March Madness 2012: 20 Biggest Upsets in NCAA Tournament History

Despite a better-than-average 11 at-large selections, the non-power conferences will not all be represented by their strongest members in the 2012 NCAA tournament. Among the 19 conferences who received only their automatic bid, 10 did not send the regular season champion as their sole delegate.

The reason? All 10 were upset in their conference tournament and it is the conference tournament winner, not the regular season champ, who earns the guaranteed berth. This system puts all the marbles into a one-week playoff with little regard for the three-month regular season that makes up the majority of a team's body of work.

The only conference to buck the trend is the Ivy League, which uses regular season standings and head-to-head play to determine its representative, using a one-game playoff at a neutral site if necessary.  

As a fan, conference tournaments deliver more basketball, potential rubber matches among rivals and important data for selection and seeding in the field of 68. That said, they have a track record of rewarding the wrong teams from mid-major conferences while penalizing those most deserving of a spot in the bracket.

Here are the details of six schools among the fallen 10 who deserved to dance and would have benefited greatly from the Ivy League system.

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20. (tie) 1988 East Regional First Round: No. 13 Richmond 72, No. 4 Indiana 69

Bobby Knight and his Indiana Hoosiers won the 1987 National Championship on a last-second shot by Keith Smart over Syracuse.

In 1988, the defending national champions were looking to begin their title defense in earnest, but they ran into the Colonial Athletic Conference champion Richmond Spiders.

Richmond led by six at the half, 44-38, but the Hoosiers mounted a second half comeback as many assumed that they would.

But Rodney Rice, who led Richmond with 21 points, hit a jumper with 57 seconds left to give the Spiders a one point lead, 70-69.

Indiana would get the ball into the hands of Smart, who took a jumper with 20 seconds left on the clock that clanged off of the rim and right into Rice's hands. Rice pushed the ball up-court to Kenny Atkinson, who made the fast-break bucket and clinched the 72-69 victory for the Spiders.

Smart led all scorers with 23 points and Indiana center Dean Garrett fell one point short of a triple-double, finishing with nine points, 10 rebounds and 14 blocked shots.

How Far Did Cinderella Go?

Richmond would beat No. 5 Georgia Tech to advance to the Sweet 16, where they were trounced by No. 1 Temple, 69-47.

20. (tie) 2010 Midwest Regional First Round: No. 14 Ohio 97, No. 3 Georgetown 83

Entering the Mid-American Conference Tournament, the Ohio Bobcats were underdogs. After all, this was a team that finished 7-9 in the conference, good enough for ninth place.

But the Bobcats had other thoughts and won four games, including two that went to overtime, in winning the MAC's automatic bid to the big dance.

So a confident team headed to the tournament ready to take on a Georgetown team that was ranked in the Top 25 all season long and played some of the best defense in the country.

But the vaunted Georgetown defense couldn't stop the hot shooting of the Bobcats, who took the lead early and never looked back. They led 48-36 at the half and held off a late Georgetown rally to notch the school's first tournament win in 27 years.

Ohio hit 13 three-pointers and forced 18 Georgetown turnovers. Ohio's Armon Bassett scored 32 points to lead all scorers. D.J. Cooper added 23 points and DeVaughan Washington pulled in a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Chris Wright led the Hoyas with 28 points in a losing effort.

How Far Did Cinderella Go?

Ohio would lose their next game against No. 6 Tennessee by 15, 83-68.

19. 1997 East Regional First Round: No. 15 Coppin State 78, No. 2 S. Carolina 65

Some people were surprised to see No. 15 Coppin State and No. 2 South Carolina tied at the half, 34 points apiece.

Nobody was surprised when the Eagles trailed the heavily favored Gamecocks by five, 49-44 with 10:30 left in the game.

And then everyone's brackets burst.

Spurred by Antoine Brockington and Danny Singletary, the Eagles went on a 13-5 run over the next five minutes that essentially put the game out of reach for South Carolina.

Singletary came off of the bench to lead all scorers with 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting and Brockington scored 20 for the Eagles.

South Carolina's "Big Three" of Melvin Watson, B.J. McKie and Larry Davis scored a combined 31 points on 13-of-35 shooting, a big reason why the Gamecocks lost.

How Far Would Cinderella Go?

Coppin State would lose a heartbreaker to Texas in their next game, 82-81.

18.1998 Midwest Regional First Round: No. 13 Valparaiso 70, No. 4 Mississippi 69

A Top 25 team all season long, the Mississippi Rebels entered the tournament ranked No. 10 in the country and carried expectations of a deep tournament run on the back of senior forward Ansu Sesay, who had averaged 18.6 points and 7.6 rebounds a game.

