NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 67 NCAA Tournament games for 2020-21 season

1. #1 Gonzaga 93, #11 UCLA 90 OT (Final Four)

Could there be any other choice?  This was a game that the college basketball world needed after being riddled by the COVID-19 pandemic, the cancellation of last year’s March Madness, and a tumultuous 2020-21 campaign and tournament.

To state the obvious: few believed that the Bruins could pose a challenge to the undefeated, top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs, who had won 29 of their prior 30 games by double-digits and ran through the NCAA Tournament by defeating their previous four opponents by an average of 24.0 points.

UCLA needed to play an absolutely perfect game in order to stand a chance, and – after entering the tourney as losers of four-straight – wins over Alabama and Michigan indicated that the Bruins could give the Zags a punch or two.

But no one expected this.  The Bruins asserted themselves first, drilling the first basket and playing with the confidence that they belonged here on the national stage with the best team in the country – and they never backed down.  Johnny Juzang, the tournament’s hottest shooter, delivered, pouring in 29 points on 12-18 shooting to lead a quadruple of double-digit scorers on a UCLA team that finished at 57.6% from the floor.

It wasn’t even that the Bruins did not do enough to combat Gonzaga’s starting five, all of whom reached double-figures with Drew Timme going off for a team-best 25 points.  Gonzaga’s level of uncomfortableness was something the Bulldogs had never faced once this season up to that point, particularly in late-game situations, but key possessions showed the poise that had led them to this point in the season – among them, the charge that Drew Timme took with four fouls at the end of regulation, and Jalen Suggs’ chase-down block that led to a Timme dunk late in the second half.

But obviously, no segment was as monumental as the end of the overtime period.  After Andrew Nembhard drilled a three to put Gonzaga ahead by five with a minute remaining, it felt like the Zags would finally claim this one – but a clutch Jaime Jaquez Jr. long-range bomb gave the Bruins life.  The rest is history, courtesy of the sensational head-to-head guard duel between Johnny Juzang and Jalen Suggs.

In a lot of ways, this feels like the ending to the 2016 Championship game between North Carolina and Villanova.  A fearless, tough bucket by Juzang was completely erased by one of the greatest shots, not only in NCAA Tournament history but in college basketball history.  No amount of Skip Bayless being an insufferable troll or claims of recency bias can eradicate the flurry of emotions that captivated the world in those few seconds.

Above all else, it was a game built by riveting storylines – and ended with one significant takeaway for each program.  For Gonzaga, it kept the dream of the perfect season alive and catapulted the once unknown 5,000-undergraduate Cinderella university in Spokane to the brink of finally, potentially, claiming the college basketball crown.  And for UCLA, the performance against the Zags and their stunning trek through the tournament signified the rebirth of the greatest program in the history of the sport after a tumultuous period of mediocrity.

The 2021 NCAA Tournament was an oddity, full of unpredictable finishes and results but a predictable finale – a perfect synopsis of an unforgettable, one-of-a-kind season.  With hopefully just a year until the next March Madness, there are a plethora of memories from this tournament that should last the college basketball world until then – and a lifetime.