Last night while we were booing bad officiating, arguably the biggest upset in CBB was happening.
6-19 Boston college went to the carrier dome and beat 25-0 #1 Syracuse.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=400502865
Some facts to ponder ...
This is the 3rd time EVER that a team below .500 has defeated the AP No. 1 team on the road. It's the first time since Georgia Tech won at top-ranked Kentucky in 1955. The other was Depaul beat #1 St. John's in 1950
Boston College entered the game with a .240 win percentage. That's the worst percentage EVER by a team to defeat the AP No. 1 team in February or later.
Boston College's 19 losses at the time of game are the most ever by a team who defeated the AP No. 1 team. The previous record was 18 by UCLA, who at 9-18 defeated No. 1 Arizona on March 13, 2003.
The last 5 times #1 has lost at home to an unranked team, all 5 times it has been an unranked ACC team going on the road to win. AP #1 Losing at Home to Unranked Opponent Last 5 Instances #1 Lost to 2013 Michigan State North Carolina 2009 Wake Forest Virginia Tech 2009 North Carolina Boston College 2008 North Carolina Maryland 2003 Florida Maryland
Only 2 times in the history of the AP Poll has AP #1 lost a game vs an opponent with a win percentage under .400 in February or later March 3, 2003 9-18 UCLA beat Arizona 96-89 February 21, 1959 7-12 Maryland beat North Carolina 69-51 BC entered tonight 6-19, .240 win pct
* Syracuse: won 46 straight home games vs unranked opponents (last loss: Jan. 25, 2011 vs Seton Hall) * Syracuse: won 19 straight home games vs unranked conference opponents (last loss: Jan. 25, 2011 vs Seton Hall) * Boston College: lost 21 of last 22 games vs Top 5 opponents (only win: Jan. 4, 2009 at 1 UNC)
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So, is this the biggest upset in history?
I saw yes, even tops Chaminade beating Virginia
Syracuse is in their mid-year swoon. They lost three straight last year, before they started playing well again. They recently won two games they should of lost. I think they play at Duke next. After that they will start rolling again.
Quote from: Heisenberg on February 20, 2014, 05:09:45 PM
So, is this the biggest upset in history?
I saw yes, even tops Ciminade Chaminade beating Virginia
Hate to be the guy who corrects spelling on the internet, but it was bothering me. Ciminade sounds like some sort of cinnamon flavored sports drink...made my stomach sick thinking about it
But I do think last night was potentially the biggest upset of all time...almost makes me feel bad for Cuse.
Obviously the Jesuits instructed them to win in order to punish Syracuse for leaving the BEast and screwing over the Catholic 7
Crean to Syracuse.
Quote from: TAMU Eagle on February 20, 2014, 05:20:09 PM
Obviously the Jesuits instructed them to win in order to punish Syracuse for leaving the BEast and screwing over the Catholic 7
BC shouldn't count as a Jesuit school, they have Hockey and Football... it's like they want to be more like Notre Dame than like the Jesuit schools.
Man, BC hoops has off the map. It wasnt even 10 years ago where they were like the number 2 team in the nation at one point.
Quote from: TAMU Eagle on February 20, 2014, 05:20:09 PM
Obviously the Jesuits instructed them to win in order to punish Syracuse for leaving the BEast and screwing over the Catholic 7
If the Jesuits wanted to punish 'cuse for leaving the BE they could have instructed MU to beat them in the E8 last year.
I can't believe the spread for this game was only Cuse -13.5... it was so tempting to take Cuse it's as if someone knew something. It should have been 17+. I'm glad I don't sportsbet.
Quote from: PunchingPiper on February 20, 2014, 05:36:55 PM
BC shouldn't count as a Jesuit school, they have Hockey and Football... it's like they want to be more like Notre Dame than like the Jesuit schools.
They just had the balls not to drop football and hockey like all the rest of the Jesuit schools.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on February 20, 2014, 06:38:55 PM
They just had the balls not to drop football and hockey like all the rest of the Jesuit schools.
I'm sticking with my view. I do not view them in the same Jesuit category as the rest of us.
No way the BC win tops the chaminade win. I am sorry but BC while down is still a D1 ACC team. Chaminade is freakin NAIA!!
Also hope NDs move to the ACC is as succesful as BCs, BC has plummeted since the move
Quote from: River rat on February 20, 2014, 07:28:48 PM
No way the BC win tops the chaminade win. I am sorry but BC while down is still a D1 ACC team. Chaminade is freakin NAIA!!
Also hope NDs move to the ACC is as succesful as BCs, BC has plummeted since the move
Plummeted? Really?
Sounds to me like BC at Syracuse might have been a.......trap game. They play some team called Duke next.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on February 20, 2014, 07:38:15 PM
Sounds to me like BC at Syracuse might have been a.......trap game. They play some team called Duke next.
