march madness upsets, march madness buzzer beaters, and just more march madness

march madness upsets, march madness buzzer beaters, and just more march madness

1986
#14 Cleveland State 83, #3 Indiana 79

Unbelievably, Cleveland State very nearly made it to the Elite Eight as a 14 seed. The Vikings defeated #6 St. Joseph's in the second round, then lost by a point to #7 Navy in the East Regional Semifinals when David Robinson scored a winning basket with five seconds left. Think about just how shocking that would be if it happened today. UALR didn't leave the tournament quietly, either. It took N.C. State two overtimes to finally get rid of the Trojans in the second round.

#14 Arkansas-Little Rock 90, #3 Notre Dame 83

1987 #14 Austin Peay 68, #3 Illinois 67

Austin Peay needed a 30-foot shot by Richie Armstrong at the buzzer of the OVC final against Eastern Kentucky just to get to the NCAAs. Though the first half ended with five points scored in the final second. Illinois made a pair of free throws with one second left, and after the second make the Governors’ Tony Raye took the ball out from the basket, stepped across the end line with one foot and in one motion threw a one-handed 70-foot pass to Lawrence Mitchell, who caught it, squared up and banked in a three to tie the game at the half. AP continued to hang around in the second half, refusing to go away, and Raye hit the go-ahead free throws with two seconds left in the game. Austin Peay’s Darryl Bedford had an outstanding overall game, as the 6-foot-8 post player hit for 24 points, including five three-pointers while shooting a set shot that bewildered the Illini for its form and for the fact it was coming from a player so big. In the first year of the three-point line, post players didn’t usually shoot from the half-moon line unless their name was Brad Lohaus.

1991 #15 Richmond 73, #2 Syracuse 69

Can you remember this march madness hero's and names Syracuse team that included names like Billy Owens, LeRon Ellis, David Johnson and Adrian Autry. Curtis Blair was the star for the Spiders, introducing himself to the nation with 18 points and six assists

1993 #15 Santa Clara 64, #2 Arizona 61 all we can say is Go Broncos!!

Some more on the side march madness, quick trivia: what did both the 1991 Richmond team and the 1993 Santa Clara team have in common, besides their seeding? Answer: both were taken out in the second round by John Chaney’s Temple Owls, who more than capitalized in both seasons and scored two of Chaney’s four Elite Eight appearances at Temple.

More march madness upsets, march madness buzzer beaters, and just more march madness

1990 #14 Northern Iowa 74, #3 Missouri 71

1999 #14 Weber State 76 #3 North Carolina 74

Weber State's Harold Arceneaux became an overnight sensation with his 36 points

1993 #13 Southern 93, #4 Georgia Tech 78

Often unmentioned about this upset is how Southern was very, very fortunate to receive its seed. It’s very probable that #13 seed they got wasn’t for the Jaguars but for Jackson State. The Tigers were the “in” small school in 1992-93, led by Lindsey Hunter and playing a tortuous non-conference schedule. JSU lost road games to the likes of Western Kentucky, Illinois, Memphis State, Arkansas and Kansas but still rolled through the Southwestern Athletic Conference in the regular season and won 21 of 22 before the conference tourney final. Whether they would deserve an at-large spot if they lost in the SWAC tourney final was the hot debate on Selection Sunday, but the SWAC may have decided that for the committee when it held its title game while the pairings were being announced on TV. The committee gave the winner of the Jackson State/Southern game a #13 seed, obviously an estimation that the Tigers would win as no SWAC team had ever had a seed better than a 15 since the first 64-team field in 1985.If JSU lost, it was headed to the NIT, and that’s exactly what happened. The Jags would’ve more than likely been a 15 or even 16 seed on their own merits-they were only 20-9 in the regular season with four non-Division I wins, even after blowing out Jackson State in the SWAC final.

Final note: Jackson State went on the road in the first round of the NIT and upset none other than Connecticut, before bowing out of that tourney against SW Missouri State.

1989 #14 Siena 80, #3 Stanford 78

Do you remembe this march madness moment...Skinny sophomore Mark Brown busted out on the national scene with a career-high 32 points, the last two the winning free throws with three seconds left. Oh, and the Siena fans were indeed allowed to travel to the game in Greensboro, N.C.

