The NCAA tournament is in its opening week. Sixty-four schools across the United States have made the tournament and are preparing to face off against their first-round opponent. The NCAA tournament has a storied history, and this year looks to add to that.
Millions of fans across the nation will watch the tournament every year in hopes of watching their favorite team cut down the nets. This year's favorites include powerhouses Gonzaga and Baylor, who met in last year's national title game. Locally, Connecticut and Providence have both been impressive in the Big East and look to make deep tournament runs.
Regardless of how good a team is in the regular season; any team can win at any given time. Blue blood schools with high expectations have lost in the first round, while smaller schools have made deep tournament runs. The chance to witness the most unlikely triumphs has attracted millions of viewers every year.
The 2022 tournament looks to continue the streak of unlikely upsets that will last in the memories of sports fans for a lifetime. No matter the ranking, any team can win against anyone in March, and these games from previous tournaments are proof of this.
1983: Missed Shot? Slam It!
(6) North Carolina State Wolfpack: 54
(1) Houston Cougars: 52
After losing in the previous year's Final Four, the Houston Cougars came into the regular season with legitimate hopes of winning a national title. Future Hall of Famers Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon led the Cougars to the tournament ranked number one in the nation. Houston was favored to win it all compared to their competitor.
The North Carolina State Wolfpack did not have an easy season, ending the season unranked with a regular season record of 17-10. The Wolfpack did gain some momentum coming into the tournament after winning the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.
Houston was heavily favored but trailed at halftime 33-25 but came back to take a 52-45 lead to take control of the game. NC State refused to go away and rallied to tie the game at 52. With only a few seconds in a tied game, Derrick Whittenburg had a chance to win the game with a half-court shot but missed. Fortunately for the Wolfpack, Lorenzo Charles caught the miss and dunked the ball as NC State defeated Houston 54-52 to win their second national championship.
1991: Undefeated No Longer (Part 1)
(2) Duke Blue Devils: 79
(1) UNLV Runnin’ Rebels: 77
The 1990 NCAA national title game was the most lopsided ever and saw the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels crush the Duke Blue Devils 103-73. One year later, the Blue Devils were on a redemption tour and made it back to the Final Four. The path to redemption met a rematch with the undefeated Larry Johnson led Runnin’ Rebels.
UNLV was better in every way than the underdog Duke Blue Devils and were heavy favorites to advance to the title game. Despite knowing how Duke played, UNLV did not anticipate just how motivated the Blue Devils were and ended up paying the price in the end.
Duke stayed competitive before getting the upper hand and winning 79-77, led by Christian Laettner’s twenty-eight-point performance. After pulling off the impossible and taking down the best team in the nation, Duke would win their first national title two days later against Kansas.
2015: Undefeated No Longer (Part 2)
(1) Wisconsin Badgers: 71
(1) Kentucky Wildcats: 64
Indianapolis is where many great college basketball games have been played. One game happened in the city in 2015 that will last in the memories of sports fans for a lifetime. On paper, Wisconsin defeating Kentucky would not be considered an upset due to both teams being a one-seed. This was not the case, however.
The Final Four in 2014 saw these teams match up, with Kentucky winning at the last second 74-73. One year later, the Badgers and Wildcats had a rematch with both teams even better than before. Wisconsin was good, but Kentucky was great and came in undefeated at 38-0 led by future NBA star Karl Anthony-Towns.
After trailing at halftime, 2015 National Player of the Year, Frank Kaminsky led his Wisconsin Badgers with twenty points and eleven rebounds to a massive upset over the undefeated Kentucky Wildcats 71-64. Although the Badgers would lose in the national title game to Duke just two days later, this game is still easily one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
2018: History is Made!
(16) UMBC Retrievers: 74
(1) Virginia Cavaliers: 54
The 2017-18 season was magical for the Virginia Cavaliers. Virginia used their elite defense against their opponents to win the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and tournament titles. Ironically, Virginia was not ranked to start the season and ended the season ranked number one in the country.
Jairus Lyles of the UMBC Retrievers was unfazed by Virginia's success and did not back down. In possibly the biggest upset in tournament history, Lyles scored twenty points to lead UMBC past Virginia 74-54. Unlikely triumphs are reoccurring during the tournament, but this time was different. UMBC became the first sixteen-seed to defeat a one-seed in the NCAA tournament storied history.
One year later, the Virginia Cavaliers redeemed themselves by winning the 2019 NCAA championship. Although this championship run was impressive, the Cavaliers will be remembered more for their embarrassing loss in 2018.