The Best Individual Runs in Men's March Madness History

Legends are made in March Madness, and the best performances from individual players in the tournament often live on throughout history.

In addition to an unexpected upset, a player getting the hot hand from mid-March to early April will often dominate the tournament's headlines.

Here, we'll explore the individual Men's College Basketball players who have had the best runs in March Madness history, helping make the tournament what it is today.

Anthony Davis — 2012

Games	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Turnovers	Steals	Blocks	FG%	3PT%
6	13.7	12.3	3.0	2.0	1.2	4.8	53.2	0.0

In his first and only season on a Kentucky team with seven players who were eventually drafted to the NBA, Anthony Davis stood out as one of the best two-way seven-footers College Basketball had ever seen. In the tournament, he put up numbers similar to his season averages, except he doubled his assists per game.

Davis scored 16 points on eight shots with nine rebounds, three assists, one steal and a whopping seven blocks in the opener against Western Kentucky. He had a similar game in the next round, playing all 40 minutes of a 16-point win and posting 15 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two blocks.

In the Sweet 16, Kentucky beat Indiana by 12 and Davis played just 25 minutes, putting up nine points, 12 boards, two assists and three blocks. Kentucky came up against Baylor in the Elite Eight and Davis had his joint-tournament high of 18 points with 11 boards, one assists, two steals and six blocks.

AD had another 18-point game against Louisville in the Final Four, taking just eight shots to get there. He also had 14 rebounds, two assists, a steal and five blocks, and he helped hold Cardinals center Gorgui Dieng to seven points.

Davis was at his least efficient shooting-wise in the National Championship, but he showed how he can dominate games in other ways by grabbing 16 rebounds, dishing five assists, blocking six shots and having three steals.

Carmelo Anthony — 2003

Games	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Turnovers	Steals	Blocks	FG%	3PT%
6	20.2	9.8	2.5	2.5	1.8	0.7	47.5	47.6

Carmelo Anthony played just one season at Syracuse, but it has since been written into College Basketball history. He started out quietly with 30 combined points in his first two games, but he got hot in what we now know as typical Melo fashion as the tournament progressed.

In a one-point Sweet 16 win over Auburn, Anthony scored 18 points with eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block while shooting 2/4 from beyond the arc. Against Oklahoma in the Elite Eight, he scored 20 points with 10 boards on 9/16 shooting as the Orange won by 16 points.

Melo's best game of the tournament was in the Final Four, where Syracuse beat Texas 95-84. He scored a tournament-high 33 points with 14 rebounds and three steals while shooting 3/4 from three.

In the National Championship, Syracuse came up against a Kansas team led by Kirk Hinrich, Nick Collison and Keith Langford. Melo scored 20 points with 10 boards for his third double-double of the tournament, and he also chipped in seven assists

Shabazz Napier — 2014

Games	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Turnovers	Steals	Blocks	FG%	3PT%
6	21.2	5.5	4.5	3.5	2.5	0.0	46.3	46.5

The UConn Huskies were a No. 7 seed in the 2014 tournament, coming off a 26-8 regular season and not expected to do much in March Madness. Then Huskies guard Shabazz Napier got hot and led his team to become the second-lowest seed to win the tournament.

Oddly enough, the Huskies suffered their closest call of the tournament in the opening No. 7 vs. No. 10 game against St. Joseph's, where UConn won in overtime. It was Napier's worst game of the tournament as he scored 24 points on 7/22 shooting along with eight rebounds, six assists to four turnovers, and three steals.

The guard found his shooting touch in the round of 32 against Villanova, scoring 25 points on 9/13 shooting (4/8 3PT) while grabbing five rebounds, dishing three assists and getting two steals. He followed that up with 19 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals against Iowa State.

UConn came up against a Michigan State team led by Gary Harris, Adreian Payne and Denzel Valentine in the Elite Eight, and Napier outplayed all of them. He posted 25 points, six rebounds and four assists while shooting 9/9 from the free-throw line.

But the challenge only grew greater in the Final Four, when the Huskies played a great Florida team with Scottie Wilbekin, Patric Young and Wil Yeguete. Napier was relatively quiet scoring-wise with 12 points, but he had six assists to just two turnovers as well as two steals, and he helped hold Wilbekin to four points.

Napier's crowning achievement was in the National Championship game against the Kentucky Wildcats. Kentucky was only an eighth seed, but they were still favored entering the game because they had Julius Randle, James Young, and Andrew and Aaron Harrison. Napier went off for a game-high 22 points, including a big three midway through the second half, along with six boards, three assists and three steals.

Danny Manning — 1988

Games	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Turnovers	Steals	Blocks	FG%	3PT%
6	27.2	9.3	1.7	4.0	2.0	2.3	55.2	33.3

Danny Manning got better and better throughout his college career, and March Madness of his senior year was his crowning achievement.

Manning's lowest number of field goal attempts in a game in the 1988 tournament was 14 in the opener, an 85-72 win over Xavier in which Manning had 24 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and three blocks. He followed that up with 25 points on 10/19 shooting in a three-point win over Murray State.

That round of 32 win over Murray State was Kansas' closest call of that tournament. In the Sweet 16 against Vanderbilt, Manning dropped a tournament-high 38 points with five boards, one assist, one steal and one block while shooting 2/3 from beyond the arc. He had 20 and six boards in the Elite 8 against the Jayhawks' rivals, Kansas State.

In the Final Four, Kansas came up against a Duke team with Danny Ferry, Billy King and Alaa Abdelnaby, among others. Manning proceeded to drop 25 points with 10 boards, two assists, four steals and six blocks in a seven-point win.

In the National Championship against Oklahoma, he had 31 points, 18 rebounds, two assists, five steals and two blocks in a four-point victory.

Glen Rice — 1989

Games	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Turnovers	Steals	Blocks	FG%	3PT%
6	30.7	6.5	2.0	2.3	1.2	0.2	57.3	55.1

Almost three decades before NBA teams started shooting more threes in a game than twos, Michigan Wolverines guard Glen Rice not only took lots of threes in college, but he also made them at a high clip.

The best example is during his 1989 tournament run, in which he set the record for the most total points (184) ever scored in a single NCAA Tournament, a record that still stands today. Rice averaged 8.2 attempts from beyond the arc in that tournament, and he made over half of them.

Rice's lowest-scoring game in that run was 23 points in the opener, a closer-than-expected 92-87 win over Xavier. He then had three straight games with at least 30 points, highlighted by 34 points on 8/12 three-point shooting against North Carolina in the Sweet 16.

In the National Championship game, Rice was all business as the Wolverines took on Seton Hall and won 80-79 in overtime. Rice dropped 31 points on 12/25 shooting (5/12 3PT) with 11 rebounds and only two turnovers.

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