What do you think is the best underdog story in NCAA history?

[WeAreDePaul]

They were a good team. Simon and Bibby got all the pub; and well they shoyld have. But Dickerson was a stud. Terry was starting to come into his own. That was a damn good team.

yea in retrospect it doesn't look like much of an upset, let alone being worthy of this poll. They were loaded with NBA guards.

Kinda similar to how people talk about #15 Santa Clara beating #2 Arizona. Looked huge at the time but now it isn't an upset at all when you consider the future NBA MVP point guard playing for Santa Clara.

 

[IUfanBorden]

yea in retrospect it doesn't look like much of an upset, let alone being worthy of this poll. They were loaded with NBA guards.

Kinda similar to how people talk about #15 Santa Clara beating #2 Arizona. Looked huge at the time but now it isn't an upset at all when you consider the future NBA MVP point guard playing for Santa Clara.

Meh, it was still an upset. UK was really good. And TBH, I thnk they win with a healthy Anderson.
Calling a game an upset gives it flavor. SOmething to talk about. But most of the time, the upset isn;t that big. A great example is Villanova. They were a really good club. Half their losses that year were to the #1 and #2 teams; Gtown and St.John's. Now with that being said, it was still an upset. But IMO, nowhere near the level of NCSU win. And TBH, really not as big as KU's win over OU.

Here's a game that gets lost:

St. Joe beating #1 seed DePaul in 1981. Huge, huge upset. DePaul was 27-1. Just a great team with Agguire and Cummings. No idea how they lost to St.Joe.

 

[WeAreDePaul]

Here's a game that gets lost:

St. Joe beating #1 seed DePaul in 1981. Huge, huge upset. DePaul was 27-1. Just a great team with Agguire and Cummings. No idea how they lost to St.Joe.

Two words, Ray Meyer.

Easily the most overrated coach in history. He was awful. His favorite strategy was to get a 2-4 point lead with about 10 minutes left and then go into the old shut down 4 corners the rest of the game. Did it against St. Joes. Aguirre was so upset he walked back to the hotel from the arena in his uniform.

Not long after that De Paul had the #1 seed again and lost to Boston College in the first round. And not long after that De Paul had a high seed and got beat by Wake Forest early in the tournament.

And for the record that game never gets lost by me...I always bring it up when people talk about the biggest first round upsets of all time.

 

[JustCallMeDad]

Huh?

UK was the defending champs. Was a 1-seed.

Kansas was sickening good.

Minny, North Carolina, Duke were all very good.

All the above were better than Arizona. They were a 4 seed that entered the tourney at 19-9.

That being said, I;m not so sure a 4 seed winning the title is grounds for this list..

Only team I think that Arizona beat that was better than them was Kansas.
Carolina and UK were not in their league in terms of talent.

The PAC 10 was great that year so a lot of their losses were against great UCLA and Stanford teams.


Bigger upset to me was the following year with Utah beating Carolina and then taking Kentucky to the wire in the Championship game.

 

[JustCallMeDad]

You forgot 1999 UConn/ Duke

That 99 Duke team was considered one of the greatest teams ever.
They had talent and were better coached than everyone that year and it was not even close.

I think if they played that game 100 times UCoNN would have only won maybe 10 times.

 

[IUfanBorden]

Only team I think that Arizona beat that was better than them was Kansas.
Carolina and UK were not in their league in terms of talent.

The PAC 10 was great that year so a lot of their losses were against great UCLA and Stanford teams.


Bigger upset to me was the following year with Utah beating Carolina and then taking Kentucky to the wire in the Championship game.

IF Derek Anderson is healthy, UK beats AZ. And possibly easily. That UK team, at full strength, was really, really good. And talented. Two of their 5 losses were to a equally good South Carolina team.

Arizona was good. I do not think though they were any better than UK, UNC or hell even Minnesota. Golden Gophers were a damn good team.

