Most Dramatic Moments of the Week

This has been, by far, the most bonkers week in sports in a long time. It was extremely difficult to narrow this list down at all because of all the drama that took place across several sports in the past seven days.

In college basketball, conference tournaments made for some crazy games. The NFL offseason provided major drama off the field, while the NBA and NHL saw some great action as well.

Here are the most dramatic moments from the past week in sports.

New York Hockey Rivalry Reignited

The New York Islanders are in the middle of their best season in a long time, and they and their cross-town rivals, the New York Rangers, have all but sewed up playoff spots.

And in what could be a potential playoff series preview, the Rangers and Islanders clashed on Tuesday night in a game that had all the intensity of a playoff matchup.

Anders Lee scored early for the Islanders, but Kevin Hayes scored a beauty in the second period to tie it up. Rick Nash finally broke the tie in the third period with a slap shot that deflected off an Islanders player to break the tie.

After a frenzied final 10 minutes of play, the Rangers escaped with a 2-1 win. But the competitive atmosphere made it one of the best games of the year, with the rivalry implications adding to its intensity.

Heat Rally, Win in OT

The Miami Heat and Sacramento Kings played a hotly contested game on Saturday that saw no love lost between the cross-country foes.

Dwyane Wade and the Heat found themselves down big for the second straight game, this time by a 16-point margin at one point, and were behind by 12 points with just 11 minutes remaining in the game.

But even in the face of a number of absences throughout the roster, including Chris Bosh and Goran Dragic, Miami somehow scrapped back and found themselves within reach before tying it up and withstanding some last-second shots from Sacramento in regulation.

Then they took advantage of DeMarcus Cousins fouling out in the extra frame, pulling ahead to a small lead that held until the end, giving Miami a gritty 114-109 win.

Oklahoma Buzzer-Beater

No. 15 Oklahoma hosted No. 9 Kansas on Saturday for their final regular-season game. Despite Kansas having already clinched the conference title, the two squads were clearly dueling it out for bragging rights heading into the postseason.

After going back and forth all game, Oklahoma made a huge blunder in fouling Frank Mason III on a three-point attempt with only five seconds left in the game.

Mason hit all three free throws, tying the game and giving Oklahoma one last chance to win it.

After an initial drive led to a missed layup, Oklahoma's Buddy Hield flew toward the rim and got the putback bucket just as the final buzzer rang, giving the Sooners a crazy 75-73 victory.

NFL Free Agency Kicks off with a Bang

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Ndamukong Suh got the week started off on a dramatic foot with the announcement of his $114 million contract agreement with the Miami Dolphins, but things really took off on Tuesday as the NFL's official signing period began.

The big names came and went quickly: Darrelle Revis rejoined the New York Jets for a whopping $70 million, Jared Odrick went to the Jacksonville Jaguars for $42.5 million, Torrey Smith joined the San Francisco 49ers for $40 million and Mike Iupati signed with the Arizona Cardinals for $40 million.

But the biggest free-agent drama was centered in Philadelphia. Jeremy Maclin left the Eagles to sign a $55 million deal with Kansas City, but the Birds made some enormous splashes of their own.

They added Seattle secondary castoffs Bryon Maxwell and Walter Thurmond, as well as running backs DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews after Frank Gore backed out of a reported agreement and bolted for Indianapolis.

All told, there has been an incredible flurry of news and activity over the past few days, and this only covers a minor part of it. 

NFL Retirement Shockers

Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

While the big signings and massive trades captured the majority of headlines, lost in the shuffle of this past week were the announcements of three shocking retirements.

Patrick Willis was the headline name, as the 30-year-old had been known as one of the best linebackers in the league since he was drafted in the first round by San Francisco in 2007.

Another talented linebacker, Pittsburgh's Jason Worilds, announced his own retirement just a couple days later at the age of 27.

Jake Locker was the final big name to leave the NFL. The 26-year-old quarterback was the eighth overall pick in the 2011 draft, but between injuries and inconsistent play, things never worked out for the former Washington product. Still, it was a shocking and rare announcement for such a young player.

Major NFL Trades Shake Landscape

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Major NFL trades are pretty rare, especially ones involving multiple big-time players. But this offseason has been different for some reason, with a bunch of big deals getting done in the past week.

Linebacker Kiko Alonso and running back LeSean McCoy were included in last week's version of this article, but they were just the first dominoes to fall.

Jimmy Graham was dealt to Seattle in a huge blockbuster deal that also involved Seahawks star center Max Unger and draft picks. Sam Bradford and Nick Foles were traded for each other, and Haloti Ngata was acquired by the Detroit Lions for two mid-round picks.

There could be more big deals still to come, but this has been a crazy period of time even if the dust has fully settled.

Belmont Upsets Murray State

No. 25 Murray State was undefeated in conference play this season, and it looked like they had things wrapped up against Belmont in the Ohio Valley Conference final.

Belmont lost two leads in the final three minutes of play, and were losing with a mere nine seconds remaining in the second half.

The final minutes were absolute chaos, with a number of big shots and brutal turnovers culminating in Belmont's Taylor Barnette knocking down a ridiculous fadeaway, game-winning three with just three seconds left.

Belmont became the first team to clinch a spot in this year's March Madness with the 88-87 win.

Valparaiso Comes Back to Clinch Tourney Bid

Joe Raymond/Associated Press

Valparaiso and Green Bay may not get much national attention for their basketball teams, but the Horizon League Championship Game provided a heck of a lot of drama for anyone who was lucky enough to watch.

Green Bay took a 25-19 lead into halftime, and led by eight points with 11:43 remaining in the second half. But that's when Valparaiso absolutely took over.

They went on a stunning 15-0 run, then clamped down hard in the closing minutes of the game to shut Green Bay down and punch their ticket to the big dance, winning the contest 54-44.