St. John's head coach Rick Pitino, right, stands with Arkansas head coach John Calipari after St. John's loss in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

As certain as the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano, California, each March is the fever of March Madness basketball that grips the country for three weeks each year.

Sixty-eight Division I teams on both the men’s and women’s sides vie for the chance to be national champions. This year’s champions were the Florida men and the UConn women.

As always, some great moments evolved along the way. Here are a few of them.

MENTOR AND MENTEE

When Florida coach Todd Golden and Auburn’s Bruce Pearl squared off in the semifinals, it was a reunion of two close friends. Ten years earlier, Golden was a member of the Auburn staff, working closely with Pearl. The Gators coach considers Pearl his biggest and best mentor.

Golden notes that he is “extremely grateful for the opportunities Pearl gave him at Auburn and believes much of his current success is a product of Pearl’s influence.”

In the semis, Golden’s Gators were able overcome an eight-point halftime deficit and defeat his former teacher.

OLE MISS WALK-ON SCHOLARSHIP

Ole Miss isn’t typically a tournament-bound program, but coach Chris Beard led them to a pair of opening-round victories this year. Along the way, Beard made one of his walk-on players a very happy young man.

Cam Brent had been a member of the team for four years, but played very sparingly during that time. However, he always displayed commitment and respect for the Rebel program. He had managed to play in seven games this season and was part of the Ole Miss push to the tournament.

In the locker room after the Rebels had defeated Iowa State to advance to the Sweet 16, Beard called Brent up front and surprised him by offering the walk-on a scholarship, telling Brent, “Congratulations on your new free education.”

A REFEREE’S MOMENT

While being part of the tournament is an exciting experience for players, not all of them get the opportunity to actually play.

With less than a minute left to play in Oregon’s 78-46 lead over Liberty, game official Roger Ayers noticed that Liberty guard, J. C. Shirer, the only Liberty player that hadn’t played in the game, was kneeling at the scorer’s table waiting to enter the game. With both teams having used all their timeouts, Ayers realized there may not be a stoppage of the clock to substitute Shirer into the game. Not wanting Shirer to miss the opportunity to play a few seconds on such a big stage, Ayers blew his whistle to stop the clock and clean a wet spot on the floor.

Small gesture by the official, but terrific impact on Shirer.

PITINO VS. CALIPARI

A coaching matchup for the ages occurred during a second round game in Providence when legendary coaches John Calipari and Rick Pitino squared off. Combined, Pitino and Calipari have coached 2,346 college games, both having careers with more stops than a Greyhound bus.

Pitino, the dapper-dressed, street smart guy from the streets of New York City against Pittsburgh born and Clarion University grad Calipari.

With mutual respect, when they met to shake hands at mid-court before the start of the game, Calipari simply said, “It’s time, let’s do it.” A courtside reporter remarked, “Watching these two guys coach is like watching Michelangelo at work in his art gallery.”

KELVIN SAMPSON’S FATHER

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson has the reputation of a very disciplined and fearless type of individual, attributes he undoubtedly gleaned from his father, Ned.

Kelvin was born in North Carolina to parents who were members of the Robeson County Deep Branch Native American Lumbee Indian community. Ned was the basketball coach and athletic director at Pembroke High School in the 1950s, a period of time when racism was rampant in the American south, and he had first-hand experience of racial bigotry in Robeson County.

In January 1958, the Ku Klux Klan organized a rally in the Pembroke area, the intent being to intimidate and frighten the county’s black population. When the Lumbee nation heard of the rally, a group of 1,000 members with Ned being one of the leaders went out and confronted the Klan.

In what became known as “The Battle of Hayes Pond”, heated words and punches were exchanged between the Lumbees and the Klan, shots were fired, but the Klan was routed and no injuries occurred.

Kelvin Sampson believes the lesson his father demonstrated was to “always do what is right in life.”

GENO AURIEMMA

It is hard to believe that legendary UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma would harbor any self-doubt as to his coaching prowess, but that is exactly what he revealed in a recent interview on the Dan Patrick Show.

After winning ten NCAA titles between 2000 and 2016, the Huskies embarked on a nine-year drought of championships until halting that streak this year.

Asked if he doubted himself during that period he answered:

“Absolutely, I would go home at night and think that I had lost the coaching edge and that others were surpassing me in the game. The standards and expectations at UConn are so high that I started to question whether I was the right person to lead the program,” Auriemma said. “My wife would say, ‘What do you mean you are slipping, you are in the Final Four every year?'”

The recent title should dispel any doubts Auriemma had regarding his coaching ability.

UCLA FRESHMEN

You’d think that if you were a freshman on the UCLA team that advanced to the Final Four, you couldn’t wait until next season rolls around to continue the team’s success.

Well, that is not so on the Los Angeles campus, where all four of the Bruins’ highly-touted freshmen — Avary Cain, Elina Aarnisalo, Kendall Dudley and Zania Socka-Nugeman — entered the transfer portal shortly after the teams’ semifinal loss to UConn.

Bruin coach Cori Close realizes the portal is a reality in today’s college landscape, but believes that its being open during the Final Four is a major distraction.

HAILEY VAN LITH

Not many players have led their teams to three consecutive Elite Eight appearances, but there is only one who performed such a feat wearing the colors of three different schools.

That player would be TCU’s Hailey Van Lith who in three consecutive years played for Louisville, LSU and TCU, all three advancing to the Elite Eight. Van Lith remarked that, “It took a little packing and unpacking, but I found a home in Fort Worth as a TCU Horned Frog.”

MOST MILES LOGGED

Parents of players are known to travel long distances to attend March Madness games. The mother and father of UConn freshman center Jana El Alfy spent a lot of time in the air as they flew to Tampa, Florida from Cairo, Egypt for the championship game.

It was the first time they had seen their daughter play in a college game. After the game, El Alfy said, “It’s unimaginable that they came all the way from Egypt and I am so happy that they are here to share this magical moment with me.”