Greatest NCAA Tournament Upset of All-Time?

by user Pean

Every March, America falls in love with a new NCAA Tournament Cinderalla. Rarely does one of these teams advance past a few rounds, let alone make the Final Four. On Saturday night, 11th Seed George Mason continued their magical tournament success with a stunning upset over #1 Seed Connecticut. George Mason barely made the Tournament itself coming from small Colonial Athletic League Conference. Given their seed, the fact they don't belong to one of the Six Power Conferences yet beat the top team in the top conference, and that it propelled them into the Final Four, can this be considered the greatest upset of all Time in the NCAA Tournament? Here are some of the other games considered to be the greatest upsets.

NC State 54, Houston 52
April 4, 1983 NCAA Championship Game

Everyone has seen the famous highlight of NC State's Lorenzo Charles catching his teammatesDereck Whittenburg's desperation three-point airball, only to dunk it home as time expired. They also remember the late Jimmy Valvano, coach of NC State running around the court looking for someone to hug. The dunk gave NC State a stunning upset over #1 ranked (and heavily favorite) Houston, who had Akeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Larry Micheaux, Michael Young and Benny Anders. Four of those players would go on the NBA, and 2 (Olajuwon and Drexler) would be named to the 50 greatest NBA players of All-Time.

Villanova 66, Georgetown 64
April 1, 1985 NCAA Championship Game

Georgetown, led by All-American Patrick Ewing, dominated the entire season and was looking to win their 2nd consecutive NCAA Championship. Rollie Massimino's Villanova came in as the 8th seed in their region, and was given absolutely no chance against the potential dynasty team. However, Nova shot  an NCAA-record 78.6 percent (22 of 28) from the field against the nation's top-ranked defense, on their way to an improbably national championship.

Date
Mon 03/27/06, 8:58 am EST