March Madness 2026: As retirement from Sporting News approaches, here's my Top 10 Final Four memories

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March Madness 2026: As retirement from Sporting News approaches, here's my Top 10 Final Four memories originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

My press pass for the Kentucky-Syracuse NCAA Championship game in 1996, a purple piece of cardboard still buried in one of my desk drawers, identified me as representing the “Memphis Commercial Appeal” and assigned me to sit in Row 1, Seat 19. That weekend was special for a variety of reasons, not just because I got an unobstructed view of the action.

The greatest team I’ve covered during my career as a basketball journalist, the Kentucky Wildcats featuring Tony Delk, Antoine Walker and Rick Pitino, won the championship that year. I took an $80 cab ride to the Bronx to cover Memphis forward Michael Wilson’s appearance at the Slam Dunk and Three-Point Championships. There was no way to flag a taxi from outside Fordham’s Rose Hill Gymnasium, so I basically begged the promoter to let me squeeze onto a bus carrying the competitors back to Manhattan. I stood next to Chris Collins, then at the end of his Duke playing career and now Northwestern head coach, the whole way.

It also was the first Final Four I covered as a representative of The Sporting News. I still remember sitting at the desk in my hotel room at New York’s Marriott Marquis and filing my weekly column from there. Why would I remember such a thing? Because I’d joined as a freelance contributor just five months earlier, and this opportunity to talk college basketball with the entire nation changed my life in more ways than I can count. It was the fulfillment of a dream I’m not sure I ever had.

This week’s trip to Indianapolis will be the 30th I’ve worked for America’s oldest sports publication. It will be the last for me as a full-time employee at SN. I will be retiring from my position as Senior Writer in July, following coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

I hope still to be around SportingNews.com a bit, and to continue broadcasting work on the sport that has been a driving force in my life since I first saw Austin Carr average 38 a game for the 1970-71 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

I will carry with me so many memories from the Final Fours I wrote about for SN, and the half-dozen I was privileged to work before arriving here. This is how important this event has been to me: In 1992, The Pittsburgh Press was hit by a strike that ultimately led the corporation that owned the publication to place it up for sale; in less than a month, they chose to sell the entire enterprise to the competing Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The P-G kept roughly half the writing staff. I was not in that half.

So in searching for a new job, I wrote to literally every newspaper in the country that met one important qualification: It had to be large enough to qualify for a Final Four credential. (My wife later admitted she held onto the applications for two cities where she refused to move. I’ll spare their feelings and not identify them).

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This Final Four will be special because it represents a trip home, so to speak. We lived 10 years in Indianapolis before returning to live closer to family in Pittsburgh, our hometown. There is no better place than Indy for this event. If I were in charge of the sport, after installing an executive order that the advance-the-ball timeout rule never could be adopted in the men’s college game, I’d declare it as the Final Four’s permanent home.

This idea occurred to me long before living in its suburbs, before seeing firsthand how deeply passionate the entire state is about the game. It was something I came to realize at what remains, for now, the best Final Four I’ve attended, and the best of many memories of this grand occasion.

Mike DeCourcy's Top 10 Final Four memories​

1. Indianapolis, 1991 - Duke wins the big one​

One thing I remember most vividly was walking through the streets alone one evening on my way from the RCA Dome to the media hotel and passing an office building. What sort of business was transacted inside, couldn’t say. But in the window several televisions were visible, and they were playing a tape of a basketball game. They ran all weekend like that. The game? The 1990 Indiana State Championship featuring future Indiana Hoosier Damon Bailey and his 30-point performance for Bedford North Lawrence. A crowd of more than 40,000 attended. That’s how nuts that place is about basketball.

