Biggest March Madness upsets: 5 years since 16 seed beat 1 seed

They are the 5 letters no No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed ever desires to peer: Upset.

Thursday marks the five-year anniversary of University of Maryland-Baltimore County — the tiny college few enthusiasts had ever heard of, let on my own picked of their bracket — pulling off the biggest upset in college basketball history by way of beating the event’s most sensible seed in Virginia.

UMBC’s lasting legacy was this: If you do not be careful, No. 1 can mean one-and-done.

While there have been some shut calls earlier than 2018, No. 1 seeds had long gone 135-0 earlier than UMBC routed Virginia 75-54 at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center. Now they’re 1-147. Like the lads, the ladies’s aspect of March Madness has noticed just one 16 knock off a 1: Harvard over Stanford in 1998.

On Thursday, 3 extra No. 1 seeds — Alabama, Kansas and Houston — take the court docket taking a look to keep away from what the Cavaliers continued 5 years in the past, whilst their respective fighters Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Howard and Northern Kentucky glance to seize that “One Shining Moment” and etch their identify in historical past along the Retrievers.

Ryan Odom, the Retrievers trainer that season, stated after the sport (*1*) and most likely changing into the focus of a long term ESPN “30 for 30” episode.

Some avid gamers struggled to procedure the enormity of the instant, hugging each and every different hard and long.

“It felt like my soul left my body, man,” UMBC guard Jourdan Grant stated that day.

Odom, now the pinnacle trainer at Utah State, a No. 10 seed on this 12 months’s tourney, stated Wednesday it was once “a memory that will last a lifetime.”

“Will a 16 ever beat a 1 again? I have no idea,” Odom stated. “It takes a special group. It takes a lot of luck in order to have a chance to win any game in the NCAA Tournament.”

Former UMBC guard Joe Sherburne stated it stays the only largest day of his lifestyles.

“You can measure my life by this: before that day, and after that day,” Sherburne stated Wednesday. When pals introduce him to other people, the very first thing they are saying is “Joe played for UMBC.”

Sherburne, who works as a monetary adviser, recalls the day smartly.

As UMBC’s lead over Virginia grew to double digits in the second one part he sensed one thing particular, one thing miraculous was once taking place. He struggled to pay attention to the following play name whilst sitting at the bench throughout TV timeouts: “I felt like I was in shock.”

Could this in reality be taking place? Could a 20 1/2-point underdog in reality beat the No. 1 group within the country within the NCAA Tournament?

But it took place — and everybody all of sudden sought after to grasp their tale.

Sherburne stayed on the area till 1 a.m. doing interviews earlier than returning to the group resort the place he was once greeted by way of beaten enthusiasts, pals and members of the family. He and his teammates watched “Sports Center” on repeat and ate pizza, basking within the second.

“We have been all nonetheless working on adrenaline,” Sherburne said. “I couldn’t eat or drink. I can usually eat a whole Domino’s pizza by myself, but I couldn’t that night. I might have had two or three slices.”

Sherburne nonetheless needs the birthday party had long gone on for days longer, however UMBC misplaced a close second round loss to Kansas State two days later.

Still, there’ll all the time be the pleasure of attaining one thing that had by no means been executed earlier than. Sherburne is hoping it remains that manner for awhile.

After the overall 16 seed misplaced in remaining 12 months’s NCAA Tournament, he toasted UMBC’s legacy with a shot of whiskey.

Two years in the past, he attended Game 6 the 2016 NBA Finals the place he watched former Virginia large guy Mamadi Diakite win a championship ring. Diakite was once one in every of six Virginia avid gamers from that group to play within the NBA; UMBC had none.

“I’m sitting within the area that evening, in the second one row from the highest, pondering to myself, ‘You know, just a couple of years ago I was making this guy and his teammates cry,’” Sherburne stated.

UMBC avid gamers have not had an in-person reunion, however Sherburne stated avid gamers stay involved on team texts.

Last week, Odom opened a kind of texts to seek out avid gamers and assistant coaches reminiscing about big name guard Jairus Lyles’ buzzer-beater to beat Vermont within the 2018 America East Conference Tournament championship recreation — a dramatic win that earned the Retrievers an automated bid to the Big Dance.

Odom’s eyes swelled up with tears as he scrolled during the feedback and photographs.

“Each team that we’re fortunate enough to coach has one life to live,” Odom stated. “That explicit group lived a super lifestyles. The pleasure that that group skilled was once in contrast to another. Certainly the recollections that we’ll all take from that specific season will remaining an entire life. This is what all coaches and avid gamers need: they need to be part of March Madness and the dissatisfied.”.