Noooo... there's no such thing as a trap game ;D
Biggest upset this year - but biggest ever? I personally don't think so.
Quote from: brandx on February 20, 2014, 08:38:46 PM
Noooo... there's no such thing as a trap game ;D
Or a business owner
Chaminade beating the Ralph Sampson Virginia team was a true life David vs Goliath story. BC is an ACC member and on any given night can have things fall into place for an upset win. Sure wish MU could have a game like that this year.
Quote from: raul on February 20, 2014, 11:29:03 PM
Chaminade beating the Ralph Sampson Virginia team was a true life David vs Goliath story. BC is an ACC member and on any given night can have things fall into place for an upset win. Sure wish MU could have a game like that this year.
Chaminade beating #1 UVA is far more stunning.
The upset really gave rise to the popularity of invitationals in exotic locales.
(http://i2.cdn.turner.com/si/dam/assets/131125133339-chaminade-virginia-single-image-cut.jpg)
Quote from: raul on February 20, 2014, 11:29:03 PM
Chaminade beating the Ralph Sampson Virginia team was a true life David vs Goliath story. BC is an ACC member and on any given night can have things fall into place for an upset win. Sure wish MU could have a game like that this year.
Uh ... no It only happens once every 60 years. From the first post above ...
This is the 3rd time EVER that a team below .500 has defeated the AP No. 1 team on the road. It's the first time since Georgia Tech won at top-ranked Kentucky in 1955. The other was Depaul beat #1 St. John's in 1950
Chaminade as much for the mystique as anything else. No one had heard of Chaminade, they weren't a NCAA DI school, it happened in a tiny gym, in an odd time zone that I don't even think was televised (someone can correct me). Reminds me of Buster Douglas as I don't believe many people bought that fight or saw it, everyone just expected a romp. The David and Goliath angle will maximize that win always.
BC, as crappy as they have become, is still a program that occasionally goes to the NCAA tournament, people know it from football, etc. That being said, Another84 is correct that this win was extremely rare because of how bad THIS BC team is and how good THIS Syracuse team is. The brand names, however, are known and that diminishes (fairly or unfairly) the achievement.
Without a true center, Syracuse is a flawed team. They lost their starter for the season and keita only played a few minutes after returning from an injury.
Quote from: Heisenberg on February 21, 2014, 07:09:23 AM
Uh ... no It only happens once every 60 years. From the first post above ...
This is the 3rd time EVER that a team below .500 has defeated the AP No. 1 team on the road. It's the first time since Georgia Tech won at top-ranked Kentucky in 1955. The other was Depaul beat #1 St. John's in 1950
Only because Chaminade was 9-1 at the time so that cherry-picked qualifier about under .500 teams left them out of it
Chaminade over UVa. Not even close.
BC is awful this year...for a D-1 team in the ACC. But they're still a D-1 team in the ACC, with all the resources and recruiting advantages that a school like Chaminade could never dream of having. The fact that it's still used as the standard 30 years later tells you all you need to know.
Quote from: Heisenberg on February 21, 2014, 07:09:23 AM
Uh ... no It only happens once every 60 years. From the first post above ...
This is the 3rd time EVER that a team below .500 has defeated the AP No. 1 team on the road. It's the first time since Georgia Tech won at top-ranked Kentucky in 1955. The other was Depaul beat #1 St. John's in 1950
The difference being that the #1 teams in recent years are in no way comparable to the #1 teams of the '70's or 80's. Not even close. Boeheim laughed when asked if this team was his best ever. Said it is not even close to some of the older teams.
Comparing this year's Syracuse team with a NC team that included, Jordan, Perkins, Daugherty, Doherty, Joe Wolf, Dave Popson, Kenny Smith, and Buzz Peterson is a joke.
So, no this was no where near the greatest upset ever.
Quote from: GooooMarquette on February 21, 2014, 10:23:48 AM
Chaminade over UVa. Not even close.
BC is awful this year...for a D-1 team in the ACC. But they're still a D-1 team in the ACC, with all the resources and recruiting advantages that a school like Chaminade could never dream of having. The fact that it's still used as the standard 30 years later tells you all you need to know.
Ok, was this the biggest upset ever involving two division 1 teams?
Quote from: Heisenberg on February 21, 2014, 12:57:08 PM
Ok, was this the biggest upset ever involving two division 1 teams?
Not even close. Greatest ever would imply Syracuse is a great team, but they aren't even close.
So the first time a #1 team lost a home to a sub .500 team in 60 years is nothing to see?
Are you that locked into your position?
(I might give you Chaminade/Virginia was a bigger upset but all the stats say this is #2 all-time. And your comment about the 70s and 80s teams does not apply as none of them lost of a sub .500 team.)
