College hoops fans have been flooding basketball arenas across the country since 1939, when March Madness got its start and quickly became an American trope. Literally thousands of NCAA tourney match-ups have taken place since then, yet only a handful of barn-burners are the ones etched in the minds of players and rabid fans. The closest championship games have been ranked, discussed, and argued about for decades; when it comes to ranking the top three closest championship games, diehard tourney fans may still be at odds in choosing a favorite.
1982: Tar Heels Defeat Hoyas, 63-62
Michael Jordan’s freshman season at North Carolina ended with a nothing-but-net game-winning 16 foot jumper with 16 ticks left on the clock to defeat Georgetown. On the ensuing play, Hoya’s guard Fred Brown made a horrible pass, almost directly into the hands of Tar Heel forward James Worthy, and the rest is history. Known to be one of the closest championship games in NCAA tourney history, Jordan, Worthy, and Patrick Ewing went on to become NBA all stars and Hall-of-Famers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTX5rD0lNeY
1992: Blue Devils Defeat Wildcats in OT, 104-103
Christian Laettner’s turnaround jumper from just beyond the charity stripe with two seconds left in the game became known as the shot, as Duke shattered Kentucky’s hopes and dreams of reaching the finals against Michigan State. Grant Hill’s 80 foot dead-eye pass led to the buzzer-beater by Laettner, whose teammates mobbed him after the victory. The East Regional Final game in ’92 not only became one of closest championship games in college basketball, but the greatest in the history of the NCAA. Coach K’s program at Duke also gained international recognition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3_IT622Sbc
1983: Wolfpack Upset Cougars, 54-52
North Carolina State’s Wolfpack handed Houston’s Cougars more than they could handle in yet another one of the NCAA’s closest championship games. The heavy favorites to win it all in April of 1963 went home empty-handed; with the likes of Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler posing as Houston’s dynamic duo, the Cougars dominated throughout the tourney, and even took charge in the second half before the Wolfpack showed their claws and teeth. Dereck Whittenburg and Thurl Bailey added a collective 29, yet two of Lorenzo Charles’ four points came at the buzzer when he redirected Whittenburg’s Hail Mary 40 footer and threw it in the basket, thus qualifying it as one of the closest championship games to date.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l5N2eKdvL4