March Madness has so many good things, but one of them is the NCAA tournament song. What is the song, who wrote it and more?
What’s not to love March madness? The atmospheres, the Cinderellas, the unexpected heroes, the emotion of each game, bucket and second, the… music?
Whether you realize it or not, the NCAA tournament song is in your head every time March rolls around for college basketball fans. It’s an iconic tune that’s played relentlessly (which is for the best, of course) and is an iconic part of tournament time. You could start a TikTok trend by playing the song and seeing which college hoops fans run to the sound.
But where did the NCAA Tournament song come from? Who wrote it and when did it start? We have the answers for you.
There are two answers to this question because, well, there are two different things fans could be referring to with the NCAA Tournament song.
The first of them is CBS March Madness Theme that we hear so often throughout the tournament on all channels. This song doesn’t have a name, but it debuted after a contest was held by CBS in 1992 for fans to compose the theme for March Madness. Bob Christianson won the competition and the first version of the theme was used in the next tournament. It has been updated several times in the 30 years since, but the essence of Christianson’s original work remains intact and the result is one of the most recognizable sports songs.
However, the other NCAA Tournament song that gets mentioned a lot is, of course, “One Shining Moment.” Some might consider this to be the March Madness theme to some extent, as it is played at the end of the national championship game as the soundtrack to a montage of the just-concluded tournament.
“One Shining Moment” was written by singer-songwriter David Barrett in 1986. It was originally supposed to be used at the end of the Super Bowl, but broadcast complications forced CBS to push it to the NCAA Tournament . It has since been featured.
There have been many iterations and performers of the song, starting with Barrett himself for seven years before Teddy Pendergrass performing it for five years. There are also versions from Jennifer Hudson and Ne-Yo. The most recognizable version of “One Shining Moment” and the one that is still used for editing to this day was performed by the late Luther Vandross.
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