The Patriot League, founded in 1984, is an Ivy-like collection of academically rigorous east coast schools that had an Ivy-like record of futility in the tournament. That all changed one Friday night in Oklahoma City, when a hook shot by Bucknell’s Chris McNaughton with 10 seconds left gave the Bison a one-point lead. At the end, Kansas’ Michael Lee threw a perfect full-court pass to Wayne Simien, reminiscent of Grant Hill’s famous bomb to Christain Laettner in the ’92 tournament. Back then, Laettner’s buzzer-beater sent Duke to the Final Four. Here, Simien missed from the foul line, and the Bison knocked off the big boys.
Top 10 NCAA Tournament First Round Upsets
The bands. The buzzer-beaters. The unproductive offices. Must be the start of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. To mark this year's edition, we scoured the record books to select the 10 best first round upsets in tournament history
(14) Bucknell 64, (3) Kansas 63, 2005
Full List
March Madness
- (13) Princeton 43, (4) UCLA 41, 1996
- (15) Richmond 73, (2) Syracuse 69, 1991
- (15) Hampton 58, (2) Iowa State 57, 2001
- (14) Cleveland State 83, (3) Indiana 79, 1986
- (13) Valparaiso 70, (4) Mississippi 69, 1998
- (15) Santa Clara 64, (2) Arizona 61, 1993
- (14) Northwestern State 64, (3) Iowa 63, 2006
- (13) Vermont 60, (4) Syracuse 57, 2005
- (14) Bucknell 64, (3) Kansas 63, 2005
- (14) Austin Peay 68, (3) Illinois 67, 1987