I went to 126 college basketball games last season. Of those 126, three were exhibitions, 108 were Division I men’s games that counted, 13 were Division I women’s games that counted, one was a Division II men’s game, and one was a Division III men’s game.

There were 42 postseason games – including 14 in the Division I NCAA men’s Tournament. 12 were either neutral-site regular-season games or part of a multi-team event, and 39 were conference regular-season games, split between eight different conferences. I saw teams from 18 different conferences.

Here are the ten best games I attended.

No. 10: Duke 80 - St. John’s 75

NCAA East Regional Semifinal | Capital One Arena - Washington, D.C. | March 27, 2026

I really struggled with what to put for the tenth game on this list, but I settled on a Sweet 16 classic between Duke and St. John’s that many people will forget about because of what happened two days later. The Johnnies got four threes from Ruben Prey off the bench, igniting the crowd, and forced a bunch of Duke turnovers for runout slam dunks to take a 55-45 lead in the second half.

St. John’s was on the verge of a program-altering win. Sure, the Red Storm have been really good over the last two seasons. You don’t win back-to-back double Big East titles without being really good, but the conference has been down, and St. John’s only wins over Top 20 KenPom teams in the last two seasons have come against UConn, a conference rival.

Rick Pitino’s team had a double-digit second-half lead over the number 1 overall seed in a Sweet 16 game, looking to go to the Elite 8 for the first time in 26 years. But Caleb Foster, Isaiah Evans, and Cam Boozer had other plans. Foster, playing on a bum leg, ignited a run, and big plays out of the inverted pick-and-roll by Boozer and Evans willed the Blue Devils to victory.

No. 9: Manhattan 80 - Quinnipiac 79

Draddy Gym - Riverdale, NY | January 2, 2026

In terms of off-court shenanigans, no game on this list had more than this one. In the second half, both head coaches were ejected after Jasper guard Terrence Jones ripped down Bobcat guard Asim Jones from behind as he went for a transition layup. Eventually, we had associate head coaches Shaun Morris and JR Lynch manning the sidelines, but not before Tom Pecora and John Gallagher gestured to their fanbases behind the bench to get them more involved in what was a hard-nosed game.

Unfortunately, nobody in the postgame pressers really expanded on what was said during the shouting match. It certainly wasn't the first explicit-language shouting match between a Queens and Long Island guy (Pecora) and a Delco guy (Gallagher).

That came with five minutes left, and probably should’ve taken the juice out of Manhattan’s potential 18-point comeback, but it didn’t. Even after Jones made the two free throws to extend the Bobcat lead back to six, the Jaspers found a way to claw back.

Devin Dinkins and Jaden Winston shined for Manhattan, putting up a combined 40 points, but it was the struggling Fraser Roxburgh who came up with back-to-back threes to tie the game at 70. Quinnipiac had a chance to win the game, but ended up with Ronell Giles attempting the final shot instead of one of their star players.

These two actually played another wild game on MLK Day in Hamden, with the Bobcats taking it 98-92 in overtime. I wasn’t at that one, though.

No. 8: Princeton 78 - Penn 76

Jadwin Gym - Princeton, NJ | January 5, 2026

When you go to as many basketball games as I do, you rarely see something that you’ve truly never seen before. Buzzer-beaters and poster dunks become common place. Late game heroics? Every close game has to have one in some way or another! But I’d never seen anything like what Princeton did from the end of the first half into the middle of the second half against Penn in January.

These two are bitter rivals. This was the 253rd meeting between the teams, and they’d each won 126 of them. Princeton had won 13 games in a row in the matchup to tie the series, and had a chance to take the overall series lead for the first time ever. But the Quakers came out firing. Ethan Roberts, who missed the prior month with an injury, scored the first points, and Penn built up a 14-point lead.

Princeton scored on its last possession of the first half to cut the Penn lead to eight, and from there, the floodgates opened. The Tigers scored on their first 17 possessions of the second half. The live stats will tell you that they had a turnover in there, but it was a tie-up immediately after forcing a turnover, so I disagree.

Fran McCaffery was bewildered. Everybody in the building was. Every shot that Jack Stanton, Dalen Davis, Jackson Hicke, and the Tigers could take would go in. It was the third-quarter Warriors on Barry Bonds' levels of steroids.

It helped Princeton build up a 15-point lead with about 8 minutes left. But the Quakers didn’t die. Somehow, from down 14 with 3:23 left, Penn cut it tothree with 45 seconds left, and forced a turnover to get the ball back. Penn eventually got it down to one with 6.2 seconds left, and had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but AJ Levine couldn’t connect on a deep three. An absolute classic.

