Conference Tournament Champions, Ridiculous Comebacks...all in black

Miami decided to bring out their black jerseys for their first round ACC tournament game with Virginia.  Miami, a team looking outside looking in on the field of 68, needed to win the ACC tournament in order to get a spot in the tournament.  Down by 10 with 42 seconds left in the 2nd half, the Black Jersey Theory kicked in, and Miami went on a 10-0 run to force overtime against the Cavaliers, ultimately winning in overtime.  Check out their magical black jersey comeback here.

Miami's Black Jerseys against Virginia

This comeback reminded college basketball fans across the country of another 10 point comeback in the final minute from the 2001 season.  It was #2 ranked Duke visiting #10 ranked Maryland.  Duke, down 10 with 1:00 on the clock, came back on a 10-0 run to force overtime relying on the sharp shooting from Jason Williams. Oh yeah, they wore black jerseys.  See the "Miracle Minute" highlight here.

"I love black jerseys!" -Carlos Boozer

Not quite the level of comeback as these previous two, but on March 11, 2011, the Louisville Cardinals brought out their black jerseys for their Big East Tournament semi-finals matchup against the 4th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish.  Before the game started, I had a feeling the Cardinals would wear their black alternate jerseys, and I tweeted again:

Notre Dame will lose if Louisville wears these jerseys#blackjerseytheory http://tinyurl.com/4hjtcyq

Down by 16 at one point, Louisville rallied in the 2nd half to force overtime and beat the Irish by 6 to move on the the Big East championship game.

Hansbrough wishes ND wore black jerseys

Louisville played in the Big East Championship game the next night against UConn.  They did not wear black jerseys, thus they lost. 

In the Pac10 tournament, The University of Washington Huskies found themselves back in the title game trying to repeat as Pac10 Tournament Champions.  The Huskies, who normally wear purple (away) and white (home) jerseys, brought out their black alternate jerseys against the 16th ranked and regular season Pac10 Champion Arizona Wildcats.  I'll let you guess which team hit the buzzer beating jump shot in overtime.  The Huskies won 77-75.  Check out the buzzer beater here!

Isaiah Thomas hit the game winning buzzer-beater against the Wildcats

Let's backtrack to a week before the big time conference tournaments and take a look at the WCC Title game featuring St. Mary's and Gonzaga.   The Gaels and Bulldogs split the season series and were both 11-3 in conference.  One of the teams had to make an adjustment, and Gonzaga coach Mark Few made a genius coaching move and decided to wear black jerseys.  Gonzaga won 75-63 and is officially dancing.

These ones are sweet