The 2018-19 NCAA basketball season gave us a lot of ups and downs this year. But through it all we still had some things we didn’t see coming. Which teams were the biggest surprises of the year?
The Virginia Cavaliers wrote one of the best redemption stories in college basketball history in winning the national championship this year. They went from being the first number one seed to lose to a 16 seed to turning around and winning the whole thing the next year. But even though it was a great run, it surprised very few people that they were able to get it done.
Duke and North Carolina were right behind them in the ACC, but that is no surprise either. Michigan State won a share of the Big Ten and a run to the Final Four, but again not a shock to many a fan of college basketball.
Most of the surprises were good, but there were some that weren’t as great. Of course, if they are a rival of your favorite team, maybe they were great.
While the regular season still seemed to have the same teams near the top, a few were able to wiggle their way to the top. Some ended up being pretenders, while others exceeding all expectations.
Any way you slice it, the next ten teams were a surprise one way or another. Most teams will be happy to be on this list but there are few that don’t want to remember why they were a surprise team.
So let’s take a look back at the season now that we have had over a month to digest it and remember the teams that surprised us.