Everyone loves an underdog victory, and nothing tops a buzzer beater. As March Madness 2013 kicks off get ready to relive some of the most memorable triumphs in the tournament's history.
From underdog victories to buzzer beaters get ready to relive the most memorable triumphs in March Madness history.
March Madness is upon us, so get ready to obsessively watch dozens of games, some of which will inevitably end in buzzer beating shots and huge upsets. Most years provide us with some exciting upsets, but only a few have been particularly shocking. We still have yet to see the 16-seed-over-a-1-seed Holy Grail of NCAA upsets, but we’ve seen a number of great first round defeats and brilliant runs deep into the tourney by overachieving underdogs. Here are our votes for the top 10.
The UCLA dominance that brought the school nine titles between 1964 and 1975 was firmly in the rearview mirror when the school reached the tourney as an 8-seed in 1980. That middling ranking didn’t stop them from putting together an impressive run, knocking off top-seeded DePaul in the second round (77-72) before defeating Ohio State (72-68) and Clemson (85-74) to reach the Final Four. The Bruins then went to defeat another overachieving Purdue team by a score of 67-62, led by an efficient 24-point effort from Kiki Vandeweghe (9-of-12 shooting, 6-for-6 from the line). The fun was finally put to an end by tournament heavyweight Louisville, who beat UCLA in the final by a score of 59-54.
The ’83 Wolfpack, nicknamed the “Cardiac Pack,” put together one of the most thrilling, memorable championship rides in NCAA history, pulling off upset after upset in a series of nail-biting games that spanned the end of their regular season all the way to the championship. They then went on to face a top-seeded Houston team stacked with two eventual NBA Hall of Famers, Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. NC State pulled out one last monstrous upset against Houston, coming away with a 54-52 win thanks to an epic, buzzer-beating dunk by Lorenzo Charles on what appeared to be a long-shot-turned-alley-oop from teammate Dereck Whittenburg. It was undoubtedly one of the best moments in tournament history and you can certainly expect to see it time and again on highlight reels during March Madness coverage.
Two years after NC State shocked the NCAA, the Villanova Wildcats upped the ante. Nova defied the odds just to reach the title game, having survived a second round matchup with number 1-seed Michigan, while dodging bullets in their other match ups. The Wildcats escaped their first three rounds by a combined margin of nine points, while top-seeded Georgetown dominated, winning by double digits in four out of five of their tournament games leading up to the final, finishing with their Final Four win over St. John’s, 77-59. The keys to Nova’s 66-64 win came from their stellar shooting performance—79 percent from the field—as well as an incredible outing by center Ed Pinckney, who was able to outscore (16-14) and out-rebound (6-5) the great Hoyas center, Patrick Ewing, another eventual Hall of Famer/Dream Team member. To this day the 1985 Villanova team remains the lowest-seeded team to ever win the tourney.
Before George Mason’s improbable run to the Final Four, there was LSU in 1986. The 11th-seeded team already had three nerve-racking tournament upsets under their belt by the time they played Kentucky (no. 1) for a spot in the Final Four. From there it looked like the magic was about to run out, as they faced a 51-47 deficit with under six minutes to go. However, LSU center Ricky Blanton stepped up and led the Tigers down the stretch, scoring eight of the team’s last 12 points. Blanton put his team in the lead with a couple free throws with 2:31 to go and they never looked back. A long prayer of a shot from Kentucky bounced off the rim at the buzzer, handing the 59-57 win to LSU. The magic ultimately did run out, however, when Louisville ended LSU’s Cinderella story on their way to a national title.
For most fans, the best part of March Madness is seeing the slew of huge upsets in the first round, unless they bust your bracket in the process. In 1993, an eventual Canadian NBA MVP named Steve Nash left his mark on the college scene by leading the small, no-named Santa Clara past one of the perennial tournament favorites. Well, “lead” might be a bit of a stretch for a freshman player who shot so poorly throughout the game (1-of-7), but he did nail six free throws down the stretch to help his team seal the deal. His teammate Pete Eisenrich was the real star (19 points, 8 rebounds), playing a central role in rallying Santa Clara back from a 46-33 deficit in the second half. A missed three-point attempt by Arizona at the buzzer handed the game to the underdogs, 64-61. They lost their next game to Temple, but Santa Clara became just the second 15-seed to survive the first round – even now, there have only been six.