I was there for the Press. There was a recession that year, and my bosses informed me there would be no budget to cover the Final Four. I proposed a deal: If I paid for the trip, could I cover the event and count it as work days? They consented. So I felt a certain sense of freedom as I strategized for the Saturday night semifinal doubleheader. North Carolina vs. Kansas featured some of the sport’s biggest brands, but we all knew the nightcap between Duke and undefeated UNLV was the Main Event. I resolved to get through writing the first game as quickly as possible; write during timeouts, grab a few quotes afterward, file the final piece as soon as possible.

Then, with North Carolina well behind in the final minutes and out of chances, the great Dean Smith got himself thrown out of the game. And my first responsibility became to cover what was obviously a significant story.

So I got to Duke-UNLV after tip-off, and I tried to keep up as much as possible while I wrote about Dean’s ejection.

At least I was done by the time the game sprinted toward classic status in the second half. My lead for the Press was about Christian Laettner’s game-winning free throws. I don’t can remember what that article said about the biggest play in the game, Bobby Hurley’s audacious 3-pointer with 2:17 left and Duke down, 76-71. I know I gave that play its due in an article on the 30th anniversary, published in 2021.

After Duke’s championship game victory over soon-to-be-rival Roy Williams, after Grant Hill flew into the RCA Dome rafters to bring down and slam home Hurley’s way-high lob, after coach Mike Krzyzewski hugged his assistants and then young daughter on the floor, I met his wife in the hallway and asked her how it felt to see Mike as a champion in his fifth Final Four. She told me she had begun introducing herself as Mickie “I’ve Never Won The Big One” Krzyzewski. I was young then, thought maybe she meant it literally.

Either way, it made for a great line in my story.

2. Kansas City, 1988 - Danny leads a miracle​

Long before there was Duke 104, Kentucky 103, there was Kansas 50, Oklahoma 50. I remember standing there on press row at halftime almost struggling to catch my breath. It was something the first time beholding a true artistic masterpiece, like Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night”.

It’s been portrayed since as Kansas star Danny Manning taking on the entire Oklahoma crew (Stacey King, Mookie Blaylock, Harvey Grant) almost by himself. The team became nicknamed, “Danny and the Miracles.”

That’s a terrible slight to Chris Piper, Kevin Pritchard and Milt Newton, who wound up shooting a combined 16-of-19 from the field in KU’s 83-79 victory. But a lot of their opportunities were the result of defensive attention paid to Manning, whose performance in that title game might have been the greatest of any player in my time covering this event: 31 points, 18 rebounds, 5 steals, 2 blocks.

3. Seattle, 1995 - Nice to meet you, Jack Nicholson​

For all the games I’ve covered involving Connecticut, Louisville and Xavier when Luke Murray has worked these places as an assistant coach, I’ve never even seen his father Bill at a game. I must always be looking in the wrong place; my friend Adam Zagoria of NJ.com is practically his bestie by now.

But Adam wasn’t there in the Kingdome press room prior to the semifinals involving UCLA vs. Oklahoma State and North Carolina vs. Arkansas. So he didn’t get to meet Jack Nicholson. I’m going to guess the three-time Oscar winner would not remember the occasion, but I surely do. He was alone at the end of a table waiting for someone to put together his entry to the arena. So he was fair game. I went up, introduced myself, asked why he was there. A few more reporters asked some additional questions. And then Jack’s friend returned with his ticket or pass and they left.

I’ve interviewed some of the biggest stars in sports history: Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Bob Knight, Pete Rose, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Pat Summitt. There have been few movie stars, though. It’s hard not to get a little geeky in those circumstances.

4. Houston, 2016 - Kris Jenkins walks it off​

The Christian Laettner shot in the 1992 East Region final against Kentucky is not exactly like the Bobby Thompson home run to win the National League pennant for the New York Giants. Because whereas the Giants lost in the Series, Duke did go on to win the NCAA title, and it was the second in a row, and the improbability of the play the Blue Devils executed changed how late-game college basketball has been contested since.

