March 27
1939 — Oregon beats Ohio State 46-33 in the NCAA’s first national basketball tournament.
1942 — Joe Louis knocks out Abe Simon in the sixth round at Madison Square Garden to retain his world heavyweight title.
1945 — Oklahoma A&M beats New York University 49-45 for the NCAA basketball championship.
1951 — Bill Spivey scores 22 points to lead Kentucky to a 68-58 win over Kansas State for the NCAA basketball title.
1960 — The Boston Celtics score a then NBA Finals record 76 points in the first half a 140-122 win over the St. Louis Hawks. Tom Heinsohn (24), Bill Sharman (23), Frank Ramsey (22) and Bob Cousy (20) each score 20-or-more points to win the series opener.
1971 — UCLA beats Villanova 68-62 for its fifth NCAA basketball title.
1978 — Jack Givens scores 41 points to lead Kentucky to a 94-88 victory over Duke for the NCAA basketball title.
1983 — Larry Holmes wins a unanimous 12-round decision over Lucien Rodriguez to retain his world heavyweight title in his hometown of Scranton, Pa.
2005 — Annika Sorenstam shoots a final-round 68 to finish at 15-under to win the Nabisco Championship by eight shots over Rosie Jones. It’s he 59th victory of the Swedish star’s LPGA Tour career — and her eighth major championship win.
2010 — Long shot Al Shemali wins the $5 million Dubai Duty Free, pulling away from a crowded field to pull off a surprisingly easy win in the Dubai World Cup. Al Shemali, at 40-1, starts slow then duels it out with Bankable before taking the lead for good.
2011 — Jamie Skeen scores 26 points as Virginia Commonwealth delivers the biggest upset of the NCAA tournament, a 71-61 win over No. 1 seed Kansas in the Southwest Regional final.
2014 — The Philadelphia 76ers tie the NBA record for futility with their 26th straight loss, falling 120-98 to the Houston Rockets. Philadelphia matches the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers for the NBA’s worst skid.
2017 — UConn’s women’s basketball team advance to its 10th consecutive Final Four with a 90-52 victory against Oregon. The victory moves coach Geno Auriemma past Pat Summitt for the most NCAA Tournament victories at 113.
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March 28
1939 — The barnstorming Renaissance Five defeat the NBL champion Oshkosh All-Stars 34-25 to win the first annual World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago. Accounts of the game make no mention that the Rens are black and the All-Stars are white.
1942 — Stanford beats Dartmouth 53-38 for the NCAA basketball championship.
1944 — Arnold Ferrin’s 22 points leads Utah to a 42-40 victory over Dartmouth for the NCAA basket championship.
1950 — City College beats Bradley 71-68 in the NCAA basketball final to become the only team to win the NIT and NCAA titles in the same year. CCNY defeats Bradley 69-61 in the NIT on March 18.
1977 — Marquette tops North Carolina 67-59 for the NCAA basketball title.
1982 — Louisiana Tech beats Cheyney State 76-62 in the NCAA’s first women’s basketball championship. The tournament replaces the AIAW championship which had been held since 1972.
1989 — Southwestern Louisiana pitchers Cathy McAllister and Stefni Whitton pitch back-to-back perfect games against Southeastern Louisiana, a first in NCAA Division I softball history.
1990 — Michael Jordan scores 69 points to help Chicago down Cleveland 117-113 in overtime and clinch a playoff spot.
1992 — Christian Laettner hits a 15-foot turnaround jumper at the buzzer to give defending champion Duke a 104-103 overtime victory over Kentucky and a fifth consecutive Final Four trip.
1992 — Eric Forkel defeats Bob Vespi posts a 217-133 in the title match of the $300,000 PBA National Championship. Vespi’s 133 sets a record for the lowest in tournament final history.
1993 — Teemu Selanne of the Winnipeg Jets scores his 69th and 70th goals of the season in a 3-3 tie with Los Angeles Kings. Selanne is the eighth player, and first rookie, to have a 70-goal NHL season.
