Cleveland is not a state, but this school’s unlikely triumph over Bob Knight’s Hoosiers briefly made the school a household name. “Pressure is insidious,” said Cleveland State coach Kevin Mackey of his team’s “Run N’ Stun” style. “It wears people down. I tell our players they play as hard as they can or they don’t play.” The Vikings stunned Indiana, and even advanced to the Sweet 16, where they fell to a Navy team that featured future NBA great David Robinson.
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) Cleveland State 83, (3) Indiana 79, 1986
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