NCAA Basketball: Top 25 NCAA Tournament upsets since 2000
By Joey Loose
15. #5 Indiana 74, #1 Duke 73 (2002 Sweet Sixteen)
Two years earlier, Bob Knight had left the Indiana Hoosiers in a fury, leaving assistant Mike Davis to pick up the pieces and try to rebuild the program.
These Hoosiers were a very solid team, with -five-ranked wins during the regular season before getting a 5-seed in the NCAA Tournament. They beat a pair of decent mid-major teams to make the Sweet Sixteen, but their opponent is what made this game a shocker.
The Duke Blue Devils were the defending national champions, having marched to their third national title in 2001. Their roster was full of talent, including Wooden Award winner Jay Williams and future NBA players Carlos Boozer, Chris Duhon and Mike Dunleavy Jr.
The Blue Devils spent most of the season as the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, dropping just three games in tough ACC road losses. Many experts expected that this team would repeat as national champions; they couldn’t have expected that the Sweet Sixteen was where that dream would end.
For the first half, the game went exactly as many had expected, with Duke holding a 42-29 advantage. They looked to be in great shape to move on, even building that lead to 17 points in the second half.
Eventually, the Hoosiers changed their strategy by crashing the offensive glass to take advantage of Duke’s foul trouble. They fought their way back into the game on the backs of Jared Jeffries and A. J. Moye, finally taking the lead with under two minutes to go.
Down four points late, Duke wasn’t finished, as Jay Williams was fouled hitting a 3-pointer, but he missed the free throw and the Hoosiers pulled off the shocker.
Jeffries was a monster, with 24 points and 15 rebounds, while Moye had 14 off the bench. Indiana really pounded its way back into this game, shooting just 2 for 10 from distance.
The elite Blue Devils offense was outshot and couldn’t take advantage of 23 Hoosiers turnovers. Boozer (19 points), Dunleavy (17 points) and Williams (15 points) just couldn’t provide enough spark down the stretch and Duke’s run ended before it really got started.
The upstart Hoosiers wouldn’t be finished, knocking off the Kent State Golden Flashes and the Oklahoma Sooners on their way to the title game, where they lost to the Maryland Terrapins.
This wasn’t a double-digit seed doing the unthinkable in a first-round game, but Indiana’s upset is still impressive to this day. This Duke squad absolutely was the favorite to win this national title, but couldn’t avoid the Sweet Sixteen upset.