March 16, 2018: Since the expansion of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament to 64 teams made it possible in 1985, no 16th-seeded team had ever beaten a 1st-seeded team. Until this night.
A 14th seed had beaten a 3rd seed 21 times, starting in 1986, when it happened twice: Cleveland State beat Indiana, and Arkansas-Little Rock beat Notre Dame. A 15th seed had beaten a 2nd seed 8 times, starting in 1991, when the University of Richmond beat Syracuse.
But a 16 beating a 1? Never. Not in the men's tournament, anyway. In the women's tournament, in 1998, 16th seed Harvard beat Number 1 Stanford. But in men's NCAA Tournament games, to that point, 16th seeds were 0-135 against 1st seeds. The closest call had been on March 17, 1989, when coach Pete Carril's slowdown offense nearly led Princeton past Georgetown at the Providence Civic Center (now the Amica Mutual Pavilion), only to fall, 50-49.
But on March 16, 2018, the Spectrum Center in Charlotte hosted a 1st Round game. The University of Virginia were seeded 1st in the South Regional Bracket and 1st overall in the Tournament. Their head coach was named Tony Bennett, which was somewhat appropriate: Tony Bennett the singer had a hit song titled "Rags to Riches," and Tony Bennett the coach took the Cavaliers from 15-16 in his 1st season with them to 22-10 2 years later. He had led them to Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season titles in 2014 and '15, to win the ACC Tournament in 2014, and to the Elite Eight in 2016. In 2018, they had won the ACC "double": Both the regular-season title and the tournament.
Their opponents in the 1st Round were 16th seeded UMBC. Not the University of Maryland, a historic rival for UVa, but the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. Based in the Baltimore suburb of Catonsville, and with an arena seating 4,625, the Retrievers had been to the Division I Tournament only once before, in 2008, although they reached the Elite Eight of the Division II Tournament in 1979.
They were coached by Ryan Odom, and entered the game 24-10, and as Champions of the America East Conference. They were no pushovers, but had they lost their Conference Tournament's Final, it's unlikely they would have been invited to "The Big Dance."
Odom's father was Dave Odom, a former assistant coach to Terry Holland at Virginia, and remembered sitting near his father as the Cavaliers made the Final Four in 1984. Dave would later coach Wake Forest, including Tim Duncan, to the 1995 ACC Championship.
A few minutes before the game began, another game ended: Kansas State defeated Creighton. Kansas State would face the winner of this game, which everyone presumed would be Virginia, who were listed as 20.5-point favorites.
But UMBC hung close to UVa throughout the 1st half. Late in the half, Virginia took a 6-point lead, but at halftime, the game was tied, 21-21.
Early in the 2nd half, UMBC went on runs of 7-2, 6-2, 10-4 and 5-0. Virginia led the nation in "scoring defense," holding opponents to 53.4 points per game, but were outscored 53-33 in the last 20 minutes. The final score was UMBC 74, UVa 54. Jairus Lyles led all scorers with 28 points.
It wasn't quite the biggest upset in terms of points in NCAA Tournament history: In 2012, 2nd seed Missouri was favored by 21.5 points, but lost to 15th seed Norfolk State. But it was the biggest seeding upset in Tournament history.
It was the biggest win ever by a college basketball team in the Baltimore metropolitan area. The University of Maryland's main campus is in College Park, inside the Capital Beltway. There is a University of Baltimore, but it has had no athletic program since 1983. Historically-black Morgan State won the NCAA Championship in Division II in 1974, and has made the Division I Tournament twice since, but has never won a game in it. Coppin State won a 1st Round game in 1997, over South Carolina, one of those 15th seeds beating a 2nd.
After the game, Bennett said, "We had a hard time with their mobile fours and their four guards. I don’t know what to say but that. That was a thorough butt-whipping." He added, "This is life. It can't define you. You enjoyed the good times and you gotta be able to take the bad times."
Immediately afterward, on Twitter, I checked on college basketball's most famous fan, and its most famous announcer, ESPN's Dick Vitale, and wrote:
I just checked Dick Vitale's Twitter feed. He's okay. I worried that the most mad March Madness moment ever might have made his famously bald head explode.
Nope, he saw the University of Maryland at Baltimore County (UMBC) beat the University of Virginia, and become the 1st 16th seed to defeat a 1st seed in NCAA Tournament history.
For those of you from outside America: Imagine Manchester City getting knocked out of the FA Cup by Kidderminster Harriers.
Two nights later, UMBC gave it a good shot, but lost to Kansas State by 7. After the 2021 season, Odom was hired away by Utah State.
It was the most embarrassing loss in Virginia basketball history, but not the most famous: Just before Christmas 1982, as the Number 1 team in the country, they lost to host Chaminade, then an NAIA school, in a holiday tournament in Honolulu.
Just as Tony Bennett the singer once sang, "I wanna be around to pick up the pieces," Tony Bennett the coach was. A loss like that can devastate a team, or it can convince them to get off the deck and show the world who they really are. In 2018-19, Virginia went 35-3, and won the school's 1st National Championship.
UPDATE: A 16th seed beat a 1st seed again on March 17, 2023, when Fairleigh Dickinson University of Rutherford, New Jersey beat Purdue University, 63-58 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
After that 2019 National Championship, Bennett never won another NCAA Tournament game. Just before the start of the 2024-25 season, Bennett left the Virginia job, "retiring" at the age of 55. With unregulated NIL money and transfers, he said he was "no longer equipped" to coach modern college basketball, and said he hopes these new aspects of the college basketball landscape will be better regulated in time.
After one season with Bennett assistant Ron Sanchez as an interim head coach, UVa hired as their head coach for 2025-26... Ryan Odom of UMBC.
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March 16, 2018 was a Thursday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 6 games played in the NBA that night:
* The Brooklyn Nets lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 120-116 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Orlando Magic, 92-83 at the Amway Center in Orlando. (It's now named the Kia Center.)
* The Toronto Raptors beat the Dallas Mavericks, 122-115 in overtime at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
* The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 121-113 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. (It's now named the Paycom Center.)
* The Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 92-91 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. (It's now named the Crypto.com Arena.)
* The Sacramento Kings beat the Golden State Warriors, 98-98 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (then named the Oracle Arena).
And there were 6 games in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders lost to the Washington Capitals, 6-3 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.
* The Ottawa Senators beat the Dallas Stars, 3-2 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. Mike Hoffman scored the winning goal with 1:34 left in overtime.
* The Nashville Predators beat the Colorado Avalanche, 4-2 at the Pepsi Center in Denver. (It's now named the Ball Arena.)
* The San Jose Sharks beat the Calgary Flames, 7-4 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
* The Minnesota Wild beat the Vegas Golden Knights, 4-2 at the T-Mobile Arena in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada.
* And the Anaheim Ducks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
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