Everybody is still buzzing about Monday night's Duke-Butler championship game, but according to the Wall Street Journal, it was only the seventh-best game of the tournament.
The Journal analyzed all 64 games and ranked them based on six criteria, including the number of lead changes, the teams' combined shooting percentage, whether the underdog prevailed, how close the game was with two minutes left, in which round the game occurred and how many potentially game-changing shots there were in the final minute.
The best game? Tennessee's 76-73 third-round victory over Ohio State. The score was tied with two minutes left and the teams shot a combined 45% (Duke and Butler shot only 39%). In addition, there were two lead changes in the final minute and two game-tying shot attempts by Ohio State's Evan Turner in the closing seconds.
The runner-up was Washington's first-round victory over Marquette, followed by Kansas State's double-overtime thriller over Xavier.
At No. 4 was Michigan State's win over Maryland. The finish to the Spartans' victory was arguably the best of the tournament, with four lead changes in the final minute, including two in the last seven seconds.
Northern Iowa's second-round shocker over Kansas was No. 28. "As stunning as the result was, the game itself wasn't very topsy-turvy. It had just one lead change, which occurred less than two minutes into the game," write Darren Everson and David Biderman.
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