March Madness: Impact of UMBC’s historic upset over Virginia

The upset that we all have been waiting for involving a 16 over 1 seed finally happened with the UMBC Retrievers defeating top-seeded Virginia, 74-54. It was a shocker of epic proportions.

This was supposed to be a different year for Tony Bennett and Virginia when it comes to how they perform in the NCAA Tournament. They’ve always had good seeds, but one bad game has prevented the Cavaliers from going to the Final Four.

But after utterly dominating the regular season and conference tournament performances in the ACC made them one of, if not the favorite to win the 2018 National Championship. Their defense was not only statistically the best all season, but Virginia’s offensive efficiency was good enough to alleviate all doubts.

UMBC on the other hand, had to scratch and claw the team’s way to the NCAA Tournament, needing a buzzer-beating shot by Jairus Lyles to beat the Virginia of the America East Conference – the Vermont Catamounts.

Up to this point, Vermont had only lost one conference game in two seasons and was the very last team to lose in league play. But as previously mentioned, UMBC dramatically took them out to advance to March Madness. Already with experience taking out a heavyweight, the Retrievers looked to do the same. This time, making history.

How the game went

Both teams scored 21 points in the first 20 minutes of the game, which probably was how both teams wanted it. Virginia wants these games to always be low-scoring, but the team’s style of play rarely makes it a blowout in the first half. For UMBC, it shortened the game to just 20 minutes, which is simply what 16 seeds can ask for.

The first five minutes of the second half was crucial to this upset, with the Retrievers scoring the first eight points to set the tone. The Cavalier’s slow style of play can be a double-edged sword because it’s hard for them to come back from a double-digit lead. Their defense also prevented the comeback, unable to guard the penetration of Lyles and KJ Maura, which set up 12 made three-pointers for UMBC.

In the final few minutes, Virginia attempted to steal the ball, which allowed UBMC to get several more scores, which propelled them to the historic 74-54 upset. Lyles led all scorers in the game with 28 points on 9/11 shooting. Maura had 10 points but just two giveaways, while down low Arkel Lamar had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Virginia had the kind of stat line that they usually give their opponents. They shot 41% from the field and made 4/22 from three-point range. The number four is also the same for the number of free throws made, out of eight attempts.

Kyle Guy had a good game from the box score, with 15 points on 7/11 shooting. But he also made several crucial mistakes in crunch time, while getting destroyed by Lyles on the other end. Ty Jerome was the other Cavalier in double figures with 15 as well, but Devon Hall picked the worst time to have his worst game, going 1/9 (0/6 from deep) shooting for two points, one assist and one board. It’s a disappointing end for a great senior season for him.

Was a key injury for Virginia overlooked?

The loss of De’Andre Hunter was huge for Virginia, but it didn’t shake many feelings about how far people thought they would advance. In hindsight, it was the absence of the fourth leading scorer on a team that doesn’t score much to begin with.

The bad play of Hall (who Hunter would usually sub for) really highlighted the lack of a bench for the Cavaliers this late in the season. Any time a team loses a key rotation player this late in the season, it’s a big issue. And while there were certainly other reasons why the Cavaliers lost, losing Hunter was one of them.

Did UMBC really fit the profile of a giant-killer?

This was a very strong field of 15 and 16 seeds in this year’s tournament. There are usually some automatic qualifiers who weren’t good in the regular season but gets hot in the end. And while there were several teams who weren’t champions but won their conference tournaments, they were two or three seeds like UMBC.

Speaking of the Retrievers, they really were the likeliest of the 16 seeds to pull off this upset. Radford didn’t have enough firepower, and while Penn gave Kansas a run for their money, their lack of an elite individual scorer hurt their chances. Texas Southern had a 23.5 ppg scorer, but the Tigers didn’t have the defense.

That’s where UMBC comes in. They had a solid offense and defense, and have three double-digit scorers to accompany Lyles, who coming into the game averaged 20.2 ppg. In many upsets, sometimes you need a star to go off, and that’s exactly what Lyles did in this one.

Bennett needs to change their style – a bit

What Virginia is doing right now isn’t built to win four straight neutral site elimination games, let alone six. The 54 points scored by this team actually brought their average up in the NCAA Tournament losses under Bennett to 52.1 ppg in six games.

My issue isn’t too much of the slow style of pace because opposing teams struggle badly with it. What they did to Duke and North Carolina twice was incredibly impressing, considering that they were the less athletic team.

But what I did have an issue with was how Virginia played on offense in the second half. They were forced to speed it up and looked completely in panic mode at times.

This is on Bennett, who has to incorporate some kind of offensive scheme that allows them to play faster, without winding the shot clock all the way down. To the coach’s defense, there are only a few true scorers on the Cavalier’s roster, so going into a shootout might not be the best option.

To me, how Virginia plays is not the issue, especially considering the results with a team that wasn’t even ranked in the preseason. But adding another dimension to this team could make them dangerous in future years, or at least comfortable playing from behind.

UMBC’s win was validation

The first-ever 16 over a one seed was going to happen eventually, as the analytics said was trending towards. But it’s different actually seeing it live. For me, I wasn’t truly allowing myself to emotionally get invested in the possible upset until about eight minutes to go. But this win not only was history in the making, but it also solidifies some things:

Conference tournaments are here to stay!

It’s unfortunate that Vermont of the America East wasn’t able to get into the Big Dance as the league representative, as they were head-to-toe the best team. But I’m not going to cry about a team failing to get a must-win game at home nonetheless.

UMBC earned this opportunity, it wasn’t given to them. And while the Retrievers didn’t need to win this to validate their place in the Big Dance, no one is gonna complain about them being here. March Madness doesn’t start in the NCAA Tournament, but rather in the conference tournaments, particularly with the mid-majors.

This is not football!

It was nice for UCF Football to give a shootout to UMBC, but it nicely showed the difference between the two sports. In college football, their mid-majors (better known as G-5 schools) have no shot at a national title, even if they go unbeaten in the regular season. It’s frustrating to tell a team that they don’t even deserve a shot to prove themselves against the big boys.

With 351 schools in D-1 basketball, each of them can reasonably say that they can win the national title, and do it on their terms.

UMBC is five wins away from a national championship!

It doubles down on the previous point, but the Retrievers has the same chance at winning the title as Villanova (of course not the same odds). It’s what makes March Madness the best time in sports, that any team at any time can become the new hero. With the same names being brought up in all the other sports, college basketball is the one place where anything can truly happen.

UMBC is the talk of the town and will be until at least the start of the Sweet Sixteen. It’s going to have a huge economic and public relations effect for the University, and it’s a new name to talk about. And we as viewers still will have the juggernauts at the end to watch and analyze.

Next: Top 100 impact players of the 2018 NCAA Tournament

Will UMBC become the next Gonzaga of the mid-major world? Probably not. But considering the drama off the court, the sport has been going through, this history-making game couldn’t have come at a better time. Leave it to the Retrievers to rescue us with one of the great sports moments of recent memory.