Biggest NCAA Tournament Upset(s)?

[triaddukefan]

Top 2 for me as noted above are UCONN/Mississippi State and Baylor/Louisville. Other games that were very unexpected:

2016: 3/4 of the #1 seeds go down in the Sweet 16 or Elite 8. Notre Dame/South Carolina both had incredible seasons losing just 1 game to UCONN in the regular season and seemed like locks to make the Final Four. Notre Dame lost to a relatively underwhelming Stanford team that tournament and South Carolina unexpectedly lost to Syracuse. Then you had Baylor as the 4th #1 seed who was 36-1 and they lost in front of a home crowd to Oregon State in the Elite 8. Going into that tournament it seemed like a given all of the #1 seeds would make the final weekend but only UCONN got there.

2023: #1 seeds Indiana and Stanford lose at home. Indiana especially was shocking for me considering how great they'd been all year. Stanford had signs of disaster but that was also very unexpected.

2023 Iowa beating South Carolina. Probably my #3 or 4 upset all time. Everyone was intrigued to see how Iowa would do but very few people thought they had a prayer to pull it off considering how much bigger and more athletic South Carolina was. One of the better games in NCAA history.

2011: Notre Dame beating Tennessee and then UCONN en route to the title. I think that's the only time a team beat both Pat Summitt and Geno in the same tournament. Notre Dame had lost something like 25 straight games to Tennessee and Tennessee had a fantastic team that year who was 34-2 and had won 25 straight games. They were the clear favorite but Skylar Diggins torched them. Then in the Final Four Notre Dame faced UCONN it was Maya Moore's senior year. Notre Dame had lost 3x to UCONN that year and hadn't beat UCONN in years. All signs pointed to UCONN winning their 3rd title but Diggins stole the show again and pulled off the upset. Baylor losing to Texas A&M in the Elite 8 was also a major upset that season after they had owned A&M earlier that year and looked like a major title contender.

2007: Rutgers beating #1 Duke in the Sweet 16. Duke had an undefeated regular season and had beat Rutgers by 40 points earlier in the year. Lindsey Harding missing 2 free throws down by 1 point with less than a second left on the clock to lose the game and end her career had to be the most brutal ending I've ever seen for a player.

2004: Minnesota beating Duke in the Elite 8 and ending Alana Beard's career. I think most were hyped up for a Beard/Taurasi meetup in the Final Four, Duke looked primed to make a championship run in Beard's final year with a very talented squad but Whalen/McCarville carried Minnesota to a semi-Cinderella Final Four. Minnesota was the 7 seed but dropped significantly due to Whalen missing a lot of time with injury.

2001: Xavier clobbers Tennessee in the Sweet 16. Tennessee lost Catchings midyear but still had a great team and dominated a very strong SEC (and beat full strength UCONN at home) without Catchings. Losing in the Sweet 16 to Xavier of all teams came out of nowhere.

Also #5 Southwest Missouri State handily beating #1 Duke in the Sweet 16. I don't think this was necessarily the biggest upset but there was a magnitude about it with all time leading scorer Jackie Stiles leading an underrated team past the favored #1 seed.

1999: Duke upsets Tennessee in Elite 8. Most had Tennessee penciled in for a championship matchup with Purdue as they were viewed as the top 2 teams all year. Tennessee had Chamique Holdsclaw as a senior and most thought she'd close her career with a 4th title but Duke played great while Tennessee had one of its worst showings on the year.

1998 Texas Tech as a 1 seed loses in the 2nd round by 15 at home to Notre Dame. I don't know much about Texas Tech's team but they were 25-4 entering the tournament.

Hey now... You could have left 3 of those upsets off the list.😢

About Rutgers in 2007. I went to the open practice to see Duke, got there a little early and Rutgers was finishing up. I was shaking my head thinking that they came all the way from North New Jersey to get another arse whipping. The last minute of that game was a rollercoaster. One second you felt Duke was gonna win, a few seconds later Rutgers, then Duke, then Rutgers, then Duke and finally Rutgers. Lost in time was the amazing athletic steal that Harding got with seconds to go that put her in position for the FTs. Yes, that was the most brutal and heartbreaking end to a player's career as I can remember.... Even worse seeing it in person. The silence and shock on the faces of fellow Duke fans is something I'll always remember.

