Biggest Underdog of Every March Madness Bracket for the Past Decade!
It’s about time. My favorite part of the College Basketball season is finally here, March Madness. People all across the world cast in there votes and pray they get every game right. But no one has ever came close to getting a perfect bracket. Last year there were 25 perfect brackets left in the world and then the #1 seed Virginia lost in the first round to the #16 seed UMBC which destroyed all 25 brackets leaving 0 perfect brackets. It’s hard predicting upsets but there's people out there every year who do predict them. In today’s article we will look at The Biggest Upset Every Year in March Madness for the Past Decade! Let’s get into it.
2018- Part of me wants to go with #16 seed UMBC who blew the #1 seed Virginia out of the water by 20 points. Although they were the first #16 seed to ever beat a #1 seed they didn’t advance any further. A team that did advance very far was the #11 seed Loyola Chicago who made it all the way to the Final Four. Along the way they beat #6 Miami (FL), #3 Tennessee, #7 Nevada and, #9 Kansas St before losing to #3 Michigan in the Final Four. So I am going to give the award to Loyola Chicago.
2017- In 2017 there is 2 teams in the running for the award. The #7 seed South Carolina and the #11 seed Xavier. South Carolina made it all the way to the Final Four. Xavier made it all the way to the Elite Eight. Xavier is a lower seed which is more impressive but didn’t make it as far as South Carolina did. Xavier was actually an upset in the first round where they beat the #6 seed Maryland. South Carolina’s first-round game was against the #10 seed Marquette which they were expected to win. I’d give the award to Xavier.
2016- Up until I saw the Midwest Region I thought this was going to be a hard one to pick. I got too the Midwest Region of the bracket and 2 of them stuck out to me. The first one being the #11 seed Gonzaga team, they made it all the way to the Sweet Sixteen beating out teams such as #6 Seton Hall and #3 Utah. But Sweet Sixteen didn’t seem good enough for me so I kept looking. Couple rows down I saw that the #10 seed Syracuse made it all the way to the Final Four. I was looking at who they faced and the first couple teams weren’t good teams at all. They were the #7 seed Dayton, #15 seed Middle Tennessee and, #11 seed Gonzaga. I saw those 3 teams and said to myself they had such an easy route but then the next round they beat the #1 seed Virginia. Although they lost in the Final Four by a lot, I’m still picking #10 seed Syracuse for this years award.
2015- This year was definitely a tough one, every upset team that won in the first round got knocked out in the next round except for UCLA. So immediately I should just go with UCLA but the #7 seed Michigan St. made it all the way to the Final Four where they got blown out by Duke. Michigan St. didn’t have a cake walk to the finals either they beat the following teams: #10 seed Georgia, #2 seed Virginia, #3 seed Oklahoma and, #4 seed Louisville. 3 out of those 4 teams are top 4 seeds and trust me it’s not easy beating a top 4 seed team. UCLA on the other hand beat a #6 seed Southern Methodist and a #14 seed UAB before getting tossed by Gonzaga. UCLA just didn’t make it far enough and didn’t beat nearly as good competition as Michigan St. Therefore Michigan St. takes the award for 2015.
2014- Was a very cool year, We saw the 7 seed Connecticut and the 8 seed Kentucky in the Championship. Right then and there you think I would pick one of those 2 teams but they weren’t a first-round upset like the 11 seed Dayton was. Dayton beat out #6 seed Ohio St., #3 seed Syracuse and, #10 seed Stanford before getting beat by the #1 seed Florida in the Elite Eight. Meanwhile Connecticut beat 4 teams on there way to the championship that were a 1 seed through a 4 seed. Which is an extremely tough schedule. Kentucky on the other hand who lost to Connecticut in the championship had to also face 4 teams that were a 1 seed through a 4 seed. This will be the first year that the award goes out to the Championship winner. Congratulations Connecticut.
2013- This year came down to 2 teams for my choice. #15 seed Florida Gulf Coast and #9 seed Wichita St. Wichita St. made it to the Final Four and on there way beat the #1 seed Gonzaga and the #2 seed Ohio St. But because one of there games was against a #13 seed La Salle and they didn’t make it to the championship. I’m leaning towards Florida Gulf Coast. I mean how often do you see a #15 seed beat a #2 seed in the first round, Close to never. They beat the #2 seed Georgetown by double digits and in the next round beat the #7 seed San Diego State but double digits until they got beat by the #3 seed Florida team. I personally am going to give this one to Florida Gulf Coast simply because Wichita St. knocked out my team Ohio St.
2012- There is a couple decent options but one that really sticks out to me was down in the Midwest Region. The #13 seed Ohio team made it all the way to the Sweet Sixteen and I know that doesn’t seem too far into the tournament but looking at the teams that made it to the Elite Eight nothing really sticks out besides #7 seed Florida. That Florida didn’t knock off any huge teams. They faced a #10 seed Virginia and a #15 seed Norfolk State. That #13 Ohio team beat the #4 seed Michigan team who was expected to really well that year and they got knocked out by Ohio. Ohio lost in the Sweet Sixteen to the #1 seed North Carolina, Ohio took that game into Overtime! So I’m picking Ohio to win the award for 2012.
2011- In this season it came down to 2 teams. Nobody else had bigger underdog years than #11 seed VCU and #8 seed Butler. Now looking at the 2 you’d say to yourself “Oh well, VCU is an #11 seed so shouldn’t you just give it to them?” Most of the time I would say yes just give it to them but the #8 seed Butler team beat VCU in there Final Four matchup. Butler beat them by 8 points and faced Kemba Walker’s Connecticut team in the finals where Butler had lost. Not to mention but that was most definitely the worst Finals game of all time. I’m going to give this to Butler, they beat VCU and had a harder route to the Final Four then VCU did. Although VCU was the higher seed so it was more crazy for them to make it. It’s only right to give the award to Butler as they beat VCU.
2010- In the Elite Eight matchups this season no team higher than a #6 seed made it. I can’t give the award to a #6 seed because they're not really an underdog. So I’m looking at the #12 seed Cornell and the #11 seed Washington. Cornell beat a #5 seed Temple, #4 seed Wisconsin and, then got bounced by #1 seed Kentucky. Washington beat a #6 seed Marquette, a #3 seed New Mexico before getting beat by a #2 seed West Virginia. I’m going to give this year’s award to the #12 seed Cornell. They had to face harder competition and they were a worse seed so it was better. Cornell takes this award for 2010.
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