At the other end of the spectrum lay the Valparaiso Crusaders, unranked the entire season and champions of the Mid-Continent Conference. Coached by Homer Drew, some thought that Valparaiso was a cute story as Bryce Drew, Homer's son, was his best player.

But there was nothing cute about this first-round game, one that saw the Rebels take a slim four-point lead into the half.

When the teams emerged from the locker room, the Crusaders battled back and found themselves down two with 2.9 seconds left on the clock.

Coach Drew called a play that he had stolen from the NBA's Indiana Pacers that was appropriately called "The Pacer."

Jaime Sykes would throw a long pass from the baseline past half court to Bill Jenkins. Jenkins would make a beautiful touch pass to Drew, who hit a leaning three-pointer for the win that is simply known as "The Shot."

How Far Would Cinderella Go?

Valpo would reach the Sweet 16 where they fell to No. 8 Rhode Island, 74-68.

17. 1977 West Regional Second Round: Idaho State 76, UCLA 75

Entering the game there was no question as to who was favored.

UCLA had won 10 of the last 13 National Championships and was a national power—so it came as no surprise to see the Bruins leading at halftime, 38-32.

In the second half, Idaho State went to their zone defense, forcing the Bruins to rely on their outside shooting and taking a six-point deficit at the half and turning it into an eight-point lead at 71-63 with two minutes to play.

But UCLA was not done. Guard Brad Holland scored seven of UCLA's last 11 points, making it a one-point game with 10 seconds left to play. UCLA would foul Iowa State freshman Ernie Wheeler, who calmly sank both of his free throws that ultimately gave Iowa State the win.

Center Steve Hayes had a double-double for the Bengals, leading all scorers with 25 points and 12 rebounds.

Marques Johnson led UCLA with 21 points, but 19 of those came in the first half.

How Far Did Cinderella Go?

Idaho State would lose in the Elite Eight to UNLV, 107-90.

16. 2001 West Regional First Round: No. 15 Hampton 58, No. 2 Iowa State 57

Iowa State, ranked seventh in the country, came out flat in their first-round game against the Hampton Pirates, shooting 9-of-27 in the first half (33 percent) and trailed 31-27 at the half.

The Cyclones would be ready to play in the second half and went on a 19-4 run, giving them a 46-35 lead with about 12 minutes left to play.

But Hampton wouldn't go away and kept chipping away at the Cyclones' lead.

With 6.9 seconds left on the clock, Marseilles Brown found Tarvis Williams in the paint and Williams flipped in what would be the game-winning shot for the Pirates.

Iowa State's Jamal Tinsley flew down the court but would miss a game-winning layup with 1.2 seconds left, making Hampton the fourth No. 15 seed to defeat a No. 2 seed.

How Far Did Cinderella Go?

Not far. Hampton would get crushed by Georgetown in their next game, 76-57.

15. 1986 Midwest Regional First Round: No. 14 UALR 90, No. 3 Notre Dame 83

Ranked in the Top 20 all season long, Digger Phelps had his Notre Dame Fighting Irish on a roll when the 1986 NCAA tournament started. They had won their last six games heading into the tournament by an average of 24 points and as the No. 3 seed in the Midwest, were sure to have little-to-no problem beating their first-round opponent.

That happened to be the Arkansas Little-Rock Trojans, champions of the Atlantic Sun Conference who were riding a 10-game winning streak into the tourney.

The Trojans held onto a slim one-point lead at halftime, 40-39. In the second half the teams traded baskets and it wasn't until there were three minutes left that Arkansas Little-Rock took the lead for good.

Pete Myers led all scorers with 29 points and was one of three Trojans to crack the 20-point plateau.

David Rivers led the Irish with 25 points on 9-for-19 shooting.

How Far Did Cinderella Go?

The Trojans would lose their next game convincingly to NC State, 80-66.

14. 2011 Southwest Regional Elite Eight: No. 11 VCU 71, No. 1 Kansas 61

Virginia Commonwealth was not supposed to be here.

They were supposed to lose to No. 6 Georgetown in the opening round—they trounced the Hoyas by 18 points, 74-56.

They were supposed to lose to No. 3 Purdue in the second round—they trounced the Boilermakers by 18 points, 94-76.

By the time they met No. 10 Florida State in the Sweet 16, it was anyone's guess what would happen—but VCU won again, this time in a one-point squeaker, 72-71.

But now in the Elite Eight and going toe-to-toe with No. 1 Kansas, VCU had no chance. Kansas had not trailed in any tournament game thus far by more than two points.

But the Rams had something else in mind, hitting nine three-pointers in the first half. With five minutes remaining in the half, Kansas trailed VCU by 17 points and were behind by 14 points at halftime, 41-27.

