Philly schools’ biggest basketball postseason moments

The Philadelphia area has been home to some of the most successful college basketball programs of all time.

Whether it is the City Six colleges or surrounding institutions, teams are defined by their postseason success, with win-or-go-home pressure when it matters most. Championship banners in college basketball fly only if a team succeeds in March and early April.

Here are Philly’s most memorable college basketball playoff moments — men’s and women’s — chosen by The Inquirer’s sportswriters and columnists.

March 22, 1969

Playing in its first NIT since 1938, Temple makes its second visit to the Madison Square Garden event a memorable one, beating Boston College, 89-76, in the championship game. John Baum scores 30 points for the Owls and collects 10 rebounds, but — inexplicably — loses the MVP vote to the Eagles’ Terry Driscoll. How? The vote was finished before the game was even over: Six minutes were left when Driscoll was picked.

Chosen by: Joe Juliano

March 27, 1971

After Villanova beats Big Five rival Penn, 90-47, in the Eastern Regional final, the school finally makes it to the Final Four. The Wildcats defeat Western Kentucky in double-overtime, then give UCLA a fight in the title game. They ultimately fall short, 68-62, despite 25 points from Howard Porter, the tournament’s most outstanding player. The NCAA later vacates all of ‘Nova’s results after Porter is found to have signed a professional contract during that season.

Chosen by: Joe Juliano

March 19, 1972

An all-women’s school of around 400 students, the Mighty Macs of Chester County make history by defeating West Chester State, 52-48, starting a run of three consecutive titles. Coach Cathy Rush and star player Theresa Shank (now Theresa Grentz) help the team to this historic moment, which happens the same year that Title IX is adopted.

Chosen by: Joe Juliano and Marcus Hayes

March 11, 1979

Ninth-seed Penn upsets No. 1 seed North Carolina, 72-71, in a second-round NCAA Tournament game and rides momentum to wins over Syracuse and St. John’s before advancing to the Final Four. Unfortunately for the Quakers, they face Magic Johnson and Michigan State in the semifinals and lose, 101-67. Penn star Tony Price finishes the tournament having outscored the three brightest stars — Johnson, Indiana State’s Larry Bird, and DePaul’s Mark Aguirre. It was the first (and last) Final Four run for an Ivy League team since Bill Bradley’s Princeton team in 1965.

Chosen by: Joe Juliano and Marcus Hayes

March 14, 1981

The Hawks square off against the Blue Demons and their All-American, Mark Aguirre, control the tempo, and capture a shocking second-round NCAA Tournament win, 49-48, on a layup by John Smith with 3 seconds left. Smith later calls the winning basket “Fourth and Shunk,” the location of a South Philly playground.

Chosen by: Joe Juliano

March 21, 1982

Vivian Stringer, whose long coaching career earned her a spot in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, leads the second-ranked Wolves to a 93-71 victory over Kansas State in the Regional final. Yolanda Laney scores 26 points and Valerie Walker adds 24. Cheyney goes on to defeat Maryland in the national semifinal before losing the championship game, 76-62, to top-ranked Louisiana Tech.

Chosen by: Joe Juliano

April 1, 1985

It is called “The Perfect Game” — a 66-64 upset victory by No. 8 seed Villanova over top-ranked and defending national champion Georgetown. The Wildcats shoot 78.6% from the field, including a spectacular 9-of-10 (90%) in the second half. Dwayne McClain scores 17 points and Ed Pinckney 16 for ‘Nova, and Harold Jensen goes 5-for-5 in scoring 14 off the bench. “No one thought we could do it, but I did,” coach Rollie Massimino says.

Chosen by: Joe Juliano

April 1, 1985

The unlikeliest star of Villanova’s 66-64 upset of Georgetown in the ‘85 national-championship game is Jensen, a sophomore guard who comes off the bench to score 14 points, making all five of his shots. None of those were bigger than a jumper from the right wing with 2:35 left in regulation to put the Wildcats ahead, 55-54. They never lose the lead after that. “Ice water in his veins,” Billy Packer says on the CBS telecast. “They gave him the shot, and he took it.”