2012 — The NFL’s new rule for postseason overtime is expanded to cover the regular season on a 30-2 vote by the NFL owners. All games that go into overtime cannot end on a field goal on the first possession.
2014 — Japanese teenager Yuzuru Hanyu comes back with a brilliant free skate to become the first man in 12 years to win the Olympic and World figure skating titles in the same year.
2015 — Breanna Stewart has 31 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists to help UConn rout Texas 105-54, earning coach Geno Auriemma his 100th NCAA Tournament win.
2016 — Rodney Hood scores 30 points and the Jazz turn Kobe Bryant’s last visit to Utah into the worst loss of his career with a 123-75 victory that matches the Lakers’ largest defeat in franchise history.
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March 29
1929 — The Boston Bruins win the Stanley Cup with a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers to complete a two-game sweep.
1940 — Joe Louis knocks out Johnny Paychek in the second round at Madison Square Garden in New York to retain the world heavyweight title.
1941 — Wisconsin, led by Gene Englund’s 13 points, wins the NCAA basketball championship with a 39-34 victory over Washington State.
1952 — George Mikan of the Minneapolis Lakers scores an NBA playoff record 47 points in an 88-78 loss in Game 1 of the Western Division Finals against Rochester.
1960 — Boston’s Bill Russell pulls down an NBA Finals record 40 rebounds, as the Celtics lose to St. Louis, 113-103.
1962 — Elgin Baylor (45) and Jerry West (41) of the Los Angeles Lakers become the first teammates to both score 40 or more points in an NBA Playoff game. It isn’t enough as the Lakers lose to Detroit, 118-117, in a Western Division Finals game.
1981 — Louisiana Tech routs Tennessee 79-59 for the AIAW basketball title.
1982 — Michael Jordan’s jump shot with 16 seconds remaining gives North Carolina a 63-62 victory over Georgetown for the NCAA men’s basketball championship.
1984 — The NFL Colts leave the city of Baltimore in the early hours of the morning, headed for Indianapolis.
1987 — Tennessee routs Louisiana Tech 67-44 to win the NCAA women’s basketball championship.
1990 — Houston’s Akeem Olajuwon is the third player in NBA history to achieve a quadruple double during a 120-94 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. He scores 18 points, 16 rebounds, 11 blocked shots and 10 assists.
1992 — Dottie Mochrie birdies No. 18 to force a playoff and beats Juli Inkster with par on the first hole of sudden death in the Dinah Shore tournament.
1992 — Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi becomes the first American woman to win consecutive world figure skating championships since Peggy Fleming in 1968.
1996 — The Vancouver Grizzlies break the NBA record for consecutive losses in a season with their 21st in a 105-91 loss to the Utah Jazz. The 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers and the 1993-94 Dallas Mavericks lost 20 straight.
1999 — New York Rangers center Wayne Gretzky surpasses Gordie Howe as the leading goal scorer in pro hockey history in a 3-1 victory over the Islanders. Gretzky’s goal was the 1,072nd of his career — 20 NHL seasons and one season in the WHA.
2003 — Michelle Kwan becomes the third American to win five World Figure Skating Championships. Kwan, a seven-time U.S. champion, ties Dick Button and Carol Heiss for most world crowns by an American.
2007 — Michael Phelps sets his third world record in as many days, winning the 200-meter individual medley, at the world championships in Melbourne, Australia. His time of 1:54.98 betters his old mark of 1:55.84 set in August at the Pan Pacific championships.
2008 — Curlin rolls to a record-setting 7 3/4-length victory in the $6 million Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest race. Curlin is the fourth horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic and then take the World Cup the following year.
2011 — Maya Moore scores 28 points, including the 3,000th of her career, to lead top-seed Connecticut to a 75-40 win over Duke and another trip to the Final Four.
2013 — Jaromir Jagr earns his 1,000th career NHL assist in the Dallas Stars to a 5-3 victory over Minnesota.
