9 greatest individual March Madness runs since 2000

Derrick Rose, Memphis, 2008

Many remember the missed free throw from Rose that cost Memphis the national title game against Kansas, but what's overlooked is that Rose had one helluva NCAA Tournament run.

As a freshman, he averaged 20.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game while shooting 51.8% from the field to lead No. 1 Memphis to the championship game.

Unfortunately, that free throw will be what most remember, but Rose was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft for a reason and his play up until that fateful moment showed why he was worthy.

Blake Griffin, Oklahoma, 2008

Griffin's Oklahoma Sooners were victims of an exit in the Elite Eight against top-seeded North Carolina, but the sophomore Griffin was an absolute force to be reckoned with during the tournament.

While he lacked an outside shot, Griffin was dominant around the hoop. He averaged 28.5 points and 15 rebounds per game — tied for sixth-most in tournament history — while shooting 78%. Had Oklahoma not lost to North Carolina, Griffin would've likely been named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament.

Joakim Noah, Florida, 2006

Noah achieved the rare feat of winning back-to-back NCAA championships while at Florida, but it was his first run in 2006 that was the most memorable.

Hardly on the national radar his sophomore year, Noah made sure that everyone knew who he was when it came tournament time. The 6-foot-11 Noah dominated the game from inside the paint and played with a certain toughness that made him the best defensive player in the tournament, leading Florida to a national title.

He averaged 16.2 points, 9.5 rebounds and 4.8 blocks per game. He also set an NCAA championship game record with six blocked shots against UCLA and finished with 29 total in the tournament — tied for second-most in NCAA history.

Noah returned for his junior year to win another title, though his run in the tournament in 2007 wasn't quite as impressive. Still, he boosted his draft stock and was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the No. 9 overall pick in the draft.

Anthony Davis, Kentucky, 2012

Davis entered the 2011-'12 season as the top freshman and consensus No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, and he entered the tournament as the star of a Kentucky team that had lost one game all season.

Davis had an awful lot to live up to and he delivered for the Wildcats. He averaged 13.7 points, 12.3 rebounds, 4.8 blocks and 1.2 steals per game for the Wildcats.

In the championship game against Kansas, Davis was held to just six points, but his presence was felt on the defensive end, tying Noah's record of six blocked shots in the game. In fact, Davis had almost a mirror image of Noah's run in 2006, tying the Florida legend's 29 blocked shots in the tournament as well.

Shane Battier, Duke, 2001

The 2001 Duke Blue Devils were one of the most dominant teams in NCAA history. Jay Williams, Shane Battier, Mike Dunleavy, Carlos Boozer and Chris Duhon all went on to have careers in the NBA.

Williams was absolutely lights out as the team's scorer during the tournament that year, but it was Battier who was the Most Outstanding Player — proving to be a force on both the offensive and defensive end.

The senior forward Battier averaged 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.7 blocks per game. In the championship game against Arizona, Battier had 18 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two blocks.

It was the perfect way for Battier to cap his career at Duke before going onto a strong NBA career.

Shabazz Napier, UConn, 2014

Napier won a championship as a freshman at UConn in 2011, but it was as a senior in 2014 when he made his mark on the tournament.

What makes Napier's run special wasn't just his stat sheet. He was also the lifeblood of a UConn team that was seeded seventh by the committee and made a magical run to become the only No. 7 seed to win a national championship.

Napier averaged 21.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game to earn Most Outstanding Player honors, and the list of teams he and UConn did it against was also quite the feat.

Napier and UConn needed overtime to beat St. Joseph's in the first round and then defeated No. 2 seed Villanova, No. 3 seed Iowa State, No. 4 seed Michigan State and No. 1 seed Florida before topping Kentucky in the national championship game.

Napier had 22 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals in the championship game to cap what was one of the most memorable tournament runs in recent memory.

Steph Curry, Davidson, 2008

Long before he started winning title with the Golden State Warriors, Curry became a household name in March 2008.

The scrawny guard whose jersey looked too big on him mesmerized the nation with his ability to hit a shot from seemingly anywhere on the court as he propelled 10th-seed Davidson on a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight.

While Curry and Davidson's run ended with a 59-57 loss to Kansas, Curry's performance was the talk of the tourney.

He opened with a 40-point game as Davidson upset Gonzaga. In it, he shot 63% from the field, including 8-of-10 from beyond the arc. He followed that up with a 30-point performance to upset No. 2 seed Georgetown and then scored 33 in a victory against Wisconsin in the Sweet 16.

Curry had 25 points against Kansas — the eventual champion — as Davidson nearly pulled off the upset.

Curry averaged an insane 32 points per game in the four-game stretch and very well could have given Glen Rice's 1989 record of 184 points in the tournament a run for his money if Davidson kept advancing.

That was just a teaser for what was to come next in Curry's NBA career.

Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse, 2003

Syracuse had never won an NCAA championship prior to Anthony's arrival as one of the top recruits in the country, and nobody expected much because a one-and-done player had never really made that kind of an impact before.

But this time was different.

Syracuse entered the tournament as a No. 3 seed, and Anthony seemingly got better with each and every game. In a Sweet 16 matchup against No. 10 seed Auburn, which had knocked off No. 2 seed Wake Forest, Anthony was held scoreless in the first half before dropping 18 points in the second half to propel Syracuse to a 79-78 win.

In the Final Four, Anthony went off for 33 points, 14 rebounds and three steals in a 95-84 win over top-seeded Oklahoma and then led Syracuse to its first championship with 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in a thrilling 81-78 win against Kansas in the title game.

Anthony's impact on Syracuse and in that tournament remains one of the most memorable March Madness runs of all time.

Kemba Walker, UConn, 2011

Who could ever forget the run that Kemba Walker and UConn had in 2011? Walker has become synonymous with March Madness after what they accomplished that month.

He and the Huskies entered the tournament by winning five games in five nights in the Big East Tournament. That included a win against top-seeded Pittsburgh in which Walker sank an iconic step-back jumper to beat the buzzer.

The Huskies rode that momentum and the spark Walker gave them all the way to a national championship, as he followed with some more incredible performances.

Walker scored 33 points in a second-round win against Cincinnati and then scored 36 points — a UConn record in an NCAA Tournament game — in a win against No. 2 seed San Diego State, which had a young star of its own on the floor named Kawhi Leonard.

From there, "Cardiac Kemba" posted a 20-point, four-rebound, seven-assist performance in a 65-63 win against Arizona in the Elite Eight and helped UConn win another nail-biter with a 56-55 victory against Kentucky in the Final Four, as he posted an 18-6-7 line.

The championship game against Butler was hardly memorable as Walker and UConn finally looked absolutely exhausted, but the Huskies still gutted out a national title to complete one of the most amazing individual and team runs in NCAA Tournament history.