How about St. Joe #12, beating Depaul #1 in the first round of the NCAA? Back then the big dance was 48 teams so this was the last time the #1 team lost in the first round.
Quote from: Heisenberg on February 21, 2014, 12:57:08 PM
Ok, was this the biggest upset ever involving two division 1 teams?
It's a big one, to be sure.
Biggest ever between two D-1 teams? Dunno. Without going through the record books, I'd bet you could find #1 teams that lost to low major D-1 schools in their nonconference schedules. And even if it was a low major D-1 school that was over .500, that would still seem to be in the ballpark of last night. And it is also true that the #1 teams of bygone days were more dominant than they are today...so I can at least see an argument that ANY loss by a #1 in the 60s-80s might arguably be bigger than last night.
It's kind of like arguing which is the best team of all time. So many variables between eras, opponents, etc that you'll probably never get an answer that everybody agrees on.
Quote from: Waldo Jeffers on February 21, 2014, 09:43:39 AM
Only because Chaminade was 9-1 at the time so that cherry-picked qualifier about under .500 teams left them out of it
I also think that they factored in playing within a week of a full moon and whether or not the losing coach savored a woman's delights within 24 hours of tip off.
Quote from: wardle2wade on February 20, 2014, 06:36:45 PM
I can't believe the spread for this game was only Cuse -13.5... it was so tempting to take Cuse it's as if someone knew something. It should have been 17+. I'm glad I don't sportsbet.
Many of the Syracuse games, the Orange are only scoring in the 50's or 60's. Score a higher spread would be too high.
VMI winning at Kentucky.
Some of us in the real Northwest remember this upset as the biggest -- a D 2 University of Alaska-Anchorage beating undefeated, eventual NCAA
D 1 champion University of Michigan. It was the real, deal.
Oh, and we loves us some Derrick Wilson in the Great Land!
Here's a human interest article published a few weeks ago to refresh memories:
"Alaska Anchorage upset of Michigan 25 years ago remains one of biggest"
BY LEW FREEDMAN
Ron Abegglen watches his favorite sports movie of all time periodically, but it's not as if he really needs a refresher about who starred in what role and how the plot developed. When the show ends, he smiles every time.
One viewing was enough for Sean Higgins. He's just happy that every time he watches ESPN college basketball highlight shows that some talking head who was in elementary school 25 years ago doesn't remind the national hoops audience about what transpired on Dec. 28, 1988 in a game in Salt Lake City.
Popular belief aside, very possibly the greatest major college basketball upset of all time was not the heralded Chaminade-Virginia game so frequently discussed, but a game between the University of Alaska Anchorage and the University of Michigan in the first round of the Seiko Classic Christmas tournament in Utah that year.
That game pitted NCAA Division II UAA against Division I Michigan of the Big Ten at a time when the Wolverines were ranked No. 2 in the nation. Michigan was 11-0 at the time and the Wolverines suited up such luminaries as Glen Rice, Terry Mills, Loy Vaught, Mark Hughes and Rumeal Robinson. Higgins was injured and did not play and others played more significant roles that day.
"They thought they'd crush us and go on to the next opponent," said Abegglen, 76, the coach who devised UAA's strategy at the time, but who is now retired and living in Utah where he plays golf more often than watching basketball.
The Seawolves bested Michigan, 70-66. A quarter of a century later, the Alaska players don't understand why the world doesn't better remember their glorious triumph and the Michigan players are glad that do many fans forget.
Chaminade was an NAIA school when it up-ended No. 1 ranked Virginia featuring player-of-the-year Ralph Sampson, 77-72, on Dec. 23, 1982. The game took place in Hawaii, in Chaminade's home territory. UAA's upset occurred on a neutral court. Although Virginia was ranked first at the time, Michigan won the NCAA title that same season it fell to UAA.
"That's a good thing that we're not a part of history like that," said Mills, one of a handful of those Wolverines who played in the NBA and at 46 handles radio broadcasts of Michigan basketball games. "We had no business losing to them, but in all fairness Alaska was a very good team that year. If we played them 10 times we would win nine, but in their book it only counts one time."
Higgins, 45, who played pro ball, later coached Edmonds Community College in Washington, and currently focuses his coaching on youth programs, said the Wolverines are very lucky they do not get reminded constantly about that blip on their record from the loss to Alaska Anchorage.
"We're fortunate we slipped that," Higgins said.
Because the game was in the opening round of the Utah tournament, rather than a short-notice second game with one day's advance awareness, Abegglen had time to devise a strategy. Alaska Anchorage was 10-2 entering the game, with its only losses to Kansas and Florida in the Great Alaska Shootout. That annual Thanksgiving weekend tournament gave the D-II Seawolves the confidence they could play with anyone.
