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Rank (best ever) 22
Score (all time) 3890.00
Created 01/11/08
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1
NC State stuns Houston in championship game (1983)
State had lost 10 regular season games, and nobody expected them to get to the Elite Eight, much less the championship game. But the Wolfpack was on a postseason roll, having won the ACC tournament and then advancing past Pepperdine, Virginia, and Georgia in tight games. Now they had the opportunity to face Houston's Akeem Olajuwon and the Phi Slamma Jamma gang. The top-ranked Cougars were cocky, and had reason to be.
2
Villanova beats Georgetown for championship (1985)
Georgetown, the 1984 champions led by Patrick Ewing, looked like a lock in 1985. Villanova, the eighth seed in the Southeast Regional, never cracked the Top 20 and lost twice during the season to the Hoyas. What a mismatch. But it wasn't. The Wildcats led 29-28 at the half, and then played a nearly flawless second half, missing only one shot from the field. Villanova won, 66-64, by shooting 78 percent against the best defensive team in the nation. How great was 'Nova on that April Fool's day in Lexington? After the game, they were applauded by their stunned opponents.
3
Princeton eliminates UCLA (1996)
You know why the backdoor was invented? So 13 seeds could sneak by the defending champs in the first round. Tigers, 43-41.
4
Texas Western defeats Kentucky for title (1966)
How sweet it was. Texas Western (now the University of Texas at El Paso) and its all-black starting five, heavy underdogs vs. Kentucky (
5
Boston College over No. 1 UNC in round two (1994)
BC ended the Tar Heels' golden era of 13 straight Sweet 16 appearances, winning 75-72 despite facing a loaded, experienced team, featuring Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace, that had won the 1993 title.
6
Canisius stuns NC State, 79-78 (1956)
Before the final four was the Final Four, before March went mad, there was still an undeniable exciting, anything-can-happen flavor to the tournament. Case in point: The Wolfpack was ranked second in the nation when they faced Canisius in the first round. And in quadruple overtime, Canisius won, 79-78.
7
Repeat for the Rebs? Duke just says no. National Semifinal (1991
The UNLV Runnin' Rebels couldn't lose -- most considered them unbeatable, even in the anything-can-happen world that is the NCAA dance. But Duke's D stopped the Rebels from doing much running, Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley played brilliantly on the offensive end, and the Blue Devils avenged the 30-point drubbing UNLV had handed them in the 1990 final. The 79-77 Duke victory ended the Rebels' 45-game winning streak.
8
Santa Clara beats Arizona, clobbers the spread (1993)
The 15th-seeded Broncos were 20-point underdogs against Arizona, who they faced in the first round of the West Regional in Salt Lake City. Santa Clara, described by the St. Louis Post Dispatch as
9
Little Rock ousts the Irish (1986)
Tenth-ranked Notre Dame went into their first round game at the Metrodome 17-point favorites over the University of Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans. The Irish played well, but the 14th-seeded Trojans played a near-perfect second half, going 15 for 19 from the field and hitting 9 of 11 from the free throw line in the final minutes to win, 90-83. Astounding on the court? Sure. But UALR coach Mike Newell, surrounded by the media after the game, wanted to let everyone know that this team was smart. ''The average grades of our players now is 2.3. When I got here, it was something like a 0.8.''
10
LSU beats Kentucky, advances to the Final Four (1986)
LSU, seeded 11th in the Southeast, had already lost three times to No. 1 Kentucky during the season. It seemed destined to be a doomed year for the Bayou Bengals -- after opening the season 14-0, they lost hot prospect Tito Horford, a 7-footer, who just up and left; Zoran Jovanovich, another 7-footer, who hurt his knee; Nikita Wilson, their leading rebounder and scorer, who flunked out; and then came the chicken pox. But in the tourney, they scored three straight upsets -- over Purdue, Memphis State, and Georgia Tech. Then they beat Kentucky 59-57 at the Omni in Atlanta, effectively using
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