1997 #15 Coppin State 78, #2 South Carolina 65

2001 #15 Hampton 58, #2 Iowa State 57

The NCAA tourney celebration that closest resembles Jim Valvano’s running around after N.C. State won the 1983 title was when Steve Merfeld was being held up by a player, kicking and screaming in jubilation after the Pirates pulled this one off. The final result was a shock, but so was the way it came about. The Pirates were all but dead with seven minutes left in the game. After a close first half, the Cyclones had finally pulled out to a nine point lead and looked ready to put away a tiring Hampton team. But then, Iowa State couldn’t score. ISU had zero points in those final seven minutes. Hampton labored on offense, too, but closed in slowly. Star center Tarvis Williams scored in the lane to finally give them the lead with 6.9 seconds left, and Jamaal Tinsley’s frantic coast-to-coast driving layup came up short, giving the MEAC its second-ever NCAA win and second as a 15 seed.

It's not march madness if we wouldn't say Valpo!!

1998 #13 Valparaiso 70, #4 Mississippi 69

You all know the shot made by Bryce Drew, you remember the reaction of Drew diving Pete Rose-style across the floor-heck, you probably even remember the name Valpo gave the play (“Pacer”, for the uninformed). What you might not remember is Ole Miss could’ve at least been on its way to overtime if star Ansu Sesay had made even one of two free throw attempts with four seconds left in the game. Also often forgotten is the entire second half of this game was classic status-worthy, with three ties and nine lead changes.

Did you know this fact....the Valpo Crusaders were on a streak winning 11 straight wins coming into the NCAAs and wouldn’t lose until a Sweet 16 game against Rhode Island.

1996 #13 Princeton 43, #4 UCLA 41

A story from the Princeton Athletic News best sums up how this one played out: “Princeton did not play the perfect game against UCLA, far from it. The Tigers shot 37% from the field for the game and were just 8 for 27 from three-point range and 1 for 5 from the foul line. They were outrebounded by 10. They were just inches away from being finished off with six minutes to go before Charles O’Bannon missed a breakaway layup.” Princeton also fell behind 7-0 before even the first TV timeout, clearly in awe of UCLA’s athletes. However, the Tigers stayed in it and took a few brief leads in the second half. They were down seven with six minutes to go, though, but the Bruins did not score in those final six minutes of the game. UCLA also had a chance to take the lead with less than a minute left when a controversial intentional foul was called on the Tigers’ Sydney Johnson, but Cameron Dollar missed both free throws.

We can not forget to mention some of these games either though!! Even more...march madness upsets, march madness buzzer beaters, and just more march madness


1988 # 14 Murray State 61, #3 N.C. State 58. Jimmy V’s postseason reputation takes a hit courtesy of Jeff Martin and the Racers, who almost knocked out eventual champion Kansas in the next round.

1990 #12 Ball State 54, #5 Oregon State 53. Gary Payton’s career ends when the Cardinals hit a free throw with no time on the clock to win it.

1995 #14 Weber State 79, #3 Michigan State 72. Jud Heathcote’s coaching career ends in unexpectedly quick fashion with a first round loss to the Wildcats.

1995 #14 Old Dominion 89, #3 Villanova 84 (3 OT). The game that almost never ended finally does when Petey Sessoms and the Monarchs wear out Kerry Kittles, the Wildcats and their incredibly ugly uniforms.

1997 #14 Tennessee-Chattanooga 73, #3 Georgia 70. Mocs take a 20-2 lead early, then have to hold on in their first game of a Sweet 16 run.

2002 #13 UNC-Wilmington 93, #4 USC 89 (OT). All the more impressive considering this happened in the pod system era (or error, more precisely). Trojans were thought to be way too athletic for the Seahawks, but it was UNCW’s Stuart Hare who had the dunk of the tourney, going over three USC players for a mean slam in overtime.

2003 #12 Butler 47 # 5 Mississippi State 46 The hot three point shooting of Butler took them to the sweet sixteen that year!


march madness upsets, march madness buzzer beaters, and just more march madness