2013 — Wesley Low Jr., at age 15, becomes the youngest bowler ever to win a PBA Regional title — breaking a 34-year-old record set by PBA Hall of Famer Pete Weber in 1979. The two-handed competitor defeats Deeronn Booker 299-234, to win the PBA Non-Champion West tournament at South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas. Low, a member of Junior Team USA who was 29 days shy of his 16th birthday, loses his bid for a perfect game in the title match when he leaves an 8 pin on his final shot.
2014 — The Philadelphia 76ers snap their NBA record-tying, 26-game losing streak, routing the Detroit Pistons 123-98 to avoid establishing a new longest skid in U.S. major pro sports history.
2014 — Serena Williams wins a record seventh Key Biscayne title when she overcames a slow start and a set point to beat Li Na 7-5, 6-1 at the Sony Open.
2015 — Duke beats Gonzaga 66-52 to send coach Mike Krzyzewski to a 12th Final Four, matching coaching record by John Wooden.
2015 — Belmont breaks three NCAA Division I records and tied a fourth during a 20-run sixth inning in a 34-10 victory over UT Martin.
2017 — Russell Westbrook has 57 points — the most in a triple-double in NBA history — 13 rebounds and 11 assists to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 114-106 overtime win over the Orlando Magic. Westbrook leads the Thunder to their largest comeback in team history, rallying Oklahoma City from a 21-point deficit in the second half.
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March 30
1940 — Indiana routs Kansas 60-42 for the NCAA basketball championship.
1943 — Ken Sailors scores 16 points to lead Wyoming to a 56-43 victory over Georgetown in the NCAA basketball championship.
1981 — Sophomore guard Isiah Thomas scores 23 points to lead Indiana to a 63-50 victory over North Carolina to win the NCAA basketball title.
1986 — Texas wins the women’s NCAA basketball title with a 97-81 victory over Southern Cal.
1987 — Keith Smart’s 16-foot jump shot gives Indiana a 74-73 victory over Syracuse for the NCAA men’s basketball championship.
1991 — Darryl Plandowski scores 1:57 into the third overtime to lift Northern Michigan to its first NCAA hockey title with an 8-7 victory over Boston University in the second-longest championship game ever.
1995 — Maine beats Michigan 4-3 in triple overtime, the longest hockey game in NCAA tournament history, to advance to the NCAA title game.
1997 — Betsy King, an LPGA Hall of Famer, overcomes a three-shot deficit over the last eight holes for her third Dinah Shore title.
2001 — Michael Phelps becomes the youngest American swimmer to set a world record, winning the 200-meter butterfly in the USA Swimming Championships in 1 minute, 54.92 seconds. Phelps, 15, breaks the record of 1:55.18 set by Olympic gold medalist Tom Malchow in June.
2013 — Wichita State holds off mighty Ohio State in the West Regional final to earn its first trip to the Final Four since 1965 with a 70-66 victory over the Buckeyes. The ninth-seeded Shockers are the fifth team seeded ninth or higher to reach the Final Four since seeding began in 1979.
2013 — Syracuse shuts down Marquette with a 55-39 win in the East regional final and reached the Final Four for the first time in a decade. The Golden Eagles’ 39 points are a record low for a team in an NCAA tournament regional final since the shot clock was introduced in 1986. The 94 combined points was also a record low for a regional final.
2014 — Aaron Harrison makes a 3-pointer from about 24 feet with 2.3 seconds left to lift Kentucky to a 75-72 win over Michigan and the program’s 16th trip to the Final Four. Eighth-seeded Kentucky is the first all-freshman starting lineup to make the Final Four since the Fab Five at Michigan in 1992.
2014 — Shabazz Napier scores 17 of his 25 points in the second half, and UConn beats Michigan State 60-54 to return to the Final Four a year after the Huskies were barred from the NCAA tournament. The Huskies rally from a nine-point second-half deficit to become the first No. 7 seed to reach the Final Four since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
2017 — TCU beat Georgia Tech 88-56 to win the NIT championship under first-year coach Jamie Dixon. The Horned Frogs (25-15) double their win total over a 12-21 season.
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