It’s tournament time and you now what that means. Teams are gonna be served on an upset special. The tournament has been filled with upsets all throughout history and it surely will be filled with upsets this season. We take a look back at the top upsets of all time.
The 1985 Villanova Wildcats win in the national championship game was probably the biggest upset in tournament history. They came in as the 8 seed going in against the one seeded Georgetown Hoyas. The Wildcats hadn’t cracked the top 20 in the AP Poll all year and yet they still made it to the national championship. The Wildcats put all the ranking aside and played their game of basketball. They shot 78 percent from the field against the number one defense in the country. They only missed one shot in the second half! The Wildcats ended up winning the game 66-64. This was a massive upset and a huge underdog story.
The 1983 NC State Wolfpack came into the game as a 6 seed and they went up against “Phi Slamma Jamma” and the number one ranked Houston Cougars. The Wolfpack weren’t expected to get into the tournament as they lost 10 games in the regular season. They came into the tournament hot though as they won the ACC championship and earned an automatic bid. They were upsetting everyone as they upset their number one rival Virginia as they beat them by one in the elite 8 and they then beat the Georgia Bulldogs in the Final Four. The Wolfpack were lead by Dereck Whittenburg and head coach Jim Valvano and they went up against Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. That didn’t phase the NC State Wolfpack though as they won on a buzzer beating tip in by Lorenzo Charles. They overcame a 17-2 run to win the game 54-52.
“This was the biggest upset all time and I honestly still don’t know how they won because Houston was so dominant and electric.” Aaron Hook (Freshman)
One of the most unexpected upsets in the 21st century was 15 seeded Norfolk State and 2 seeded Missouri. Norfolk State came into the game as major underdogs. That was the motivation that they needed to win. 3 players scored over 20 points, including Kyle O’Quinn who had 26 points and 14 rebounds to lead them over Missouri. He also had a crucial rebound to seal the deal. It was so unexpected that on better had 120 bucks on Norfolk State to win, and turned it into 5,400 bucks.
In 2016 there was a major upset that busted everyone’s bracket last year. The game featured 15 seeded Middle Tennessee State against 2 seeded Michigan State. Almost everyone had Michigan State winning this game and yet Middle Tennessee beat the odds.  They were lead by Reggie Upshaw Jr. who helped lead them to victory over the Spartans. The Spartans were lead by Matt Costello who had 20 points and their leader Denzel Valentine struggled. Middle Tennessee State ended up winning the game 90-81.
The odds to win are fairly slim or the low seeds. Yet, they use that as determination and motivation to win. Upsets are fun to watch because it shows the little guys beating the big guys and how anything is possible in the big dance. Don’t be surprised if you find a Cinderella team in the 2017 March Madness Tournament.