Memorable '09 Tournament Moments

Author:: SI Staff
Publish date:: Apr 6, 2009

Memorable '09 Tournament Moments

Final Four

Big Ten Player of the Year Kalin Lucas scored a game-high 21 points as the Spartans ousted the Huskies in front of a Michigan State-dominated crowd.

Elite Eight

With the game tied at 76 with 5.5 seconds left, Villanova inbounded the ball to Dante Cunningham, who passed it quickly to Scottie Reynolds. The speedy guard raced through the Pitt defense for a layup to put `Nova into the Final Four.

Sweet 16

The one thing Pitt knew to do in a late-game crunch? "Give Levance the ball," DeJuan Blair said after the senior point guard scored the final five points in 55 seconds to put Xavier away. Fields swished a three with less than a minute left, then made a steal and scored on a layup.

Sweet 16

Blake Griffin provided an instant You Tube moment against Syracuse when he put down a baseline dunk - after he had hit his head on the side of the backboard.

First round

After Marquette rallied from 14 down, Lazar Hayward sealed the victory with a rebound and free throw.

First round

Siena's Ronald Moore made up for a bad shooting night by hitting the game-winning three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left.

Second round

Western Kentucky's Cinderella repeat dreams were shot when Demetri Goodson wove through the defense untouched to score the game-winning layup.

First round

Eric Maynor almost pulled the-most-predicted-upset-ever against UCLA, but Darren Collison's lockdown defense in the final seconds forced a bad shot from the VCU star and put UCLA into the second round.

First round

Jeremy Pargo put down a doozy of a dunk over Steve McNees against Akron, eliciting the game announcers to note that Steve McNees `'is not quite a shot-blocker.''

First round

Morgan State may have had no chance against Oklahoma, but Ameer Ali made his mark when he flipped Blake Griffin onto the ground. Griffin was fine, and Ali was ejected from the game.

Sweet 16

Jonny Flynn was the Orange's go to guy, so it was a big hit -- literally for the Orange -- when he tried to take a charge against Blake Griffin and immediately was thrown to the ground, suffering a bruised back. Although Flynn returned, he was only a whisper of himself in the second half.