Forget the rankings in this one—if you know anything about college basketball, you’ll know that Ivy League schools rarely survive the first round, and UCLA is always a dangerous opponent. In 1996, it was no different—the Bruins were the defending champions and Princeton scrapped their way in. In truth, the game was pretty ugly. Princeton shot 17-of-46, but UCLA put up a poor offensive performance as well. Still, they were in control with five minutes left, clinging to a 41-34 lead before everything unraveled. UCLA wouldn’t score another point while Princeton chipped away at the lead and broke a 41-41 tie with 3.9 seconds left. The memorable winner came on a lay up by Gabe Lewullis, set up perfectly by a pinpoint bounce pass from teammate Steve Goodrich. UCLA finished their hapless offensive night with a miss at the buzzer, finishing the 43-41 upset.
In 2001, Hampton became another one of those “what-state-are-they-from?” schools to beat one of the tournament favorites in the first round. The 15-seeded Pirates got the win in dramatic fashion, going on a 14-2 run over the last eight minutes, which finished with a game winning shot by Hampton’s Tarvis Williams with 6.9 seconds to go. The basket gave Hampton a 58-57 lead, which ended up being the final score after a missed lay up by Iowa State’s Jamaal Tinsley with just over a second to play. Like all other 15-seeds to survive the first round, they didn’t win another game, but the damage was done.
The legendary run by George Mason in 2006 is lauded as one of the best in NCAA history, and the average sports fan associates the school with that season’s tournament ride and not much else. After pulling off impressive upsets in the first three rounds, George Mason faced UConn in the Elite 8. UConn had finished the season ranked second in the nation, and several analysts favored them to win the tournament. The game was nothing short of epic, as Mason came back from a 43-34 halftime deficit to enjoy a bit of a lead in most of the second half. In regulation, Mason failed to seal the deal, missing three free throw attempts in the final 15 seconds and allowing UConn’s Denham Brown to tie the game on a reverse lay up at the buzzer. However, Brown missed a potential game winning three at the overtime buzzer to seal the Mason victory, 86-84. George Mason won off the strength of a well-balanced attack headed by forward Will Thomas, who put up 19 points and flagged down 12 rebounds.
2011 marked a successful year for the underdogs, as two teams with some of the lowest seeds to ever reach the Final Four squared off against each other for a spot in the tournament final. 11th-seeded VCU made it through the Elite 8 round with impressive ease, enjoying double-digit victories against three of their first four opponents. Ironically, their only down-to-the-wire win came against 10th-seeded Florida State in the Sweet 16 round by a score of 72-71. They made quick work of higher-ranked teams like Purdue (No. 3) and Kansas (No. 1). Butler could not say the same, having reached the Final Four through four nail-biting wins, including a second round upset of top-seeded Pittsburgh, 71-70, and punching their Final Four ticket with a 74-71 win over no. 2 Florida. The upsets stopped in the Final Four, however, as Butler took down VCU by a score of 70-62, unexpectedly reaching the championship game for the second straight season (they were a 5-seed in 2010). Once again, they came up short, this time against UConn.
As we mentioned before, only six 15-seeds have ever made it past the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Two of those teams accomplished the feat on the same day last season—the first time that had ever happened, as you might expect. Both games were engaging down to the wire, as Lehigh stunned Duke with its first-ever tournament win, 75-70, while Norfolk State took care of Missouri by a count of 86-84. Lehigh’s C.J. McCollum put on a show, running up 30 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Norfolk State was led by Kyle O’Quinn, who posted 26 points and 14 rebounds. These teams probably ruined your bracket last year, but if you truly love March Madness, you still enjoyed every minute of it.
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March Madness: Biggest NCAA Tournament Upsets in History