A month later, Levine made a key defensive stand to finally end the 14-game losing streak to the Tigers.

No. 7: Marist 77 - Quinnipiac 75

MAAC Tournament Quarterfinals | Boardwalk Hall - Atlantic City, NJ | March 7, 2026

The MAAC didn’t have quite as many close games this year as in past years, but there were still a bunch of bangers in Atlantic City, with this being the best one. I considered the Marist/Merrimack game, as well as the Siena/Mount St. Mary’s game, but this is the only MAAC Tournament game to make the list.

Marist took a ten-point lead into halftime after trailing 19-11 in the opening minutes, and then we had the MAAC Mascot Game at half.

Quinnipiac cut the lead to four, but Marist held serve in the opening minutes of the second half thanks to a Justin Menard three. Then, Grant Randall took over, scoring 18 points in the first ten minutes of the second half, and the Bobcats took a 55-51 lead.

It stayed close from there, and Menard would have the final say. Tied at 67, Menard drilled a massive three from the left wing, and then canned another one, a stepback, on the next possession. Marist made just enough free throws to keep a two-point lead heading to the final possession, and Jaden Daughtry, one of the best defenders in the MAAC, blocked Tai Turnage’s shot after the Bobcats couldn’t get the ball to a star.

Randall scored 24 points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough. Menard’s 26 led Marist. And it's fitting that Menard, who is among the most confident players that I've ever covered, has this as his signature moment. I used to call Josh Smith from the Hawks the ultimate "no, no, no, YES" shooter, but now, it's Menard.

No. 6: Mary Washington 75 - Emory 73

NCAA Division III National Championship | Gainbridge Fieldhouse - Indianapolis, IN | April 5, 2026

You might remember how Mary Washington won the Division III national championship on a buzzer beater, but you probably don’t remember that the Eagles blew a 13-point lead in the final minutes of that game. It shouldn’t have needed to come down to a buzzer-beater, but a talented Emory team wouldn’t go away.

Emory senior Ben Pearce might’ve been the best player in Division III this past season, and fellow senior Jair Knight were not ready to go away when the Eagles went down by 13, 63-50.

If this were a movie, Mary Washington – a young team with almost all underclassmen – would give up the lead in a teachable moment, allowing Emory to have their storybook title, and give fuel to the narrative for an eventual championship of their own building off of this experience.

But this isn’t a movie. Colin Mitchell – a reserve shooter – found himself in the right place at the right time for the putback layup at the horn, and UMW won the national championship.

No. 5: Texas Tech 82 - Duke 81

Madison Square Garden - New York, NY | December 20, 2025

I was at the Duke/Houston game in San Antonio. It was stunning to experience. This wasn’t quite as stunning, but perhaps more shocking in terms of logical results. There was absolutely no reason that Texas Tech should’ve even been in this game.

Tech got off to a strong start, but got into foul trouble. They were one of the thinnest top teams in the sport, so JT Toppin and Lejuan Watts picking up fouls was a big issue, especially against a team as good as Duke. Toppin had three, and four other Tech players had two fouls in the first half, as the Blue Devils built up a double-digit lead.

Duke was seemingly burying the Red Raiders, going up by 14 with back-to-back threes to open up the second half, but they couldn’t bury them any further. Then Horner fouled out, and Watts, but Toppin found a way to stay in the game, and Christian Anderson made shot after shot down the stretch.

Little used freshman Nolan Groves had to guard Cam Boozer, and it somehow went just fine. Texas Tech didn’t lead until the final two minutes, and then Duke tied it at 81 before Anderson drew a foul on the floor on the drive with 3 seconds left. He made the first and missed the second, and Duke couldn’t make the three after the timeout.

To me, this was the single most impressive, gutsy win of any this season to that point. Duke had everything going their way… and then they didn’t.

And Texas Tech fans – while outnumbered - brought it. A source told me that the two fans pictured above just met that night, but they were going insane together like best friends. I wonder which bars they hit up after the game. If you lived in Lubbock, you too would take any chance to go to New York City for a few days.

No. 4: Central Connecticut 108 - Sacred Heart 106 (OT)

Detrick Gym - New Britain, CT | November 24, 2025

I came into this game expecting a lot of pace from both sides, but this was just a ridiculous offensive display. It felt like Darin Smith Jr. couldn’t miss. He finished with a whopping 38 points, but Anquan Hill had 34 of his own, including many big shots late in the game. Dashon Gittens made a three-pointer at the first half buzzer to cut the Central lead to…. 54-51. The Blue Devils shot 71% from the field in the opening half.

