The other night my wife and I were watching the NCAA semifinal game between UCLA and Gonzaga. We watched the game go into overtime and then marveled as Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs made an unbelievable shot at the buzzer to give his team the victory and avoid a second overtime period.

The game itself was a classic. Gonzaga was unbeaten, ranked as the No. 1 team all season long. On the other hand, UCLA’s season was just good enough to get it into the tournament as a bubble team. It was assigned a No. 11 seeding and had to play in the play-in round just to earn a spot among the Top 64 teams in the tournament. I love underdogs, but I really hadn’t settled in on UCLA as the team I wanted to win. Baylor already had earned a spot in the championship game and I will be rooting for them to win it all as the only Big 12 team left in the mix. It would be great if the Big 12 team could beat the one everyone thinks will win.

But back to the Gonzaga-UCLA game--it was close throughout with multiple ties and lead changes. It was a basketball fans’ dream game from beginning to end. The thing I was urgently rooting for was for someone, either team would do, to win it in the first overtime. It was late, after all, and people my age need their sleep. UCLA put a damper on my hopes for a not-so-late end to the game when it tied the score with just a couple of seconds left. It looked like another overtime was in the cards and the way things had been going back and forth, who knew how many extra periods might be called for. Suggs took care of all that with his buzzer beater. I got to turn out the lights in a decent time.

It was my wife’s suggestion, when I was wondering about a subject for this week’s column, that I think back to other buzzer beaters in NCAA history.

My mind immediately went back to 2008 in the national championship game between Kansas and Memphis. Both teams had been highly ranked all season long and Memphis came to the tournament with a 33-1 record. It was a rare tournament where all four No. 1 seeds made the Final Four. Kansas was No. 1 in the Midwest, Memphis was No. 1 in the South, UCLA was No. 1 in the West and North Carolina was the No. 1 seed in the East.

North Carolina defeated Mount St. Marys, Arkansas, Washington State and Louisville to advance to the Final Four. UCLA had beaten Mississippi Valley State, Texas A&M, Western Kentucky and Xavier, Memphis’s wins came over Texas-Arlington, Mississippi State, Michigan State and Texas, while Kansas earned a spot in the Final Four by defeating Portland State, UNLV, Villanova and Davidson. The win over Davidson was by two points, a scary game for Jayhawk fans.

In the opening round of the Final Four, Memphis defeated UCLA and Kansas beat North Carolina and former KU coach Roy Williams.

I always root for Big 12 teams and Kansas was my team of choice then (having been a student in Lawrence for a year I have an especially soft spot in my heart for the Jayhawks) and I was in full rooting mode in the championship game. I was convinced Memphis was going to win, and when it led by three with less than five seconds to go, I was resigned to be disappointed. But saving me from despair was Jayhawk Mario Chalmers who shot and made a long three-pointer with 2.1 seconds remaining in the game to tie it all up. Memphis wasn’t able to score in the time remaining and that game was sent to overtime. KU dominated the extra period and gave Bill Self what still is his only NCAA title. KU won, but without Chalmers’ shot, Memphis would have been celebrating. It seems like there have been other wonderful buzzer beaters, but I couldn’t recall specific examples without some assistance.

David Cobb of CBS Sports has offered his opinion of the Top 10 Buzzer Beaters in NCAA history. I was delighted to see that his list included both Suggs’ shot this year and the one Chalmers made in 2008.

One that didn’t come to mind immediately, but when I saw Cobb’s list I let out a big “Oh, Yeah”, was the shot that Duke’s Christian Laettner made against Kentucky to give his team a 104-103 win over Kentucky. This one wasn’t in the Final Four--instead in the Elite Eight. However, the Blue Devils went on to beat Indiana and Michigan in the Final Four to win the national title.

Another one that I agreed with was the dunk by Lorenzo Charles to give North Carolina State a national championship over highly favored Houston in the 1983 title game. Who can forget the late coach Jim Valvano sprinting onto the court celebrating his team’s unexpected win. That moment has become even more iconic with the untimely death of Valvano a number of years later.

Cobb rates the basket made by Villanova’s Kris Jenkins to beat North Carolina in the 2016 Championship game as the best buzzer beater of all time. The score was tied at 74-74 with time running out and Jenkins drilled a threepointer from the corner to give Villanova a 77-74 win. I remember rooting for North Carolina at the time, so it was a minor disappointment for me.

Laettner’s basket was ranked by Cobb No. 2 and Charles’ basket for NC State was NO. 3. Suggs’ basket for Gonzaga was No. 4, and Chalmers’ dramatic threepointer is No. 5.

After those, include No. 6- a half-court shot by Northern Iowa’s Paul Jesperson to beat Texas in the 2016 Tournament--No. 7, Bryce Drew of Valparaiso hitting a three from the corner against Mississippi in 1998--No. 8, Chris Ciozza of Florida hitting a trey at the buzzer to beat Wisconsin in 2017--No. 9, Jordan Poole of Michigan hitting an offbalance long shot to beat Houston in the 2018 second round; and No. 10, Danny Ainge hitting a finger-roll to give Brigham Young a win over Notre Dame in the Sweet 16.

There have been many, many dramatic moments in NCAA Tournament history. But I will have to admit (along with Chalmers’ great shot in 2008) Suggs’ basket for Gonzaga was one of my favorite moments of all time. I have lots of games of which I cherish some memories, but they pale in comparison to the drama produced by a buzzer-beating game-winning basket. Thanks Jalen Suggs.