Fairleigh Dickinson v Purdue
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College basketball's 2022-23 season ended over a week ago, and the wheels are in motion around the country for the 2023-24 season as transfer season hits its peak and the dust settles on a busy coaching carousel. But before we devote all our energy to looking ahead, let's take one last look back at a memorable campaign.

Three teams that began the season unranked reached the Final Four, including the national champion, UConn, which rebounded from a first-round exit in 2022 to cut down the nets on April 3 at NRG Stadium in Houston. The journey to reach that point featured many twist and turns; Alabama, Houston, Purdue and North Carolina each held the No. 1 ranking at times, only to falter once they reached the top.

None of those four teams made it past the Sweet 16, and UNC didn't even reach the Big Dance after entering the season ranked atop the AP Top 25. For the first time in the NCAA Tournament's modern era, no team with a No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 seed reached the national semifinals. It was that type of season.

As we prepare to put the season in the rearview mirror, our writers are reflecting on their favorite memories and moments from the 2022-23 campaign for this week's edition of the Dribble Handoff.

Three generations of Hurleys in one moment

My favorite moment from the season was literally its last moment -- specifically, when Dan Hurley watched the final second tick away and became a national championship-winning coach with his famous father (Bob Hurley Sr.) and brother (Bobby Hurley) standing behind him in the crowd, and his younger son (Andrew) dribbling out the clock on the court. It was an incredible scene. There he was, this 50 year-old son of a Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame coach and younger brother of an iconic college basketball star finally getting a real moment in the spotlight after spending much of his life in their shadows. To have that experience with his father and brother just a few feet behind him, and his son just a few feet in front of him, must've been a dream come true on some level.

A coach wins a title every year. I get that. But how many of them have forever been the second-best coach in their family and the second-best former player in their family? Dan Hurley was always the other Hurley -- either Bob's son or Bobby's brother or both -- but on that night, on the first Monday of April, the spotlight was finally his. In the shadows, no more. Dan Hurley was center stage and the center of attention with all eyes focused on him. -- Gary Parrish

Jordan Hawkins is defeated ... and then UConn goes on a tear

Narrow down the entire 2022-23 season for one favorite moment? That's impossible. What I am doing, instead, is reflecting on an unexpected encounter that, in retrospect, is pretty damn inspirational. 

On Jan. 25, No. 19 UConn hosted No. 13 Xavier. It was a Wednesday night and weather was somewhat sketchy in the area, which led to a late-arriving crowd. Xavier got out to a 9-0 lead and led by as many as 17 in the second half before UConn closed hard and nearly stole the game. Connecticut sophomore Jordan Hawkins scored a season-high 28, but it wasn't enough. (Dan Hurley called a timeout late that negated a long Hawkins 2, in fact.)

Xavier won 82-79.

UConn lost for the sixth time in an eight-game span, going from 14-0 and No. 2 in the polls to 16-6 and soon to drop out of the rankings.

"That was the loudest building I've ever been in," Xavier associate head coach Adam Cohen told me afterward.

After I spoke with Xavier's players and staff, I went to check if Hurley was still in his postgame press conference. He was. On the steps leading up to the presser, Hawkins was standing there. He'd just played one of the best games of his career, but it wasn't enough. As we waited for what was next, I inconspicuously took this photo and tucked it away on my phone. 

Last week, as I was scrolling back through the season, it jumped out at me. Here was a future championship team and its future first-round NBA Draft pick at its lowest point of the season. 

Nine weeks later, Hawkins, Hurley and everyone affiliated with UConn's program would grab a pair of scissors, snip nets and watch "One Shining Moment" together on the court at NRG Stadium.

"We can get this thing back on track," Hurley told me after that Xavier loss. "We can win the Big East Tournament."

I thought Hurley was right. In fact, here's what I wrote coming off that game: "I've spoken with Hurley after games before and seen him much more frustrated and in desperate want of answers. This wasn't that. He has confidence in this team, and despite UConn's monthlong swoon, I agree with Hurley. No matter where UConn is seeded in the league bracket at Madison Square Garden, it will be a threat to beat all other teams."

He was right about the first thing, we were both wrong about the second — we identified the wrong tournament. UConn's only losses that came after Xavier were by three points on the road against quality Creighton team, and then by a bucket in the Big East semis against double-champ Marquette. 

Every season is dotted with moments of triumph and doubt. Hawkins looked absolutely spent that night, and on some level I'm sure the team was wondering if all of it was going to go to waste. But they never stopped believing, and it's amazing to see how just one more loss — a close one, at home, to a Xavier team that would earn a better seed than UConn — was the final knock that got UConn right. -- Matt Norlander

Emoni Bates turns in all-time performance 

Once crowned as the best basketball prospect regardless of age while drawing comparisons -- fair or not! -- to Kevin Durant, Emoni Bates put on a show early in the 2023 calendar year with one of the best individual outings of anyone all season. The former five-star and Memphis transfer scored 43 points vs. Toledo in an 84-79 loss, during which at one point he scored 29 straight (!!) for Eastern Michigan.

"You're watching one of the greatest individual halves in the history of college basketball," said CBS Sports' Tim Doyle on the call. "He is out of this world!"

Bates had 29 consecutive points in the first half before only finishing with 14 second-half points down the stretch. EMU took the loss, but Bates for his part had one of the all-time heaters in defeat. His 43 final points ranked as the ninth-most by an individual in a game all season.  -- Kyle Boone

Fairleigh Dickinson beats Purdue in Big Dance

Fairleigh Dickinson became just the second No. 16 seed to ever beat a No. 1 seed when the Knights took down Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. By nature, such an upset is ridiculously improbable, but the height dynamics of this particular game made the outcome particularly stunning. With 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey anchoring the lineup, the Boilermakers fell against one of the smallest teams of the 21st century. Fairleigh Dickinson's tallest rotation player was 6-foot-7, and FDU started guards listed at 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-9.

Even FDU coach Tobin Anderson conceded after the game that if the teams had played 100 times, Purdue likely would have won 98 or 99 times. But the Knights had their best stuff at the right time, and Purdue produced a dud performance at the worst time. Combine those two elements and you get what could absolutely be considered the most memorable upset of NCAA Tournament history.

The game carried an extra dose of personal interest for me since I wrote an in-depth story on FDU's remarkable turnaround. While spending some time with Anderson after an FDU practice, we briefly discussed the hypothetical scenario of an FDU vs. Purdue matchup in the NCAA Tournament. To see it come to fruition several weeks later and for the Knights come out on top was a memory I won't forget. -- David Cobb