Chosen by: Mike Sielski

March 26, 1988

Massimino and the Wildcats try for another underdog run through the NCAA Tournament as a No. 6 seed. It doesn’t finish as well as it did three years earlier, but ‘Nova winds up defeating No. 2 seed Kentucky and No. 3 seed Illinois, then throws a scare into top seed Oklahoma for much of their Elite Eight matchup. The Sooners, who averaged 103 points that season, eventually wear down the Wildcats and advance.

Chosen by: Joe Juliano

March 15, 1989

Under longtime head coach John Miller, La Salle earns its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory by defeating Connecticut. The Explorers, who enter the tournament at 27-2, go on to lose to No. 1 seed Tennessee in the next round. La Salle has not made an NCAA Tournament appearance since.

Chosen by: Manning Snyder

March 14, 1996

After coming up empty in its first three tournament appearances, the 12th-seeded Dragons put together a complete game and upset No. 5 seed Memphis, 75-63, behind 21 points and 15 rebounds from Malik Rose. Drexel quickly extends a 10-point halftime lead to 18 early in the second half and controls the rest of the game. They battle No. 4 seed Syracuse in the second round but Rose is hampered by an ankle injury in a 69-58 defeat.

Chosen by: Joe Juliano

March 19, 2000

Mention the name Ty Shine to Owls fans of a certain age, be prepared to take a step back. Seton Hall star guard Shaheen Holloway gets hurt early that March day in Buffalo, and Shine, a backup, takes 11 three-pointers and makes seven of them. Put this down as the most disappointing NCAA loss in Big 5 history, because this is the year with an actual path to the Final Four for John Chaney’s Owls. They would have been clear favorites the next couple of games.

Chosen by: Mike Jensen

March 9, 2001

I’m still convinced Lynn Greer’s Spectrum pump fake that drew a foul — which gives him three shots for a one-point victory that put the Owls into the A-10 final and eventually the NCAA Tournament and Chaney’s last Elite Eight run — also puts Chaney into the Naismith Hall of Fame that year. Chaney would have made it some other year, but that March Madness run puts him front and center in the eyes of the committee. Most consequential pump fake in Big 5 history?

Chosen by: Mike Jensen

March 16, 2001

Penn enters the 2001 NCAA Tournament as a No. 15 seed, despite holding a 23-5 overall record and a perfect 14-0 in Ivy League play. Although the Quakers lose to Texas Tech in the first round, the 2001 squad is considered to be among the greatest women’s teams in school history. The team includes Diana Caramanico, who still is the school’s leading scorer (both men and women) with 2,415 career points.

Chosen by: Manning Snyder

March 25, 2001

The Owls play in an Elite Eight game for the fifth time in John Chaney’s coaching career but once again can’t get over the hump, losing, 69-62, to top seed (and defending national champion) Michigan State. Lynn Greer is on the team. Over 13 seasons, Temple loses to Duke twice (1988, 1999), North Carolina (1991), and Michigan (1993) in its futile bid to send Chaney into the Final Four. Chaney, who is 69 when the 2001 game is played, retires in 2006.

Chosen by: Joe Juliano and Marcus Hayes

March 11, 2003

The Wildcats defeat No. 1 Connecticut when they limit the Huskies to 30.4% shooting and just three three-pointers. Trish Juhline scores 15 points to lead ‘Nova, which commits only five turnovers, knocks down five three-pointers, and sinks 13 of 15 free-throw attempts. They earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and reach the Elite Eight before losing to Tennessee.

Chosen by: Joe Juliano

March 27, 2004

The Hawks have an undefeated regular season. That is the year of the Hawks and Smarty Jones, and the wild ups and eventual downs of both as they take over the city. When John Lucas makes his shot and Jameer Nelson misses his, the locker room at the Meadowlands is the quietest it’s ever been. The Final Four stays a shot away.

