At the exact moment Northern Iowa's Paul Jesperson made a halfcourt buzzer-beater to shock Texas in the earliest moments of Saturday morning, one thought surely crossed the minds of college hoopniks the nation over.
Best. NCAA tournament. Ever.
EVER!
And that was before Texas A&M capped one of the wildest opening weekends in the tourney's 78-year history with what was assuredly its greatest comeback ever in coming from 12 points down with 44 seconds to play in regulation before winning 92-88 in double overtime against, of all teams, Northern Iowa.
"God blessed them on Friday, and God blessed us today," Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy said afterward.
And while God surely has better things to do than worry about the outcome of a college basketball game - even one in the NCAA tournament - there certainly seemed to be a bit of otherworldly influence on both outcomes.
It also kept the Southeastern Conference from being without a Sweet 16 team for the first time since 2009, while setting up a terrific West Regional semifinal between the third-seeded Aggies and second-seeded Oklahoma and their probable national player of the year. The Sooners' Buddy Hield poured in 35 points - 28 in the final half - of Sunday's win over VCU and former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach Will Wade.
But what the Aggies did most in their miraculous comeback was continue the unbelievable run of unforgettable moments in this tournament. Titanic upsets such as Yale over Baylor, Arkansas-Little Rock over Purdue, Wichita State over Arizona, Stephen F. Austin over West Virginia, Gonzaga over Seton Hall, Hawaii over California, VCU over Temple - and Middle Tennessee State University and our own Reggie Upshaw of Baylor School over Michigan State.
Oh, that last one is worth a repeat. Fifteenth-seeded MTSU and Upshaw over second-seeded Michigan State, which was most folks' pick to return to the Final Four for a second straight year. Instead, Upshaw scored 21 points, then said of the Blue Raiders' victory, only the eighth ever by a No. 15 over a No. 2: "I think everybody had Michigan State in their Final Four, if not winning it all. I guess we messed up some brackets today."
Some brackets? How about all the brackets? By Friday's end, 32 games in the books, not a single one of the 13 million entries to ESPN's Bracket Challenge remained perfect, which is bound to happen when 10 double-digit seeds - the most in NCAA history - won in the opening round.
Hitting the Powerball might have been easier than having a perfect bracket this season.
And we haven't even touched on Cincinnati's last-second loss to St. Joseph's. Or Providence's one-point win.
Unfortunately, the tournament has kept going, at least for those who love the little guy, because the old guard - at least all those who were left - came charging back through the weekend. No. 1 seeds Kansas, North Carolina and Virginia all comfortably advanced to the Sweet 16. (Alas, Oregon's second-round game against St. Joe's on Sunday night tipped off too late for our deadline.)
No. 2 seeds Villanova and Oklahoma have also been impressive, and the Atlantic Coast Conference looks ready to rightly resume its perch as America's Cockiest Conference after advancing all seven of its entries but Pitt into the Sweet 16. In fact, the ACC looks so good at the moment, it wouldn't be a huge shock if you had all-ACC regional finals in two brackets, with Notre Dame possibly facing North Carolina in the East and Virginia conceivably meeting suddenly salty Syracuse in the Midwest. Wisconsin shocking No. 2 seed Xavier could also spice up the East.
There's also the chance for Big 12 members Kansas and Oklahoma to reach the Final Four from the South and West.
The only thing that's crystal clear at this point is that Kansas and North Carolina both look every bit the part of No. 1 seeds, Kentucky-Indiana should have been played at least one round later, the Pac-12 - save top-seeded Oregon - was grossly overrated by the committee, and the Southeastern Conference isn't close in men's basketball to its football brilliance, Texas A&M's success aside.
One final word about the Indiana-Kentucky rivalry, which hasn't had a regular-season meeting since 2011-12.
The Hoosiers and Wildcats need to start playing on a regular basis again.
At its apex, when Bob Knight was coaching the Hoosiers and Joe B. Hall, Eddie Sutton or Rick Pitino was working the Wildcats, it was no worse than the second best rivalry in college hoops, right behind Duke-UNC, and it needs to regain that lofty perch.
Kentucky wants it played in Indianapolis before 70,000 fans in Lucas Oil Stadium. Indiana wants it on home courts. Kentucky coach John Calipari's strong reluctance to go home-and-home reportedly stems from the Hoosiers' court-storming incident at the close of its December 2011 win, in which the Wildcats' Darius Miller was almost trampled by the crowd.
So here's a solution. Sign a four-year contract with two games at Lucas Oil with tickets evenly split and one game each on home courts. Put in a clause that any court storming before the visiting team has returned to its locker room will result in no more home games for that team. Schools such as Indiana and Kentucky shouldn't storm the court anyway. They should always act like they've been there before, because they have.
But if they have to act like unruly upstarts, at least allow the visiting squad to return to its locker room first.
Otherwise, get this rivalry back on track.
As for the rest of this current NCAA tourney, the most likely threats to No. 1 seeds from here on out would appear to be the Villanova-Miami winner against Kansas in the South, Indiana against UNC in Friday's East Regional Sweet 16, everyone left in Virginia's Midwest, and that Oklahoma-Texas A&M victor to Oregon (assuming the Ducks beat St. Joe's) in the West.
No matter what happens from here on out, it's hard to believe anything could top Sunday night and Texas A&M coming from 12 down with 44 seconds to go in regulation to eventually win in double overtime.
Unless you were a Northern Iowa fan, it was indeed a blessing from the hoops gods to be reminded for at least the seventh time in this tournament that every single second matters comes March.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.