But one could say Kris Jenkins’ 3-pointer for Villanova to claim the 2016 championship in a fiercely contested game against North Carolina is the equivalent of Bill Mazeroski’s home run against the Yankees in 1960. Because Maz’ shot clinched the World Series: ninth inning, Game 7, walk-off. And, like Jenkins’ 3-pointer, it nonetheless gets far less publicity than Thompson’s moment.

My seat at NRG Stadium was at the end of the court Villanova attacked in the second half, so I was looking right up at the play as point guard Ryan Arcidiacono raced the ball upcourt, then dropped it backward to Jenkins for a shot guaranteed to be wide open.

The play design was ingenious; the first time I’d seen it was in the 2008 NCAA Tournament in a first-round game between Western Kentucky and Drake. WKU executed it almost identically, a bit more shaded toward the right wing, with guard Tyrone Brazelton dribbling forward and shooter Ty Rogers sneaking in behind for the game-winning 3-pointer. It’s brilliant because the ballhandler acts as a passer and screener at once.

Only seen it run twice.

Never seen it fail.

5. San Antonio, 2018 - Sister Jean charms us all​

When the late Sister Jean was captivating the rest of the basketball world following her Loyola Ramblers on their improbable journey toward the Final Four, I always happened to be somewhere else: Pittsburgh for the first two rounds as Villanova launched its pursuit of Jay Wright’s second championship, Omaha for the Midwest Region as Duke and Kansas staged an epic Elite Eight elimination.

I didn’t understand why everyone made such a big deal about her.

I was a confirmed skeptic.

The NCAA, though, wisely set up a press conference for her in advance of the games. I can’t remember if I was instructed to attend or showed up out of curiosity. But that press conference drew a bigger audience than any player “breakout” session in my four decades covering this event. The room was packed. And she charmed everyone in the room with her wit and wisdom. Including me. Especially me.

“This is the most fun I’ve had in my life. It is,” Sister Jean said then. “It is just so much fun for me to be here, and I almost didn’t get here. But I fought hard enough to do that because I wanted to be with the guys.”

She passed away last autumn, not long before this season began, at age 106.

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6. Atlanta, 2007 - A glimpse of Greg Oden's greatness​

My first chance to see Greg Oden play was in an auxiliary gym in Las Vegas in a summer tournament following his freshman year of high school. I wrote something that put him into the same sentence as players such as Kareem, Wilt, Patrick, Hakeem – maybe all of them, maybe just a few. He was extraordinary.

Because of injuries that robbed him of the NBA career that might have followed his one season at Ohio State, his experience at Ohio State stands as the one chance everyone got to see what might have been. (He even was hurt for a chunk of his freshman year, missing the first seven games).

He led the Big Ten in blocks, rebounds and field goal percentage in 2006-07, but there was no greater evidence of his excellence than his performance in the NCAA final against reigning champion Florida.

The Gators featured four big men who would go on to the NBA: Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Marreese Speights, Chris Richard. They represented 27 feet, 4 inches and 992 pounds of basketball power. And Oden made them all disappear.

In 101 minutes of playing time, they combined for 36 points – only 22 from the field -- on 11-of-25 shooting. Oden scored 25 himself on 10-of-15 shooting in 38 minutes.

Florida still won the game, because Oden’s teammates ignored that he was dominating the pain and still offered unnecessary help on every penetration. That left shooters Lee Humphrey, Taurean Green and Corey Brewer open at the 3-point line. They shot a combined 10-of-18 from deep.

Hey, Oden couldn’t be everywhere.

He wound up playing only 105 NBA games.

But in the biggest game he did play, on the Final Four stage, he left an indelible impression.

7. New Orleans, 2012 - An honor and a friend​

Maybe it should be higher. Maybe it should be lower. Maybe it shouldn’t be on the list at all. But the passing of my dearest friend, Tom Dias, a couple years back leads me to believe it would be wrong to exclude the occasion of my induction into the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame from a list of favorite Final Four memories.