With that being said, it's still not a win/wins being of any noteworthy. Zona was a damn good team.

 

[IUfanBorden]

Two words, Ray Meyer.

Easily the most overrated coach in history. He was awful. His favorite strategy was to get a 2-4 point lead with about 10 minutes left and then go into the old shut down 4 corners the rest of the game. Did it against St. Joes. Aguirre was so upset he walked back to the hotel from the arena in his uniform.

Not long after that De Paul had the #1 seed again and lost to Boston College in the first round. And not long after that De Paul had a high seed and got beat by Wake Forest early in the tournament.

And for the record that game never gets lost by me...I always bring it up when people talk about the biggest first round upsets of all time.

My bad. I just now realized your screen name; "WeAreDePaul". Totally didn't think about the two when I posted about DePaul's loss.

 

[brooky03]

I would have picked 2010 Butler if not for the fact they only got to the championship game because of two gigantic lucky breaks. That team didn't pull off heroics to get there.

 

[JustCallMeDad]

IF Derek Anderson is healthy, UK beats AZ. And possibly easily. That UK team, at full strength, was really, really good. And talented. Two of their 5 losses were to a equally good South Carolina team.

Arizona was good. I do not think though they were any better than UK, UNC or hell even Minnesota. Golden Gophers were a damn good team.

With that being said, it's still not a win/wins being of any noteworthy. Zona was a damn good team.

Arizona outclassed Carolina in the Final four.

The game's score is a lot closer than the actual play in court.
Kentucky was just a better TEAM not in terms of talent but the system created by Pitino.

I wonder if Pitino coached would UK would have won.
I doubt it.

 

[WeAreDePaul]

My bad. I just now realized your screen name; "WeAreDePaul". Totally didn't think about the two when I posted about DePaul's loss.

ha, I just assumed you were poking an old wound. Hey, as a DePaul fan I'm just happy someone remembered we existed even if it is just to talk about an epic choke job from 36 years ago that I remember like it was yesterday

 

[WeAreDePaul]

You forgot 1999 UConn/ Duke

That 99 Duke team was considered one of the greatest teams ever.
They had talent and were better coached than everyone that year and it was not even close.

I think if they played that game 100 times UCoNN would have only won maybe 10 times.

I disagree on one condition. If Coach K promises to coach the game the exact same way I'll take UCONN 90/100 times. He lost that game for his team imo.

 

[IUfanBorden]

Arizona outclassed Carolina in the Final four.

The game's score is a lot closer than the actual play in court.
Kentucky was just a better TEAM not in terms of talent but the system created by Pitino.

I wonder if Pitino coached would UK would have won.
I doubt it.

Huh? Pitino did coach. Anyways.........I feel extremely confident that had Derek Anderson been 100%, UK beats AZ.

 

[JustCallMeDad]

Huh? Pitino did coach. Anyways.........I feel extremely confident that had Derek Anderson been 100%, UK beats AZ.

You are correct. I thought he left the year prior.

Still does not make that a total upset.
Arizona was too talented in the backcourt and on the wings.
I think even with Anderson, Arizona wins the majority of the time.
What kept that game close was Kentucky's winning mentality and experience.

 

[sdave]

NC State. Just no debate, really.

Villanova was a pretty good team. They lost 10 games. But 5 of those were to St.John's and Georgetown. And all the games but one(89-74 loss to SJU in BE tourney) were decided by 7 points or less. Beating Georgetown was a big upset. But more so b/c the Hoyas were the defending champs, and had beaten Nova twice. But what most do not know is those two games werre very close; 52-50/57-50.

So with that being said, I choose NCSU. Just no way they should've beaten that Houston team. None. Just... I mean, WTF? I still cannot believe they won.

Phi Slams Jama??

 

[Kevin Bryan]

You are correct. I thought he left the year prior.e

Still does not make that a total upset.
Arizona was too talented in the backcourt and on the wings.
I think even with Anderson, Arizona wins the majority of the time.
What kept that game close was Kentucky's winning mentality and experience.