Hopefully no Duke fan sees this, but I went to two Duke games that season. The first was the upset by Kay Yow's Wolfpack in the ACC semis, and the Rutgers loss. 32-2.

 

[LETTERL]

Hey now... You could have left 3 of those upsets off the list.😢

Hopefully no Duke fan sees this, but I went to two Duke games that season. The first was the upset by Kay Yow's Wolfpack in the ACC semis, and the Rutgers loss. 32-2.

Every fan of WCBB was rooting for NC State by that point in the season as that version of the Wolfpack Women really started playing high-level basketball once Yow returned to the bench in what would turn out to be Kay Yow's final run to the Sweet 16.

 

[Jaml]

I seem to recall that fairly recently some lowly upstart #2 seed beat three straight #1 seeds on the way to a national championship. The name of the team escapes me though.

 

[ucbart]

I think UConn getting whipped by Ohio State in S16 a couple of years ago was pretty surprising.

Huh? Paige was out the entire season and Azzi had played in like 25 games in two years. That was only an upset because UCONN was across the chest of the team that lost. Any other program would've been applauded for making the S16 with that level of injury.

 

[ucbart]

To me, if you're an actual WBB fan that knows the game, picking MSU over UCONN in the FF as the biggest upset is lazy. Every single UCONN fan knew that team was flawed and had no business being that good. They lost 3 AA, the greatest winner in WBB history and were coming off 4 straight titles. To think this was some monumental upset is a slap in the face of how good that Mississippi State team was.

 

[ucbart]

And, I can't believe Tennessee blowing a lead against Michigan State in the 2005 FF isn't mentioned more.

Michigan State was a 5 seed and Tennessee had a SIXTEEN point lead in the second half.

 

[Phil]

And, I can't believe Tennessee blowing a lead against Michigan State in the 2005 FF isn't mentioned more.

Michigan State was a 5 seed and Tennessee had a SIXTEEN point lead in the second half.

That was a day for upsets.

I remember it well, as I was in attendance in Indianapolis.

As you mentioned, Tennessee had a huge lead in the second half and blew it.

But the first game of these evening was also an upset, only a little less dramatic. Number one seed LSU took on number two seed Baylor, and was up 24 – 9 with just under eight minutes left in the first half. They had a 15 point lead. Baylor came back and tied it up at halftime. LSU retook the lead and was up by six in the second half, then Baylor came back and took a one point lead with just over six minutes to go. LSU would only score 6 more points in the game against 16 by Baylor.

SEC fans started out the night in fine fettle with two teams in the final four and a likelihood that two SEC teams would meet in the championship game. Instead both SEC teams laid an egg.

I'm sure there have been teams who have overcome more than a 15 point lead, but I'm guessing this is the only time two teams overcame a 15 or more point lead on the same day in the semi finals.

 

[triaddukefan]

I seem to recall that fairly recently some lowly upstart #2 seed beat three straight #1 seeds on the way to a national championship. The name of the team escapes me though.

Well one of the #1 seeds played without the National Player of the Year so that comes with an asterisk.

Don't jump on me.....That's how it's done on the BY... Giving out asterisks and stuff .

 

[triaddukefan]

Every fan of WCBB was rooting for NC State by that point in the season as that version of the Wolfpack Women really started playing high-level basketball once Yow returned to the bench in what would turn out to be Kay Yow's final run to the Sweet 16.

You ain't never lied. Duke led most of the game, but as it got into crunch time .. I looked around and saw that it was probably 95% of the coliseum was rooting for State. You had the Chapel Hill section seated next to the Maryland section hooting and hollering for State. I've been to countless wbb games at the Coliseum, but that might have been the loudest ive heard it when the clock struck zero .

Even though we lost it was a tremendous atmosphere for wbb. Maybe the biggest crowd to ever watch a ACC tournament game...Duke was undefeated and ranked #1, Chapel Hill was #2, Defending NCAA camps Maryland was #6 and State was top 20. Between games, the ACC honored Coach Yow, so it was very memorable afternoon all around.
.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

To me, if you're an actual WBB fan that knows the game, picking MSU over UCONN in the FF as the biggest upset is lazy. Every single UCONN fan knew that team was flawed and had no business being that good. They lost 3 AA, the greatest winner in WBB history and were coming off 4 straight titles. To think this was some monumental upset is a slap in the face of how good that Mississippi State team was.

It's hard for SCar fans to picture that particular team as a threat...ergo huge upset.