Richie Saunders Appears In “One Shining Moment” March Madness Montage
Apr 8, 2025, 10:39 AM
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - MARCH 27: Richie Saunders #15 of the Brigham Young Cougars shoots the ball against Labaron Philon #0 of the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first half in the East Regional Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Prudential Center on March 27, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
PROVO, Utah- Richie Saunders and the BYU Cougars were eliminated in the Sweet 16 by Alabama, ending their tournament run, and now, the road has finally come to an end with the Florida Gators defeating the Houston Cougars in dramatic comeback fashion to take home the program’s third National Championship.
Even after hoisting the trophy and cutting down the net, no NCAA Tournament can officially come to a close without the traditional “One Shining Moment” montage, March Madness’ long-standing tribute to the tournament each year.
ONE SHINING MOMENT 🙌#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/cjKbdhot3l
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 8, 2025
The song “One Shining Moment” by David Barrett has been a part of March Madness lore since 1987, when it was first used in the post-tournament recap. Now, after a champion has been crowned each year, fans and participants in the tournament hope to see their team just briefly in the three-minute montage.
At just over 180 seconds, it can be challenging to fit all 68 teams into the crowded video, but editors at Turner do their best. This usually means that unless a team makes it to the Final Four, they will only appear for a few seconds.
This year, for BYU, the representative was Richie Saunders. This is fitting, considering Saunders was the Cougars’ leading scorer during their three-game March Madness run, including two 25-point performances against Wisconsin and Alabama.
Richie’s moment in the video was one captured during the second half of BYU’s Round of 32 win over the Wisconsin Badgers and can be seen at the 1:13 mark of “One Shining Moment”.
— no context byu (@ContextFreeBYU) April 8, 2025
BYU basketball scholarship players with eligibility remaining
Total: 6 (As of Tuesday, April 8)
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- Dawson Baker (Redshirt-Senior in 2025-26)
- Richie Saunders (Senior)
- Keba Keita (Senior)
- Mihailo Boskovic (Senior)
- Brody Kozlowski (Sophomore)
- Khadim Mboup (RS-Freshman)
The BYU basketball roster currently has seven scholarship players from this past season’s Sweet 16 team with eligibility remaining. If everyone in this group returned for next year, that would give BYU three of their five starters from 2025 to build around for the 2026 campaign.
One of those starters, BYU big Keba Keita, was ready to get back to work after BYU’s loss to Alabama in the NCAA Tournament in Newark. He has since announced on Instagram that he would “run it back” for next year.
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“Next year, I feel like I can try and lead a little bit, for sure. But, you know, personally, there’s a lot of room for me to improve,” Keba Keita said to KSL Sports after BYU lost to Alabama in the NCAA Sweet 16. “I know we just lost, but I can’t wait to go back and start playing again. So yeah, when it comes down to next year, just wanting to be more of a leader and have a voice.”
Dawson Baker is the type of player who can provide instant offense off the bench. The same goes for forward Mihailo Boskovic.
It will be interesting to see what roles the coaching staff forecasts for Brody Kozlowski and Khadim Mboup in 2026. Kozlowski is the first BYU commit of the Kevin Young era; he flipped from USC to BYU after the coaching changes occurred at both programs.
Mboup could provide a spark off the bench next year on the defensive end. He’s still raw offensively, but he’s got potential on that end of the floor.
