Hello sports friends,

Well it's that time of year known as March Madness and I thought I'd look back at some of the great NCAA tournament moments of the last 30 years specifically since I started becoming a sports fan. For you older fans I'd like to hear your memories of John Wooden's UCLA dynasty teams and other great teams and players as well.

As I said I became a sports fan for the most part in 1977 about the time that Al McGuire and Marquette beat North Carolina for the national title before Al McGuire retired to become a broadcaster which he basically remained until his death in 2000. Shortly after that 1977 championship which was the city of Milwaukee my hometown's last major college or pro championship not counting the Packers or Badgers in the state of Wisconsin. Anyway lets start with my tournament memories since that time in kind of a year by year brief summary what I remember.

1978-Jack Givens of Kentucky scores 41 pionts as Kentucky beats Duke for the national title

1979-Bird vs Magic The highest rated NCAA telecast and a great era and rivalry in basketball begins as Magic's Michigan State wins over Bird's Indiana State

1980-Darrell Griffith Dr Dunkenstein leads Louisville over UCLA in the final

1981- Do you remember President Reagan was shot on this day? At night Isiah Thomas leads Indiana and Bob Knight to it's second national title over North Carolina.

1982- Freshman Michael Jordan hits the game winning jumper and Fred Brown threw away the pass after that to give North Carolina a one point victory over Georgetown and fresman Patrick Ewing who had five goaltending 10 points worth of calls during the game!

1983-Hello Houston where's the defense as NC State wins the game and title on an alley oop dunk well sort of if you saw the play. Anyway the late NC State coach Jimmy Valvano is still looking for a hug! Also a great semifinal dunkfest between Houston and Louisville.

1984-Georgetown Patrick Ewing and coach John Thompson win the title over Houston. Fred Brown from 1982 gets a hug from his coach for the win.

1985- The greatest upset in NCAA history some say as Villanova shoots 79 percent and shocks Georgetown 66-64 for coach Rollie Massimino.

1986-Louisville and coach Denny Crum wins its second national title with freshman star Pervis  "Never Nervous" Ellison over Duke

1987- Indiana wins it's third national title under Bob Knight on Keith Smart's jumper with a second to play winning by one point over Syracuse

1988- Danny Manning and the Miracles led by head coach Larry Brown make an improbable run and beat Oklahoma for the title

1989-Rumeal Robinson hits two free throws in overtime as interim coach at the time Steve Fisher leads Michigan to victory over Seton Hall.

1990- UNLV in a rout scores over 100 points and beats Duke for the tile by over 30 points. Led by Larry Johnson later known as Grandmama and coach Jerry Tark the Shark Tarkanian

1991-Duke wins it's first national title over Kansas after getting even with then undefeated UNLV in the semifinal game winning by 2 points. Coach K and Grant Hill Christian Laetener and Bobby Hurley the stars

1992-Most memorable moment in regional final as Duke beats Kentucky on Christian Laetner's last second shot off a full court pass. Duke goes on to repeat the first and only repeat since UCLA in 1973 over Chris Webber and company's Fab Five Michigan team in final.

1993- Oops Chris Webber no timeouts for Michigan as he makes a critical late game error leading North Carolina and coach Dean Smith to their second national title.

1994- Arkansas native and cuurent President Bill Clinton is in attendance cheering as coach Nolan Richardson and the Arkansas Razorbacks beat Duke for the national title.

1995-UCLA reclaims glory winning 11th national title and the first for coach Jim Harrick over Arkansas

1996- Kentucky and coach Rick Pitino win national title over Syracuse

1997-Arizona and coach Lute Olson go to overtime to beat Kentucky.

1998-Kentucky wins again over Utah and  popular coach Rick Majerus. Kentucky wins this time under new coach Tubby Smith.

1999- Connecticut and coach Jim Calhoun win their first national championship over Duke.

2000-Michigan State and coach Tom Izzo win first title since Magic's '79 team over Florida in final.. Also Wisconsin Badgers make first Final Four since 1941 under coach #### Bennett before losing to Michigan State in semifinal

2001-Duke wins third national title for Coach K beating Arizona.

2002-Maryland wins first NCAA title for coach Gary Williams beating Indiana at the time led by coach Mike Davis.

2003-Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and star players Freshmen Carmelo Anthony and Gerry Macnamarra lead Syracuse to title game win over then Kansas coach Roy Williams.

2004-Connecticut wins it's second national title over Georgia Tech in final game.

2005-Bring it home to Chapel Hill for UNC alumnus and now coach Roy Williams over Illinois in final.

2006- Coach Billy Donavon and an exciting Florida team win the final over UCLA with stars Joakinm Noah and Al Horoford and bascially the same starting five this year as Florida tries to repeat it's title in 2007.

Who will win it this year? Whatever happens it's bound to be exciting with lots of last second buzzer beaters. So enjoy March Madness, we'll see who's in next week and we'll lead up to One Shining Moment the Luther Vandross song that is played every year after a new champion is crowned this year on April 2. Best wishes to your teams and picks and enjoy the games and madness friends. Talk soon and have great and productive days always.