When is ‘One Shining Moment’ shown during March Madness?
By Sam Fariss
As the confetti settles to the ground and fans check-in for their flights home, one last song will entrance everyone in the arena.
One Shining Moment was written in 1986 by David Barrett and has become tied to March Madness lore since it was first played during the net-cutting ceremony at the end of the 1987 NCAA Tournament.
Since 1987, One Shining Moment has been coupled with a highlight reel montage of the championship-winning team’s journey through the tournament. It is played as the players and coach cut down the net to celebrate their national title victory.
NCAA Tournament National Championship Game
The average length of a college men’s basketball game is about 2 hours, maybe 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Barring any overtime or dramatic delays, fans could expect to hear One Shining Moment around 11:30 p.m. or midnight ET on Monday.
Barrett told the NCAA that his song was initially written for basketball despite CBS trying to use it for the Super Bowl. He had sent the song to a friend who was writing for Sports Illustrated and shared it with CBS Sports.
The original version by Barrett was used until 1993 and made a short comeback in the early 2000s. Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross, Ne-Yo, and Jennifer Hudson have all recorded covers that have been used during the tournament.
Hudson’s video was the first to cut from the highlight montage to footage of the singer performing the song instead.
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