Chosen by: Mike Jensen and Marcus Hayes

March 20, 2007

With Philly legend Dawn Staley at the helm, No. 8 seed Temple triumphs over ninth-seeded Nebraska in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The victory is the first NCAA tournament win for the Owls since 1989, and it comes in Staley’s final season as head coach. Staley leads Temple to six NCAA tournaments during her tenure. The Owls are A-10 regular season co-champions and led by a leading scorer, Kamesha Hairston, who is drafted by the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun.

Chosen by: Manning Snyder

March 28, 2009

The Wildcats are tied with Pittsburgh with 5.5 seconds left before Reynolds takes a pass 75 feet from the basket, speeds up court, and hits a short jumper in the lane with 0.5 seconds left, giving his team a 78-76 win and a berth in the Final Four. The Cats shoot 22 of 23 from the free-throw line in a game where the lead changes 13 times in the second half. Dwayne Anderson leads ‘Nova with 17 points.

Chosen by: Joe Juliano

March 24, 2013

With the game knotted at 74, and as the seconds wind down, Garland waits on a pass from Tyreek Duren. With around 5 seconds to play, Garland attacks the basket through the 2-3 zone and banks in what becomes known as the “Southwest Philly Floater” with 2.5 seconds left. Ole Miss misses the half-court heave. Ballgame. Explorers prevail to the Sweet Sixteen.

Chosen by: Marcus Hayes

April 6, 2013

The Dragons claim their first postseason title in 2013 by defeating Utah, 46-43, at the Daskalakis Athletic Center in the WNIT championship game. Senior Taylor Wootton is the player of the game, playing all 40 minutes and scoring 16 points. The WNIT title might be the biggest moment for the team since it joined Division I in 1982.

Chosen by: Manning Snyder

March 23, 2014

In St. Joseph’s most recent NCAA Tournament appearance, the No. 9 seed Hawks, coached by Cindy Griffin, defeat No. 8 seed Georgia in the first round. Ashley Robinson posts a double-double and Erin Shields has 18 points to lead all scorers.

Chosen by: Manning Snyder

April 4, 2016

Jenkins will be remembered forever for his 25-foot buzzer beater to beat North Carolina, 77-74, and win the 2016 national championship for Villanova. But there’s so much more about the entire sequence to appreciate: the twisting, leaning, improbable three-pointer by the Tar Heels’ Marcus Paige to tie the game seconds earlier; color analyst Grant Hill’s prediction/insight (“Watch Jenkins”) as the play unfolds; Ryan Arcidiacono’s unselfishness and presence of mind to flip a perfect pass to Jenkins; Jay Wright’s mouthing a single word — “Bang” — as Jenkins lets the shot go. Outside Villanova’s locker room, a veteran reporter is heard saying that this was surely the greatest title game ever played. Nobody argued.

Chosen by: Mike Sielski, Marcus Hayes, and Mike Jensen

March 31, 2018

This is the semifinal smackdown before the Michigan smackdown in the final. I tweet this out: “Down 15, Kansas scored on five straight possessions, which put them down 17.” The tweet sums it up as much as the final score.

Chosen by: Mike Jensen

April 2, 2018

DiVincenzo scores 31 points in 37 minutes off the bench in the national championship game against Michigan. DiVincenzo plays well in the semifinal — 15 points in 28 minutes — but his performance here is a breakout moment in his career. He forgos his final two years of eligibility and is drafted in the first round by the Milwaukee Bucks just a few months later

Chosen by: Marcus Hayes

April 2, 2018

In their second national championship run in three years, the Wildcats average 86.6 points and shoot 50% as a team from the field and 40.1% on three-pointers. Six players — four of whom now play in the NBA — average double figures. ‘Nova’s two closest calls are 12-point wins over West Virginia and Texas Tech, and its two Final Four victories — over Kansas and Michigan — are by a combined margin of 33 points. And to think the 2017-18 Cats are the only Villanova team not to win the Big East regular-season title since the 2013-14 conference reorganization.

Chosen by: Joe Juliano