Michigan St./Louisville
One of the best parts of March Madness is watching underdogs make their ways as far into the tournament as possible.
Unfortunately, they didn’t put up much of a fight this year.
For that reason, I think the biggest upset of this year’s tournament was Michigan State over Louisville.
Nearly all of the “upsets” in the first round had already been getting some attention coming into the game (Cleveland St., Western Kentucky, Siena) so it’s tough to really be surprised by any of those.
However, Louisville came into its game against Michigan State as the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, and most people in the country seemed to agree with that ranking.
The Redbirds carried a 13-game winning streak into the game, which included a win in the Big East Conference Tournament, and they were fresh off a 101-64 trouncing of Arizona, while Michigan State had looked fairly shaky in the games leading up to the contest.
I guess it might not have been the most epic, outrageous upset in the history of college basketball, but I can’t name too many people that saw it coming.
– D.J. Piehowski
Villanova/Pittsburgh
The NCAA tournament hosted some of the biggest upsets this year, but one in particular is the ultimate upset.
Top-seeded Pittsburgh versus No. 3 Villanova was one of the most exciting games of the tournament.
The game was physical and there were even players who flew into the first-row press table during the game, sending monitors and telephones and a pair of New York sports writers flying. The game was intense and overall exciting to watch.
It went down to the wire as Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds made a dash for a last-second basket to give his team 78-76 victory and send the Wildcats to their first Final Four since the 1985 team made its stunning run to the NCAA championship.
A No. 3 team that beats a No. 1 is always considered an upset, but to add to that, Villanova won on a last minute basket.
These two teams are also rivals, which makes Villanova’s win even sweeter than it already was.
There were 16 lead changes and six of them happened in the last six minutes and the game was tied with 5.5 seconds to go.
Sorry Pittsburgh, luck just wasn’t your side that night.
– Jeff De Chavez