The Jayhawks made what was an expected comeback and got within two, 46-44 with 13:11 left in the game—but VCU promptly went on a 10-2 run and put the Jayhawks Final Four hopes to bed.

Jamie Skeen led VCU with a double-double, 26 points and 10 boards. Marcus Morris led the Jayhawks with 20 points and 16 boards.

How Far Did Cinderella Go?

The Rams would fall to another Cinderella story, the Butler Bulldogs in the Final Four, 70-62.

13. 2008 Midwest Regional Second Round: No. 10 Davidson 74, No. 2 Georgetown 70

It was 39 years before this game that Davidson had last won in the NCAA tournament, making it to the Elite Eight where they lost to North Carolina.

Now in 2008, Davidson was an unranked No. 10 seed matched up against the Georgetown Hoyas who were ranked No. 9 in the nation and were one of the best defensive teams around.

So it was no surprise to anyone that Davidson trailed 37-28 at the half. Georgetown's defense held Davidson's best player, Stephen Curry, to only five points in the first half and heading into the locker room Curry looked deflated, having watched shot after shot clang off of the rim and into the waiting arms of Hoyas' defenders.

Georgetown increased their lead to 17 in the second half and then Curry, who had missed 10 of his first 12 shots, began to come to life. He contributed seven points during a 16-2 Davidson run that was capped by a Curry assist to Andrew Lovedale in the paint for an easy layup, cutting Georgetown's lead to two, 50-48 with just under nine minutes left in the game.

Chris Wright would connect on the front end of a one-and-one for the Hoyas with 4:52 left in the game, giving Georgetown a 58-57 advantage. It would be the last time that Georgetown would have the lead.

DaJuan Summers would get the game within two as he dunked with 32 seconds remaining on the clock, but the Hoyas were forced to foul and Curry would convert on five of the six free throws that he would attempt in the final seconds of the game.

Curry scored 25 of his game high 30 points in the second half and finished the game 8-of-21 from the field, but five of those were three pointers. Jessie Sapp led Georgetown with 14 points.

How Far Did Cinderella Go?

The Wildcats would beat No. 3 Wisconsin in the Sweet 16 but lose to Kansas, the eventual National Champions in the Elite Eight by two, 59-57.

12. 1986 Southeast Regional Elite Eight: No. 11 LSU 59, No. 1 Kentucky 57

LSU had a great start to the 1985-86 season. They opened the year 10-0, were ranked as high as eighth in the nation at the beginning on January and then the wheels fell off.

They lost three centers in a row. Freshman Tito Horford walked out on the team, Zoran Jovanovic suffered a season-ending knee injury and Nikita Wilson was ruled academically ineligible six games into the SEC schedule—Wilson was leading the team in scoring and rebounding at the time.

Then almost everyone on the team came down with the chicken pox, the icing on the cake.

By the time the NCAA tournament came around, LSU was unranked and had lost to Kentucky three times during the regular season.

LSU coach Dale Brown had to become creative to get his Tigers as far as he had, and that didn't change in the tournament. LSU would beat No. 6 Purdue, No. 3 Memphis and No. 2 Georgia Tech in the first three rounds, setting up their fourth showdown with No. 1 Kentucky.

Brown used a defense that he called "the freak," something he took from The Art of War, written by Chinese military commander Sun Tzu in the sixth century B.C.: ""When the enemy prepares everywhere," Brown said, "he will be weak everywhere."

His defense changed from possession-to-possession, largely dictated by what happened the possession before. Kentucky held a one-point lead at the half, 34-33. In the second half, with the freak defense in full effect, the Wildcats struggled to adjust.

With only a few seconds left, Don Redden got the ball to Ricky Blanton—LSU's starting center for most of the season at 6'6"—and Blanton scored the game-winning layup, getting LSU over the hump against their conference rival and sending their decimated team to an improbable Final Four.

How Far Did Cinderella Go?

LSU would lose their next game 88-77 to Pervis Ellison and the eventual national champion Louisville Cardinals.

11. 1993 West Regional First Round: No. 15 Santa Clara 64, No. 2 Arizona 61

The Santa Clara Broncos, champions of the West Coast Conference, drew the team ranked No. 5 in the country, the Chris Mills and Damon Stoudamire-led Arizona Wildcats in the opening round of the 1993 NCAA tournament.

Santa Clara would overcome a 25-0 Arizona run and then, in the second half, come back from a 13-point deficit by holding the Wildcats to one field goal in almost 15 minutes of play—from Chris Mills' basket with 15:26 left until Mills would hit a three to bring Arizona within three at 64-61 with 8.4 seconds remaining.

