Prior to the 2005вЂ“2006 season, the Florida Gators had been bounced out in the first round of the tourney each of the past two years. Two days later, on April 3, Michigan won the title with an 80вЂ“79 overtime victory over fellow underdog Seton Hall. But win they did, 83вЂ“81, in a nail-biting classic. There, they faced fellow Big Ten member Illinois in a match that few expected the Wolverines to win. After a 24вЂ“7 regular season record (12вЂ“6 in the Big Ten Conference), Michigan barreled through the tournament, besting ACC powers North Carolina and Virginia to reach the Final Four. Conference foes Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa all put up winning records, while Purdue, ranked as high as #3, slipped into the rearview. Going into the 1988вЂ“1989 season, everyone had their eye on the Wolverines, who were coming off a respectable 26вЂ“8 season, but still smarting from a loss to North Carolina in the 1988 Sweet Sixteen. The Big Ten is a notoriously tough conference prided on defense. So without further ado, here are 10 of the biggest underdog victories in NCAA March Madness history. From 1949вЂ“19вЂ“1989, the poll included 20 teams, from 1961вЂ“1968 the poll included 10 teams, and from 1990вЂ“present the poll has 25 teams. The preseason favorite for that year is also included. (Lower numbers in the poll indicate a better expected performance, with 1 being the top pick, so a higher number indicates a poorer standing, and thus an underdog victory.) Ties were broken by the teamвЂ™s preseason standing in the polls. Here, teams were ranked by their standing in the polls going into March Madness, with teams that had poorer standings ranking higher on the list. The rankings are set by listing the teamsвЂ™ point totals from highest to lowest. A team receives 25 points for each first place vote, 24 for second place and so on through to the 25th team, which receives one point. вЂ‹вЂ‹AP polls are determined by a nationwide panel of sports writers and broadcasters who vote weekly, in a simple points system, to decide the AP Top 25. Leveraging AP MenвЂ™s Basketball polls from 1950вЂ“2021, BestOdds has come up with a list of some of the greatest and most unexpected underdog wins in the history of the NCAA championship tournament.

One aspect of March Madness thatвЂ™s open to less debate is that the annual sporting event is a standout with its high possibilities of having an unknown or undervalued team coming out of nowhere to score a major upset. The termвЂ™s association with the NCAA can be traced to the 1982 tournament, when CBS announcer Brent Musburger claimed he purloined the term from local car dealer commercials that aired during his time broadcasting Illinois state high school games (which also led to a lawsuit that resulted in the eventual trademark of the term itself).

Porter opined, вЂњA little March madness may complement and contribute to sanity and help keep society on an even keel.вЂќ According to the Sporting News, the first mention of the moniker вЂњMarch MadnessвЂќ was in the Illinois High School Athlete magazine, where high school official Henry V. It doubled again in 1975, and yet again in 1985, before finally settling on the 68 first-round contenders we now see each year. What we have come to know as March Madness began in 1939, when it featured just eight teams. This propensity is strongest during March Madness, that annual springtime tourney that pits NCAA Division I college basketball teams against one another in a drive toward the national championship. Whether itвЂ™s an intrinsic desire to root for the little guy or a hedge against laying the favorite, sports fans canвЂ™t help but crave the come-out-of-nowhere victory. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.10 of the biggest underdog victories in March Madness historyД®veryone loves an underdog. * April Fools' Day, 1985 also happened to be the date of the greatest April Fools prank in history. 8 seeds: the Wildcats in '85, Butler in 2011 and Kentucky in 2014. The lowest seed to reach the NCAA men's final in the 64-team tournament era? Three No. In addition to the Wildcats' championship, the remaining tournaments have been captured by a No. In the 36-season history of the 64-team men's tournament, 23 top seeds have won the title, followed by five No. Cinderella did not originate with the Wildcats, but no program has inspired more overworked references to the term. Taking advantage of college basketball's final year without a shot clock, the Wildcats attempted a mere 28 field goals, knocking down 22 of them. The victory over a then-dominant Hoyas squad led by Patrick Ewing has been described as the perfect game, though, it should be noted, Villanova turned the ball over 17 times.

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