These all-Philly teams, players, and moments in NCAA Tournament history make our Top 10

Starting with the Phillies’ World Series run, coinciding with the Union playing in MLS Cup, Philadelphians have had the privilege of nonstop action of city teams in postseason play.

Coming off the Super Bowl’s dust cloud, we have now entered March, which means a month of college basketball madness, with a focus on the local players and teams that will make the field of 68 in both the upcoming men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments.

Area players are aplenty, but what looks to be scarce this year are the local teams headed to the Big Dance, as currently, only the No. 10-ranked Villanova women’s team is a sure thing rolling into the final weekend of conference tournaments.

However, in that effort to keep the contender momentum going, this week, we’re taking a look at the Top 10 most memorable Philly players, teams, and moments in the NCAA Tournament.

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He’s one of Villanova’s most celebrated players, the one that led the Wildcats to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, but will be remembered for his game-winning shot against then-Big East rival in Pittsburgh in the 2009 Elite Eight which pushed the Wildcats into its first Final Four appearance since 1985. The road would end there against the mighty North Carolina Tarheels — which went on to win the title that year — but not before a team-high 17 points from Reynolds. His legend was so big after that season that his hometown of Herndon, Va., dubbed June 28 “Scottie Reynolds Day.”

» READ MORE: Scottie Reynolds relives the play that shot Villanova into the 2009 Final Four

Cheyney has so much rich college hoops history oozing out of Cope Hall, its legendary gymnasium that if its walls could talk, it’d still be telling the tale of being the only historically Black college to play for an NCAA Division I basketball championship after its 1982 women’s team played Louisiana Tech in the first-ever women’s final, on national television. Cheyney is also the only HBCU to have made it to a Final Four (the women did it in 1982 and again in 1984). The coach at the time? C. Vivian Stringer, who after leaving Cheyney, would lead Rutgers to a national championship appearance in 2007. Legendary men’s coach John Chaney also coached at Cheyney for 10 seasons before coming to Temple and leading the Owls to five, yes five NCAA Elite Eight appearances during his 24-year career on North Broad.

Sure, there was no March Madness yet — it wasn’t even referred to as the NCAA Tournament, but when Immaculata, the tiny Catholic college in Malvern, won the first-ever national women’s college basketball championship in 1972, it sent shockwaves across the nation. The moment has been made into a number of documentaries and even a full-length feature film, the Mighty Macs. Immaculata wasn’t done — going on to win the title in 1973 and 1974.

It’s a shot that sits among the pantheon of Philly sports plays, complete with its own brand name. When Tyrone Garland drove the lane and floated in the game-winning layup that led No. 13 ranked La Salle to a win over Mississippi, Garland described the moment to Craig Sager simply as the “Southwest Philly Floater, man.” The play lifted La Salle into the rounds of the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1955.

It’s a play that is synonymous with La Salle basketball, Tyrone Garland, and really, Philly.

Oh, and if he’s reading this, “shoutout to Cousin Bern.”

In a year in which the matchup of Magic Johnson’s Michigan State meeting Larry Bird’s Indiana State team in the championship was the focus, it’s easy to forget for anyone that didn’t go to Penn, that as the No. 9 seed, the Quakers made it all the way to the Final Four, defeating notables in mighty No. 1 seed North Carolina, followed by Syracuse, and St. John’s before falling to Magic and the Spartans, 101-67. If there was an image for “Cinderella Team” in the dictionary, this Quakers group would be in Kodak Kodachrome.

In order to beat a dominant Georgetown team, one led by the prowess of 7-foot center Patrick Ewing, it’s been said repeatedly that Villanova had to play “the perfect game.” The Wildcats did just that memorialized by the picture of senior forward Dwayne McClain clutching the ball with his fist in the air as time expired on a 66-64 Villanova victory, and the first of three NCAA national championships. Judging by this photo, McClain made sure that ball on that night wasn’t going anywhere.

The team. The coach. The mania. To not put the exploits of the 2003-04 St. Joseph’s basketball team and its run to the Elite Eight on this list would be a travesty. It was a season that night that not only ignited a fanbase and a school, it rallied an entire city around this little Jesuit university that could, and did, sparked by All-America guard Delonte West, National Coach of the Year, Phil Martelli and National Player of the Year in local legend and the pride of Chester, Jameer Nelson. The trio headlined a cast that finished with a top seed in the tournament behind a 30-2 overall record, and a 27-0 regular season record that was the best start in the history of the Atlantic 10 conference.

Norristown’s Geno Auriemma has won titles upon titles as the head coach of UConn’s women’s program and Muffet McGraw has a place among basketball deity with her all-Catholic playing career as an alum of Archbishop Carroll, St. Joseph’s before leading the Notre Dame women’s program to a pair of NCAA titles as a coach.

But Dawn Staley is the Philly product with the most NCAA success – both as a player and a coach.

Staley, who came out of Murrell Dobbins Technical High School on Lehigh Ave., steps from the old Connie Mack Stadium, took her talents to the University of Virginia where she led the Cavaliers to three Final Fours and an NCAA women’s final in 1992. As a coach? Sheesh. Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks have been dominant, as two-time national champions along with four Final Four appearances and looking for another as the No. 1 seed. As for that No. 1 ranking? Staley is one of just a handful of people to have played on and coached a No. 1 team.

» READ MORE: Dawn Staley talks athlete mental health and her own personal journey

It’s regarded not just as one of the best moments in Villanova’s history, but in the history of the NCAA men’s tournament. Villanova was already the team to beat in the Big 5 but going up against the likes of No. 1 North Carolina was a whole other level and as tall a task as ever. With just 4.7 seconds remaining after UNC tied the game at 74-74, Villanova’s Ryan Arcidiacono took an inbound pass to half-court before dishing it off to forward Kris Jenkins. Jenkins, without hesitation, pulled up from well above the three-point arc and drained a buzzer-beating shot to give the Wildcats their second national title.

» READ MORE: Kris Jenkins gives Villanova a shot

He’s not from Philly, and one might be hard-pressed to find a Philadelphian who liked Duke and Christian Laettner at the time, but he has arguably the greatest moment in the NCAA Tournament, 31 years later, and it happened right here in Philly.

In the 1992 East Regional final inside the now-demolished Spectrum, Laettner hit the buzzer-beating shot in overtime that shattered the dreams of No. 2 seed, Kentucky. But it was arguably the delivery to Laettner that was equally as incredible as Duke’s Grant Hill hurled a towering pass that Laettner caught, faked a turn, and dropped — off his backfoot — the game-winning bucket with – wait for it – just two-tenths of a second remaining in the game.