NCAA Basketball: Top 25 NCAA Tournament upsets since 2000

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UMBC Retrievers. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

1. #16 UMBC 74, #1 Virginia 54 (2018 Round of 64)

There have been some incredible moments in NCAA Tournament history, many of which haven’t been covered in this countdown. Buzzer beating shots from Christian Laettner to Bryce Drew to Kris Jenkins; insane late comebacks like the Nevada Wolf Pack’s over the Cincinnati Bearcats and wild finishes like the Texas A&M Aggies against the Northern Iowa Panthers.

We’ve seen 11-seeds pull incredible Tourney runs as well as stunning wins from forgotten low-major teams. Prior to last year’s Tournament, there was one thing we had never seen.

Since the expansion to 64 teams in 1985, there had always been one consistent fact: a 16-seed had never upset a 1-seed. There were teams that were very close; the Murray State Racers took Michigan State Spartans to overtime in 1990 and a few 16-seeds were within a point the year before.

As each tournament came and went, more and more 16-seeds were thrown aside by college basketball’s best teams, making some wonder if a 16-seed could ever pull the ultimate upset.

The UMBC Retrievers entered the America East Tournament, like the rest of their league, as an afterthought to the Vermont Catamounts. Vermont had dominated conference play and were expected to return to the NCAA Tournament, but UMBC wasn’t having that.

On Vermont’s home court, the Retrievers played the Catamounts close, managing to pull out a wild upset on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Jairus Lyles. UMBC was heading to the NCAA Tournament.

After the release of the 2018 NCAA Tournament bracket, there was one 16-seed that everyone had their eyes on, but it wasn’t UMBC. A stout Penn Quakers team was matched up with the Kansas Jayhawks, but the upset wasn’t met to be. The top seeds were now 135-0 all-time against the 16-seeds; but there was still one more match-up to be played.

The Virginia Cavaliers were the best team in the country, both in the rankings and in most rating systems. They were given the overall No. 1 seed in the tournament after an impressive 31-2 season, including an ACC Tournament championship.

The Cavaliers possessed a slow pace, suffocating defense and paired that with sharpshooting guards like Kyle Guy, Devon Hall and Ty Jerome. There were an absolute force all season long, and would surely dismiss these Retrievers without too much ease, giving the 1-seeds a 136th straight victory.

As you all know, this is not what happened in the slightest. A slow, defensive first half was played evenly by both teams. Everyone expected Virginia to pull away, but it never seemed to happen.

A halftime score of 21-21 itself was a surprise, with many shocked that the Retrievers had kept up with the Cavaliers for this long. Surely, there wasn’t a chance they could solve Virginia’s defense in the second half.

And yet again, that assumption was proven dead wrong. UMBC scored the first six points of the second half. They built up a lead and flustered the overwhelmed Cavaliers, who couldn’t get enough shots to fall from Guy and the others.

At nearly every point, someone on UMBC was hitting an outside shot or driving through the Cavaliers’ defense for an easy shot. The nation waited, but Virginia could never pose a threat in the second half, nor make a run to get back into the game. The Retrievers pushed the lead up towards 20 in the final minutes, and history was made.

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Not only had a 16-seed finally defeated a 1-seed, but this was not a nail-biter. The Retrievers stunned the Cavaliers in the second half, putting up 53 points on their elite defense and beating them by 20 points.

UMBC shot 54 percent for the game, 50 percent from 3 and got an impressive 28 points from Lyles. Virginia made just 4 of their 22 attempts from 3. Guy and Jerome had 15 points each, but this team struggled mightily in a game they were expected to win with ease.

The greatest upset in the history of the NCAA Tournament had finally happened, and it had turned into a blowout late.

This Retrievers’ team, led by Lyles and point guard K.J. Maura, will live on forever for what they did on this night. Nobody gave them a chance, but they took down the best team in the nation, destroying a great number of NCAA Tournament brackets.

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For more than 80 years, the NCAA Tournament has proven again and again why it is the best postseason tournament in all of sports. Even over just the last 20 years, there have been some incredible moments, and we’ve seen the very best of those outstanding upset victories. In the NCAA Tournament, there’s no guarantee of tomorrow; you have to fight in every game, or you may become the next Virginia, toppled over by UMBC.

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