WHAT JUST HAPPENED? A 16-seed by the name of University of Maryland - Baltimore-County (UMBC) just pulled off the shocker of all shockers and took down a 1-seed for the first time ever in the NCAA Tournament. Talk about Marchmadness! The Retrievers not only took down a # 1 seed for the first time, but the TOP OVERALL SEED in the entire Tournament in the Virginia Cavaliers. Oh by the way, Virginia had the best record out of anyone in the entire field (31-2). They lost only 2 games the entire season and dominated the incredibly deep and difficult ACC, winning not only the regular season crown but the Conference Tournament crown as well by dispatching North Carolina last Saturday in the Title game.
The game was a low-scoring drag em out brawl in the first half as you'd expect, and UMBC managed to get into the locker room with the game all squared away at 21-21. However, we had seen this before, many times and almost every time the favorite comes out and blows the doors off the underdog in the second half and pulls away. What nobody expected was for the Retrievers to come out and outscore the Cavaliers 24-8 to start the second half and hit 5 of their first 8 3's in the process. (I for one was watching New Mexico St. - Clemson and was figuring (just like everyone else was) that the top-seed would dominate and easily close the game out in the second half. As the remarkable scene began to unfold in the second half and UMBC went on their run, I quickly flipped over to watch history be made.) Oh - and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Even as Virginia tried to clamp down on the defensive end in the final ten minutes, (which had been their hallmark all season), they were unable to hit enough shots on the offensive end to make a sustained run. Virginia was as sound a team as any out there. They were the # 1 team in the entire nation defensively, allowing just 53.4 points per contest on the season. They allowed their opponents to shoot just 29.5% all season long from 3-point range and UMBC somehow managed to shoot a sizzling 50.0% (12-24) from long-range and made 12 - 3's against the country's best defensive team. Guard Jarius Lyles led the shocking offensive onslaught that yielded 74 for UMBC as he poured in 28 points on a smoking hot 9-11 shooting, adding 7 for 9 from the free line.
It was a truly shocking performance and will go down as perhaps the greatest upset of all-time in college basketball history. For the Cavaliers, what appeared to be the start of a Championship run came crashing down in epic fashion. In the end, again, UMBC not only just won, but they dominated down the stretch and pulled away in emphatically for a 20-point win. This game truly just put the MADNESS into March!