It somehow didn’t slow down much from there. Central built up a double digit lead, but in a game with as much firepower as this one, that’s nothing. SHU took the lead with under four minutes to play after the game had been within a possession or two for a bit, and actually extended that lead to five points with 2:30 left. Down by three in the final 10 seconds, Jay Rodgers made a three to tie the game at 93, and Hill missed an open three that would’ve won it.

But down 106-103 with 20 seconds left in OT, Hill made a cold-blooded three coming down the floor to tie it. Then, Rodgers found Max Frazier for a poster slam on the roll with two seconds left, and it served as the decider.

Not only was this one of the most exciting games of the season, but it was also one of the best crowds at a mid-major venue. The energy in the building was remarkable.

No. 3: Cornell 95 - Colgate 94 (2OT)

Newman Arena, Ithaca, NY | November 20, 2025

Whenever I walk into Newman Arena, something crazy happens. It does help that Cornell plays a frantic pace that leads to high-pace, high-scoring games, but it has to go deeper than that. This game ranks #3 in excitement and #4 in tension for the season on KenPom. It’s two well-coached, winning programs in a local battle that didn’t see anybody lead by more than seven.

Colgate went on a 7-0 run to take a 61-56 lead at the under-eight, but Cornell’s Josh Baldwin made strong defensive plays to keep it from getting any bigger than that. Cooper Noard had a driving layup with 33 seconds left to cut the Colgate lead to one, and then tied it at 75 from the corner after the Raiders made two free throws.

Jalen Cox had a buzzer-beater earlier in the week from half court against Siena, but couldn’t do it again, and we went to overtime. He redeemed himself by tying the game at 83 off the glass with 15 seconds left in the extra session, and then he gave Colgate a 92-91 lead in 2OT.

The Raiders went up by three, and Cornell went for the quick two and foul. It paid off as Andrew Alekseyenko missed the front end, and Noard drew a controversial foul shooting a three with 2.5 seconds left. He made two of three free throws to take the lead, and Cox missed a half-court heave. This game might’ve surpassed the Cornell/Samford game from last year in terms of excitement at Newman.

No. 2: Penn 88 - Yale 84 (OT)

Ivy Madness Championship Game | Newman Arena - Ithaca, NY | March 15, 2026

I told you there’s just something about Newman Arena.

I was only going to go to this game if Penn made it. I was at the Big East title game the night before, but promised my brother that I’d drive him to Ithaca for the final if his alma mater – where he was a manager from 2021 to 2025 – was playing for a March Madness bid.

TJ Power and Company made it worth the trip. He scored 23 points in the first half, and when Penn took a 34-30 lead with 3:44 in the opening frame, I couldn’t believe the performance I was witnessing. Yale went on a run in the second half to open up a six-point lead with 2:58 to play, and it felt like Power’s performance, up in the 30’s at this point, would be all for naught.

Especially when AJ Levine squandered an opportunity to tie it and Trevor Mullin went 2-for-2 from the line with 12 seconds left. Yale could taste another March Madness trip. But Power came down the floor and drilled a three, and even after two more Mullin free throws, Penn would have a chance to tie.

And Power’s legend was cemented in that moment. He made a wing three over Casey Simmons to knot the game at 75. Mullin had a Gordon Hayward moment, and we went to overtime.

Cam Thrower put Penn up by four in overtime, but Yale stole an inbound pass with 30 seconds left, giving themselves a chance to tie down by three. The Quakers got the defensive stand, and made enough free throws to finish the upset. Power finished with 44 points.

I didn’t think it would be possible to see a more shocking game than that one. One where everything changed so suddenly. Until I did.

No. 1: UConn 73 - Duke 72

NCAA East Regional Final | Capital One Arena - Washington D.C. | March 29, 2026

This one needs no explanation. You know exactly what happened. Duke led by 19 and was cruising to a second consecutive Final Four, but UConn chipped away just enough, even without making many threes, to stay alive. Then, they finally started to get a few threes to drop.

Even then, it felt like it would take a miracle for UConn to pull off the win. The game was only within one possession for about 10 seconds from the first media timeout until the final 60 seconds. Alex Karaban hitting a three to cut it to one made it possible.

My brain still doesn’t know how to react to the Mullins shot and the play that led to it. UConn didn’t win the national championship, but this moment is the single most memorable in college basketball since Kris Jenkins’ shot. That’s the reason this game is at #1. For 38-plus minutes, there was little doubt of who would win, but all that matters is the score when the clock hits zero.

It was the most hyped regional that I can remember. With Hurley, Scheyer, Izzo, and Pitino, four titans of the game right now. And it somehow exceeded the hype, with two excellent Sweet 16 games that nobody will remember, and the most incredible sporting moment I’ve ever witnessed following it.