March Madness games of the decade: Syracuse-Kansas at No. 6

Watch the entire Syracuse-Kansas game from 2003

Carmelo Anthony was a rarity in the straight-to-the-NBA era, a super-skilled prospect who postponed a professional career to enroll in college and make a huge and immediate impact. All those who insisted one-and-dones were bad for programs were forced to think again. The freshman forward put Syracuse on his back and led the Orange to their first national championship, which was the story line right up until the point when Kansas' Roy Williams chatted with Bonnie Bernstein and told her he could give a you-know-what about North Carolina.

Good times!

Coming in at No. 6 on the list of the "10 Best NCAA March Madness games from this decade" is ...

Syracuse vs. Kansas (2003)

Jim Boeheim entered with a 0-2 record in national title games. Roy Williams was 0-1. So at tip-off we knew we were 40 minutes from one man removing the great-coach-who-has-never-won-it-all label. Clearly, the stakes were high. And if I would've told you that Anthony would go scoreless in the final 13 minutes, you would've almost certainly taken Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich and the rest of the Jayhawks to win easily.

But you would've been wrong.

In Anthony's one season, he got Boeheim a title. (Getty Images)

Credit Syracuse's cushion as the reason.

The Orange jumped to a 53-42 lead at the half and led 76-64 with less than five minutes remaining. Years later, Kansas would overcome a similar deficit to beat Memphis in the national title game. But it wouldn't happen on this night in New Orleans, although the Jayhawks managed to make things interesting still. A 6-0 run sparked by three points each from Collison and Hinrich cut the deficit to 76-70 with 3:20 remaining, and a Michael Lee layup made it 80-77 with 60 seconds left. Suddenly we had a game. And when Hakim Warrick missed a free throw with 14 seconds remaining, the Jayhawks gained possession down 81-78.

Hinrich -- who missed a 3-pointer that would've tied the score on the previous possession -- got the ball about 28 feet from the basket with four seconds remaining, left his feet as if he were going to shoot it but then passed to Lee, who was wide open on the left wing. When Lee caught the ball, Warrick was still in the purple lane at the New Orleans Superdome. But the future first-round draft pick of the Memphis Grizzlies closed quickly, leaped and blocked the shot out of bounds with 1.5 seconds remaining.

"It's not how tall, it's how long," said CBS' Billy Packer. "Warrick got a piece of that."

KU's desperation shot at the buzzer wasn't close.

Final score: Syracuse 81, Kansas 78.

Anthony finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

And then the fun really started.

Bernstein conducted a postgame interview with Williams, who had been rumored to be on the way from Kansas to North Carolina to replace Matt Doherty. Obviously, the rumors were true. But Williams was in no mood to address them live on television, telling Bernstein "I could give a sh-t about North Carolina right now. I've got 13 kids in that locker room right now that I love."

Best. Interview. Ever.

And a pretty good game, too.