I doubt that. We are talking about the team that finished 5th in the conference and lost in the 1st round of the PAC-10 tourney. They just got hot at the right time in the NCAA tourney. Took them OT to get past #10 seed Providence. Anderson was a huge cog on that UK team. He and Mercer both averaged around 18 PPG and were the only 2 on the team that averaged double digits.

 

[JustCallMeDad]

I doubt that. We are talking about the team that finished 5th in the conference and lost in the 1st round of the PAC-10 tourney. They just got hot at the right time in the NCAA tourney. Took them OT to get past #10 seed Providence. Anderson was a huge cog on that UK team. He and Mercer both averaged around 18 PPG and were the only 2 on the team that averaged double digits.

You are also talking about a team that was loaded with freshman and sophomores in an era that a lot of players still stayed three years at least.
The Stanford team went to the Final Four the following year and UCLA went to the Elite 8 in 97 and I believe to the Sweet 16 the next year.

I wouldn't say they got hot at the right time. I think the correct word would be the finally played to their potential. I cannot remember the guard from Providence but he was hot in that game and carried that team in the Elite 8.

Taking nothing away from Kentucky but at best that was a mild upset. Like I said the only team I felt had superior talent was KU.
That Sweet 16 matchup is very underrated. It was one of the best played games I remember in the late 90's.

More importantly Syracuse in 03 is not included and I believe they were 3 seed to win with Carmelo.

They won because of matchups and not superior talent because they played 4 Big XII teams.
At that time the Big XII did not play zone so the teams were unfamiliar with it.
I think if Syracuse was in another bracket they would have been a Sweet 16 team.

I can't say the same thing about Arizona.

 

[Kevin Bryan]

You are also talking about a team that was loaded with freshman and sophomores in an era that a lot of players still stayed three years at least.
The Stanford team went to the Final Four the following year and UCLA went to the Elite 8 in 97 and I believe to the Sweet 16 the next year.

I wouldn't say they got hot at the right time. I think the correct word would be the finally played to their potential. I cannot remember the guard from Providence but he was hot in that game and carried that team in the Elite 8.

Taking nothing away from Kentucky but at best that was a mild upset. Like I said the only team I felt had superior talent was KU.
That Sweet 16 matchup is very underrated. It was one of the best played games I remember in the late 90's.

More importantly Syracuse in 03 is not included and I believe they were 3 seed to win with Carmelo.

They won because of matchups and not superior talent because they played 4 Big XII teams.
At that time the Big XII did not play zone so the teams were unfamiliar with it.
I think if Syracuse was in another bracket they would have been a Sweet 16 team.

I can't say the same thing about Arizona.

I'm not talking about what teams did a year or two after that though, we know what UK did in '98. I am only talking about '96-'97. UK was probably even younger than Arizona overall as 4 of the most productive players were all sophomores including the 2 leading scorers (Mercer, Turner, Mohammed, Padgett). We could go back and forth about it forever but in the end we'll never know what could have been, lol. I certainly don't think Arizona had more overall talent though. Both teams had 5 NBA draft picks on their rosters, all of Kentucky's were 1st rounders.

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

That's the game where I stopped being a Duke and Coach K fan. Was a big Duke fan when I started following CBB in the mid 80s since Coach K was a Chicago guy. Loved Duke and Coach K. then, that game I felt like Coach K lost that game because of his pride and ego. Sat on his hands and did nothing the entire game while his team was getting beat, it was as if he felt they would win simply because they were Duke. That was the end of my Duke and Coach K fandom. Ever since then I've found him very overrated as a game coach.

This is a pile of crap.

 

[Zenigundam]

This is a pile of crap.

He's basically right. UConn was a whole class below Duke. That was easily the best team he ever had, and he let the UConn guards bust on them with open shots all night long.