It was Tom who sat next to me at the first Final Four I attended as a spectator 20 rows from the top of the Superdome after mutual friend Ken Willig won the ticket lottery in 1987. And Tom was there again in that same city, traveling all the way from Pittsburgh to be in the room when I was inducted to the USBWA Hall.

My wife arranged a dinner for the three of us at Shula’s Steak House, and they served a piece of chocolate cake for dessert with “Congrats Hall of Famer!” written in ganache on the plate. It meant so much to have him there.

8. New Orleans, 2003 - Carmelo chants my name​

I first met Carmelo Anthony on his one day at Sonny Vaccaro’s ABCD Camp in New Jersey in the summer of 2001. He tore up a more highly regarded prospect in the biggest game he would play before leaving to begin school at Oak Hill Academy the following day. We talked maybe 10 minutes. Six months later, I saw Carmelo at a high school tournament. He immediately remember my name from that one conversation we’d had.

When he began his career at Syracuse, I covered his first game in an event at Madison Square Garden, and he played so brilliantly I wrote he could be All-Big East at every position on the floor. In March 2003, we became the only national selector to name him first-team All-America as a freshman. Why did no one else acknowledge someone who averaged 22 points, 10 rebounds and 1.6 steals? Because he was a freshman.

He was magnificent in the Final Four semis with 33 points and 14 rebounds against Texas. Even on a tough night finishing plays in the final, he managed 20 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists.

I was standing in the locker room afterward with SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins when Carmelo starting chanting my name: “Mike! Mike! Mike!”

Or was he talking about Hopkins?

Never got that cleared up.

9. Charlotte, 1994 - Tents and an Outback Steakhouse​

This city now is the headquarters of Sporting News Media, and I can tell you it’s grown up a bit in 30 years.

Not a big user of AI, I asked Google a simple question for the purposes of this piece: How many restaurants are there in downtown Charlotte? The response wasn’t as specific as hoped, but it did say “hundreds”. This is almost hilarious because in the year Arkansas won its first NCAA Championship and I covered my first Final Four for The Commercial Appeal – the Razorbacks were a local story for us, because their state was right across the Mississippi River – downtown Charlotte mostly consisted of high-rise buildings containing bank headquarters.

There were no nightlife establishments. They had to erect a series of tents in the streets so there was somewhere for visitors to get a beer. Together with a group of my sportswriter friends from my Big East days, we asked the front desk at the Marriott where we might get dinner.

He told us about a restaurant that was well out of downtown, in some suburb or other.

It was an Outback Steakhouse.

And we weren’t the only ones sent there, because the Florida Gators were eating at the same place in a private room. We joked about whether center Dametri Hill – known for excelling in the frontcourt at 6-7, 290 pounds – would leave any meat for us.

10. San Antonio, 2025 - Kelvin Sampson was missing one ingredient​

Navigating the winning Florida locker room for some appropriate quotes to describe their championship game victory over Houston was a challenge. Most of those who contributed to the victory were taken elsewhere: to network radio interviews, to the press conference room. And those who remained mostly were interested in turning up the volume on their celebratory music selections.

When all that was over and it was time to walk back toward the work room to write my column, I came across Houston coach Kelvin Sampson preparing to speak with a group of reporters in a hallway. Toward the end of the exchange, Sampson’s anguish over coming so close but losing a basket poured into this single sentence: “This team was built to win this tournament.”

MORE: Ranking the 2026 Final Four teams

Except it was missing the single most important ingredient.

No team has won an NCAA championship since 1988 without a first-round NBA Draft pick in its rotation. Most often, there have been more than one. That’s 37 years in a row. The last team to do it was Indiana 1987.

This year, all four teams have such a player (or players). Houston had two this season, freshmen Kingston Flemings and Chris Cenac, but it turned out not to be enough for the Cougars. We will know in a week whether it's Arizona, Illinois, Michigan or UConn. Whatever develops no doubt will become another great Final Four memory.

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