UAA forward Todd Fisher, who was selected as a third-team All-American that season and a first-team honoree in 1990, was an older player, 25 at the time. He was a fierce 6-foot-6 frontcourt man and was not intimidated by anything.
"They thought they were going to walk through us," said Fisher, 51, recently from his home in Topeka, Indiana. "I'm not planning on any 20-year-old just whipping my butt."
Although his phrasing might not have been identical to Fisher's, that's pretty much what Abegglen told his players, as well.
"Michigan had just played three games prior to us where they won by a 30-point spread or something," Abegglen said. "They just killed them. It ticked off the other coaches and we had game film to watch. I was able to convince our players we had to do something different, delay the game a little. Our players ran the game strategy to perfection.
"Todd Fisher roamed the paint. Ron Fischer (a 6-8- forward) was at the top of the key and he was a very good passer. It was one of those things where everything fell into place. As the game went on we were gaining confidence."
Michigan led 36-30 at halftime and while the fans streaming in for the feature game pitting Utah against Holy Cross had no allegiance to Alaska, UAA's efforts charmed the 11,400 spectators.
"The crowd was totally in our favor," said UAA guard Joe Brinkerhoff, who is the chief executive officer of a construction company. "It shook Michigan up a lot."
Alaska Anchorage shot 62.5 percent from the floor in the first half and surely the Wolverines believed the Seawolves would cool off. They did not. UAA shot 63.1 percent in the second half. Guard Michael Johnson, who was named a first-team Division II All-American that season, pumped in 20 points. Fisher threw down 18 points and Ron Fischer, the passionate forward, added 16.
What Brinkerhoff remembers best was the way Todd Fisher challenged the Michigan big men time after time in the low post.
"Todd went crazy," Brinkerhoff said. "Todd just called for the ball every time."
As the clock ticked down, the Wolverines realized they were in trouble. Although Rice scored a team-high 24 points, Abegglen is almost gleeful about how skinny UAA forward Race McCleery regularly interrupted the flow of the star's game.
"I think we overlooked them," said Hughes, 47, now the director of pro personnel for the New York Knicks. "We went in thinking we were going to steamroll them because they were a Division II team. We struggled that night. We were in total shock."
There are only theories, not reasons why the Alaska Anchorage-Michigan upset is not as well-remembered as the Chaminade-Virginia game. Players on both sides think part of the reason is that Sampson was such a high-profile player and that their game result did not get much air time at the moment. But they also attribute the game being overlooked to that Michigan squad being better recalled for its turmoil at the end of the season and its ultimate victory.
On the eve of the NCAA tournament, Frieder announced he was accepting the coaching job at Arizona State after the season. Athletic director Bo Schembechler was furious. Proclaiming that Michigan would be coached by a Michigan man, he dumped Frieder on the spot and promoted assistant coach Steve Fisher to the head job. The Wolverines ran off six straight wins, finished 30-7, and captured the NCAA crown.
"That kind of erased it," Mills said of the stigma of losing to UAA.
Higgins agreed, though, that the Chaminade-Virginia upset and the Alaska Anchorage-Michigan upset were comparable.
"It just didn't get that type of publicity," Higgins said.
Some 25 years later, as the Wolverines were poised to gather for a celebratory reunion of their NCAA title triumph in Ann Arbor at the end of February, the astounding Alaska Anchorage victory was being celebrated among not only former Seawolf players and coaches, but among all Alaskans.
In December, the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame selection panel voted to enshrine the UAA-Michigan game in the hall, recognizing it as a one-time special event. The induction ceremony is scheduled for March 19 in Anchorage.
Michigan's players earned the big prize that year and collected championship rings. Alaska's players received a different souvenir – a video copy of the Michigan game.
"My grandpa watched it all the time," Fisher said. "When he passed away I got it back. Every time I see Michigan playing, I think of that game. I never understood why it didn't get more attention. I saw a list of the top 10 upsets and we weren't even on it. Are you kidding me?"
In-between his golf matches, Abegglen, the architect of the upset, who later coached Division I Weber State, sometimes relives the magnificent victory.
"I get out the film once in a while to make sure we beat 'em," Abegglen said. "It was a great win. It was a great win for the school."
Alaska Anchorage comes out ahead every time.
(Lew Freedman is a long-time college basketball reporter based in Indiana).
Quote from: GooooMarquette on February 21, 2014, 10:23:48 AM
Chaminade over UVa. Not even close.
BC is awful this year...for a D-1 team in the ACC. But they're still a D-1 team in the ACC, with all the resources and recruiting advantages that a school like Chaminade could never dream of having. The fact that it's still used as the standard 30 years later tells you all you need to know.
I agree with this . I saw BC fight tooth and nail with Providence earlier this year. They are having a bad year for sure but thy can muster enough to win. Syracuse is a very strong team , but they are not some kind of giant.