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

He's basically right. UConn was a whole class below Duke. That was easily the best team he ever had, and he let the UConn guards bust on them with open shots all night long.

The pile of crap is him claiming to have ever been a Duke fan.

 

[DukeRulesBasketball]

That's the game where I stopped being a Duke and Coach K fan. Was a big Duke fan when I started following CBB in the mid 80s since Coach K was a Chicago guy. Loved Duke and Coach K. then, that game I felt like Coach K lost that game because of his pride and ego. Sat on his hands and did nothing the entire game while his team was getting beat, it was as if he felt they would win simply because they were Duke. That was the end of my Duke and Coach K fandom. Ever since then I've found him very overrated as a game coach.

Lol I highly doubt you were ever a Duke fan to begin with.

 

[WeAreDePaul]

Lol I highly doubt you were ever a Duke fan to begin with.

lol I was probably a DUKE fan longer than you. Growing up I had 4 teams I cheered for....DePaul, Indiana, Duke, LSU. My move for Duke stemmed from my Indiana fandom and the connection between Coach K and Bobby Knight as well as Coach K's Chicago roots. Started following the Danny Ferry teams and was huge fan till that loss in 1999.

Were you even alive for the back to back titles?

 

[WeAreDePaul]

The pile of crap is him claiming to have ever been a Duke fan.

When did you start following Duke? I was probably a fan longer than you, my fandom covers 1986-1999. Did you even basketball back then?

 

[DukeRulesBasketball]

lol I was probably a DUKE fan longer than you. Growing up I had 4 teams I cheered for....DePaul, Indiana, Duke, LSU. My move for Duke stemmed from my Indiana fandom and the connection between Coach K and Bobby Knight as well as Coach K's Chicago roots. Started following the Danny Ferry teams and was huge fan till that loss in 1999.

Were you even alive for the back to back titles?

Yep I was 4 years old though, but my love for the game of basketball came when I was 9 years old. Been a fan for 21 years and have rarely missed a Duke game since!

 

[WeAreDePaul]

Yep I was 4 years old though, but my love for the game of basketball came when I was 9 years old. Been a fan for 21 years and have rarely missed a Duke game since!

That's great, but be careful...it sounds like you are right at the same age where I gave up on Duke. Hopefully Coach K doesn't let you down like he did me

 

[DukeRulesBasketball]

That's great, but be careful...it sounds like you are right at the same age where I gave up on Duke. Hopefully Coach K doesn't let you down like he did me

I’ll never give up on Duke! I love Duke! Duke has been part of my childhood and will continue to be until I leave the Earth.. which is hopefully a REALLY REALLY long time! Lol

 

[WeAreDePaul]

I’ll never give up on Duke! I love Duke! Duke has been part of my childhood and will continue to be until I leave the Earth.. which is hopefully a REALLY REALLY long time! Lol

That makes sense. For me, they were always my 3rd or 4th favorite team behind DePaul and Indiana and alongside LSU. Once I left my 20's the desire to have a bunch of team waned and I lost interest in Duke as well as Indiana.

Still care about DePaul since that is my team from birth. Similar to you with Duke....minus the success.

 

[Dattier]

He's basically right. UConn was a whole class below Duke. That was easily the best team he ever had, and he let the UConn guards bust on them with open shots all night long.

I don't think it was really that big of an upset. It was certainly perceived that way, but I think it's off. UConn was actually ranked #1 for more weeks that season than Duke was. They only lost 2 games all year. That UConn team is very much overlooked for being as good as they were. Duke was great that year and was lauded appropriately, but UConn should have been in that conversation all year long.

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

When did you start following Duke? I was probably a fan longer than you, my fandom covers 1986-1999. Did you even basketball back then?

Actually it was 1986 when I became a Duke fan. I got really into it 1988 or 89. I wasn't a pussy and quit being a fan just because they lost in a title game. But more power to you. At least you didn't quit being a Duke fan and convert over to the baby blue.