March Madness is officially upon us, and as we fill out our brackets ahead of the Big Dance, we here at Next Impulse Sports wanted to take a look back at some of the tournament’s best performers in March Madness history.
As we await which players will turn into legends in this year’s edition of the tournament, here are the five best players in the history of the tournament, as determined by our team here at Next Impulse Sports.
It’s worth noting that we ranked each player based on their accomplishments throughout their entire careers – not just one tournament.
5. Bill Russell, San Francisco
Bill Russell was not recruited out of high school and ultimately ended up playing for the University of San Francisco, which was far from a powerhouse. But that didn’t stop him from leading the team to back-to-back championships.
With Russell leading the way, San Francisco won the NCAA championship in both 1955 and 1956 with Russell averaging more than 20 points and 20 rebounds per game.
4. Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston
During his time with the Houston Cougars, Hakeem Olajuwon helped lead the Cougars to at least the Final Four in four straight seasons as Houston made the Final Four in 1982 and then the championship game in both 1983 and 1984.
Though Houston lost both of those championship games, Olajuwon was absolutely dominant, particularly in the 1983 game.
During the 1983 championship game loss against NC State, Olajuwon finished with 20 points and 18 rebounds in the 54-52 loss. He was even named the Most Outstanding Player and remains the last player from the losing team to earn the award.
3. Bill Walton, UCLA
Bill Walton was one of the most dominant college basketball players of all time, and he was especially dominant in March.
UCLA won seven national championships between 1967 and 1973 and Walton was a big reason why in 1972, 1973, and 1974, earning the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award in both 1972 and 1973. Walton is still the last person to earn the award in consecutive seasons.
Walton was particularly dominant in the 1973 final over Memphis State, going a nearly perfect 21-for-22 from the field with 44 points.
2. Christian Laettner, Duke
Christian Laettner may have been one of the most hated players in the history of men’s college basketball, but he was also absolutely dominant.
During his four seasons with the Duke Blue Devils, Laettner led the Blue Devils to the Final Four in all four years, winning the national championship in two of those seasons.
Additionally, Laettner also holds the NCAA Tournament’s all-time scoring record with 407 points in the tournament – 49 more points than the next player. He also has played the most games (23) and the most wins (21).
1. Lew Alcindor, UCLA
Long before changing his name and establishing himself as an NBA legend under the name Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lew Alcindor put together three of the most dominant NCAA Tournament runs in the history of the tournament.
In Alcindor’s three seasons with the UCLA Bruins, he and his team won the national championship all three times with Alcindor named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player all three of those years.
While the tournament had not yet expanded to its current format and Alcindor played just 12 tournament games throughout his three seasons, he still put up 304 points in tournament games which ranks seventh all-time, averaging 25.3 points per game.
