was the true lead, the engine that powered the machine. While Michael Jordan improved throughout the 1982 tournament as a freshman, culminating in that shot from the movie Air, even he was not as dominant as Anthony.
Best Actor in a Role I Never Saw
Danny Manning – Kansas
I was not paying much attention during the 1987-1988 NCAA tournament. But every bit of research I did putting this list together pointed to the fact that Danny Manning had to be on this list. I realize many others fit those qualifications: Bill Russel, Bill Walton, and fellow Jayhawk Wilt Chamberlain just to name a few. However, one thing that drew me to Danny and the Miracles was the fact that they were 18-11 going into the tournament. Kansas was an 11 seed. Manning led them through the tournament gauntlet culminating with a statline of 31-18-2 with 5 steals and 2 blocks against an Oklahoma Sooners that would have three future NBA players.
Best Actress to not have a sequel (professional career)
Cheryl Miller – University of Southern California
When I was growing up, my dad would always tell me that Cheryl Miller was a better player than her brother, NBA star and original Slenderman, Reggie. In my research, it sure seems like she was pretty awesome. But her sports-reference page is blank. We know she won the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament award twice to go with her two titles. She scored over 3,000 points for the Trojans. And yet she never got to have the professional career that some of these other players got to have. Could she have been the original Sheryl Swoopes (a worthy award recipient in her own right) if given the opportunity instead of being relegated to sideline reporter for the NBA?
Best Actress in the Clutch
Arike Ogunbowale – Notre Dame
The 2017-2018 Notre Dame Fighting Irish were a strong offensive team; they went 30-3 on the season and earned a number one seed in the tournament. That doesn’t mean that they had an easy time of it winning the NCAA title. The semifinal against powerhouse Uconn went to overtime. Ogunbowale hit a long two with one second left to make it to the national championship. Then, in that game against Mississippi State, Ogunbowale nailed a soaring three pointer at the buzzer to win it. Buzzer beaters are awesome, just ask Kris Jenkins or Lorenzo Charles. But two buzzer beaters!? Now that’s phenomenal.
Best Actor
Kareem Abdul Jabaar (Then Lew Alcindor) – UCLA
The biggest award of them all. The overall best actor award. If you had Kareem on your team, you won the NCAA title. The only reason that he didn’t lead the UCLA Bruins to four titles was that he wasn’t allowed to play as a freshman (no one was, it wasn’t personal), thus he only won three. For most of these awards, I have been highlighting one specific run, but for Kareem, it’s nearly impossible to do so. Similar to some Oscars, you have to take the career into account. He did put up 37 points and 20 rebounds in the 1968-1969 final. The only nitpick is that they didn’t play as many games back then. Considering what he did as a pro, I don’t think that would be an issue though.
Best Actress
Breanna Stewart – UConn
This was tough, but I had to go with results as a tie-breaker. Diana Taurasi would also have been an excellent choice as she may have been the most talented player, and she won three national championships. Stewart led The Huskies to four national championships. In her senior year, Stewart and Uconn blitzed everyone again. No opponent closed a game within 21 points of the Huskies. In the finals, Breanna put up a 24-10-6 to beat Syracuse by 31. She was the tournament’s most outstanding player for all four of those titles. Similarly to Kareem, we do have to factor in the cumulative effect of multiple seasons in certain cases.
Congratulations to all the winners and everyone else for being here. Along with the folks taking home the hardware, we’d like to thank all the nominees. To Kemba Walker, Glen Rice, Sheryl Swoopes, Juan Dixon, Sabrina Ionescu Christian Laettner, Candace Parker, Michael Jordan, Elgin Baylor, Chamique Holdsclaw, Ed O’Bannon, Ben Gordon, and Anthony Davis, we were blown away by your work as well. And for Robbie Avila and Caitlyn Clark, your moment may come next week. Now we can play the wrap-up music and commence the discussion about the wrong people winning!