[ReleaseTheHounds]

Around this time of year, I can't help remembering a favorite March Madness Memory... from 1989. Princeton vs. Georgetown; #16 v. #1. As a Princeton alum, I decided I had to try and attend this opening round of the 1989 NCAA tournament in Providence, RI. When I called the Princeton ticket office, I was told my two tickets were the last of Princeton's 400 ticket allotment. I had about a 3 hour drive to get Providence -- that gave me plenty of time to get my 11 year old son fired up for this game. I told him how Princeton would slow the game down, use the clock, play great defense, try back door plays and generally frustrate the heck out of Georgetown.

The game was all of that and more... Princeton lost by 1 but they showed the world why #16 seeds deserve a slot in the Big Dance. We didn't realize it at the time, but that game would influence the future of the tournament and CBS's continuing broadcasting commitment. It also put ESPN on the map for bringing that exciting game into viewers homes when cable sports was just getting started.

I'm posting this thread to share my own best March Madness memory in hopes that others will add their own.

[rktman]

Wait a second......Nope. Still don’t care. Plenty of fans at the casino sports books though.

[ealgeone]

espn had already been broadcasting the Dance prior to 1989. This wasn't the beginning.

ESPN's next big break came when the channel acquired the rights to broadcast coverage of the early rounds of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. It first aired the NCAA tournament in March 1980, creating the modern day television event known as "March Madness."

For almost a decade they had been covering the tournament.

[C19fan]

I remember that game. I fell in love with that Princeton offense. I remember Vitale saying Pete Carrill would keep the game close for about a half. He said he would wear a too too (sp?) if Princeton. He was crying and face palming at halftime and throughout the 2nd half. I ended up going to Princeton for graduate and attended a few games.

[irishjuggler]

I remember that game well. I was in college at the time (on the West Coast), and it seemed to me that the game was a battle between everything that was wrong with big-time college sports (Georgetown) and everything that was right with college sports (Princeton). The Tigers seemed like genuine student athletes, kids who were Princeton students first and basketball players second— a throwback to a better era in college sports. On the other hand, John Thompson’s Georgetown program was simply a basketball machine, an NBA minor league team if there ever was one, populated with young men who likely had no business being enrolled as Georgetown students and had little in common with my friends who were real students there at the time.

[MuttTheHoople]

I liked when Princeton beat UCLA in 1996, Pete Carrill's last season. Why? Because that set up a game against my Mississippi State Bulldogs, who beat them and went to the Final Four.

[ncalburt]

After the swim
suit train wreck issue .
Surprised it still open.
Lefties sports crazies are the worst .

[Truthoverpower]

When my hometown VILLANOVA won in 1985. As an 8 over no 1 Georgetown. THAT was the moment that elevated the NCAA tournament

In my opinion

People only remember CHAMPIONS

[campaignPete R-CT]

Larry Bird vs Magic Johnson final