March Madness: A Look Back at The Upsets

There are always upsets during NCAA March Madness, it’s nearly guaranteed. Out of nowhere, some college you never heard of will become gigantic overnight. There will be players you couldn’t care less about a week ago that you’ll start rooting for. When it happens, you’ll know it. These are the games that shit all over your carefully picked brackets.  Here are some of the biggest upsets, and biggest surprises, in the last 7 years.

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Norfolk(15) over Missouri(2)
2012 – First round

Missouri thought they had a clear path to the 2nd round on selection Sunday 2012 when they found out they were lined up against Norfolk State in round 1. Missouri was one of the favorites leading into the tourney, earning themselves a #2 seed while Norfolk State snuck in at 15 for their first tournament berth in the schools history. Norfolk Forward Kyle O’Quinn didn’t want to hear anything about it as the team leader and best player in the MEAC put up 26 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in leading his team to victory. Mizzou was a finesse team who just couldn’t handle O’Quinn and Norfolk inside or on the boards. The Spartans put a starting lineup on the court with nobody under 6’5” and wore the Tigers down with speed and physicality, holding off a late Missouri rally to hold onto the 86-84 win.

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Lehigh(15) over Duke(2)
2012 – First round

Just a couple hours after Norfolk edged by Missouri the same thing happened halfway across the country. 15 seed Lehigh pulled out a 75-70 win over Duke, the 2 seed. The Patriot league champions became just the 6th 15 seed in NCAA history to pull off an upset over a number 2 in round 1. The Blue Devils had no answer for C.J. McCollum, the Junior Shooting Guard and 5th leading scorer in the nation, who dropped 30 points, dished for 6 assists, and grabbed 6 boards in a stellar effort. Duke, led by Austin Rivers and Mason Plumlee had a rare but ill timed off day, dooming themselves by shooting just 6-26 from 3 point range, a massive drop off from the 37% that they averaged over the regular season.

Watch video here.

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Bradley(13) over Kansas(4)
2006 – First round

The Bradley Braves came into the 2006 NCAA tournament with the knowledge that they were going up against one of the perennial favorites in the Kansas Jayhawks. If they were afraid, you couldn’t tell, as the Braves came out firing early, hitting 11 of 21 threes and beating down a Kansas team that just looked unprepared and uncoordinated. Led by Forward, Marcellus Sommerville, who racked up 21 points, including 5 bombs from deep the Braves outlasted a Jayhawks team that included future NBA players Mario Chalmers, Brandon Rush, and Julian Wright. Bradley would go on to lose in the Sweet Sixteen to number one seed Memphis, but not before pulling off another huge upset over the Pittsburgh Panthers.

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Northern Iowa(9) over Kansas(1)
2010 – Second Round

Ali Farokhmanesh stood at the 3 point line with a full shot clock, 44 seconds left in the game, and his team up by 1 point over the number one seed. In that moment Farokhmanesh threw out common sense and let it fly, throwing a dagger through the Jayhawks and sealing one of the biggest upsets in recent years, sending Northern Iowa to their first sweet 16 appearance in the school’s history. Northern Iowa used a stifling press defense to go up early and barely hold on through a late Kansas run, but the Jayhawks, even with four future NBA players playing significant minutes just couldn’t get the job done.

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Ohio(14) over Georgetown(3)
2010 – First round

14th seed Ohio came out on fire and kept that spark in a 97-83 rout of 3 seed Georgetown in the first round of the 2010 tournament. The Hoyas had no answer for Armon Bassett who dropped 32 including going 5-10 from deep while playing all 40 minutes. Despite having future 7th overall pick Greg Monroe (19-13-6) dominating the paint the Hoyas just couldn’t get anything going on defense, allowing the Bobcats to shoot 58% from the field including a ridiculous 56% from 3 point range. Ohio was crushed in the next round by 6 seed Tennessee, but they will always have that first round upset to fall back on.

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George Mason(11) over UConn(1)
2006 – Elite 8

George Mason is arguably the most notable Cinderella of the past 15 years, making it all the way to the final four before finally losing to eventual champion, Florida. After upsetting Michigan State, North Carolina, and Wichita State, the George Mason Patriots stepped into the Verizon Center in Washington DC, just 20 miles from their campus as crowd favorites. The Patriots were severely undersized, with the Huskies putting 3 starters on the floor, including Rudy Gay, who would become the 8th overall pick in the NBA draft just a few months later, taller than anyone on the Patriots team. In what is becoming a trend on this list, George Mason used clutch 3 point shooting including 6 straight in the 2nd half to take a late lead which would have held up if GMU had not gone just 2-5 from the line in the final few minutes, allowing Huskies Forward, Denham Brown to tie the game on a buzzer beating layup. GMU didn’t let it their failures at the line get to them in overtime, hitting 5 of their 6 shots and becoming the first team from the Colonial Athletic Association to reach the final 4.

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VCU(11) over Kansas(1)
2011 – Elite 8

After cruising to 18 point upset wins over both Georgetown and Purdue and sneaking by Florida State to get into the elite 8 the Virginia Commonwealth Rams were being billed as the 2011 George Mason as they arrived at the Alamodome to take on number one seed Kansas. Led by two future first round selections in the Morris brothers, the Jayhawks were a juggernaut, ranked #1 in the nation at 35-3 on the season. Fortunately for VCU, Kansas seemed to lose their shooting touch when it mattered most. Even though they grabbed 10 more rebounds and swatted away 5 more shots, the Jayhawks just couldn’t put the ball in the hoop from outside the arc, shooting an embarrassing 9.5%, or 2 of 21. Pair that with the Rams tenacious D, and sharpshooting offense (12-25 from deep) and you have all the makings of an upset. VCU coach Shaka Smart referred to his end to end press and run and shoot system as “havoc”, and it worked perfectly against a Kansas team that had no clue exactly what they were up against.