Steve Nash (10 points, 8-of-10 from the line) and Kevin Dunne (five points, 1-of-4 from the line) would both miss a pair of free throws in the closing seconds of the game, setting up Stoudamire to take the game-tying shot with time expiring. Stoudamire's shot bounced off the back of the rim and the Broncos became the second No. 15 seed to defeat a No. 2 seed in tournament history.

How Far Did Cinderella Go?

Santa Clara would lose their next game against No. 7 Temple, 68-57.

10. 2010 Midwest Second Round: No. 9 Northern Iowa 69, No. 1 Kansas 67

This is the game that made Ali Farokhmanesh a household name.

After Kansas scored the first points of the game to go up 2-0, the Panthers from Northern Iowa would tie the game and never look back.

They would lead by as many as nine in the first half before heading to the locker room up eight, 36-28.

Kansas mounted a comeback in the second half and found themselves within a point with 42.6 seconds left in the game, 63-62.

Northern Iowa would break the Jayhawks pressure and got the ball to Farokhmanesh, who was all alone behind the arc at the other end of the floor. He squared up to the basket and let loose a shot that found the bottom of the net, his fourth three-pointer of the game that gave the Panthers a 66-62 lead.

Marcus Morris would hit a meaningless three with four tenths of a second remaining to make it a two-point game but the damage was done—the Jayhawks were upset by the Panthers.

How Far Did Cinderella Go?

Northern Iowa would lose in the Sweet 16 to Michigan State, 59-52. 

For your printable bracket for the 2012 NCAA tournament, click here

9. 1991 East Regional First Round: No. 15 Richmond 73, No. 2 Syracuse 69

Syracuse entered the 1991 NCAA tournament ranked No. 4 in the country and with one of the most talented teams Jim Boeheim had ever had at his disposal.

Led by Billy Owens, Dave Johnson, Adrian Autry and LeRon Ellis, the Orangemen were legitimate national championship contenders and expected to have no problems dealing with the formality that was the Richmond Spiders, champions of the Colonial Athletic Association.

But problems are exactly what they found in the Spiders, and they found themselves trailing by eight at the half, 44-36.

Syracuse would mount a comeback in the second half but it was too little, too late, as the Spiders held on for a bracket-busting four-point victory. Curtis Blair led Richmond with 18 points while Billy Owens led all scorers with 22 points in a losing effort.

How Far Did Cinderella Go?

Not far. No. 10 Temple dispatched of the Spiders easily in the second round, 77-64.

8. 1994 East Regional Second Round: No. 9 Boston College 75, No. 1 UNC 72

At the end of the regular season, Boston College was unranked while North Carolina, the defending national champions, were the No. 1 team in the country and expected to breeze through the tournament to the Sweet 16 for the the 14th consecutive season.

With a potent offense that featured Rasheed Wallace and Eric Montross inside and Jerry Stackhouse on the wing, there was no reason to suspect that Bill Curley and the Eagles had much of a chance as the two teams met in the second round of the 1994 tournament.

The Eagles got out to an early lead and stayed ahead for most of the first half, leading 42-34 at the half.

North Carolina would mount a comeback in the second half but behind 21 points from Gerrod Abram and 18 from Bill Curley, the Eagles held on for a streak-snapping victory.

North Carolina's high-powered offense struggled mightily on the day, with Rasheed Wallace and Donald Williams combining to score 15 points on 4-of-22 shooting from the field, a miserable 18 percent.

How Far Would Cinderella Go?

Boston College would reach the Elite Eight where they were beaten by Andrew DeClerq and the Florida Gators, 74-66.

Photo courtesy of Sportsillustrated.com

7. 2006 Washington Regional Elite Eight : No. 11 George Mason 86, No. 1 UConn 84

A small school out of a small conference generally has no shot when paired up with a national powerhouse from a major conference who is perennially ranked in the Top 25.

George Mason dispelled that myth three times in the 2006 NCAA tournament. First, they defeated No. 6 Michigan State from the Big Ten. Then they beat No. 3 North Carolina from the ACC. A Sweet 16 victory against No. 7 Wichita State from the Missouri Valley conference, while unlikely, was not a major upset.

But a meeting with coach Jim Calhoun and the Connecticut Huskies from the Big East was a big deal, one that the Patriots were ready for.

George Mason had a four-point lead with 14 seconds remaining in the second half, only to watch UConn bring the game within two with 7.9 seconds left. UConn would foul Tony Skinn, a 63 percent free-throw shooter who would miss the front end of a one-and-one. Denham Brown would hit a reverse layup that bounced around the rim as time expired to send the game to overtime.

With two minutes left in overtime, George Mason led 82-78.

With 30 seconds remaining, they had a five-point lead, 85-80.

UConn just wouldn't go away.

With 13 seconds left, Marcus Williams would drain a three to bring the Huskies within two at 86-84.

Jai Lewis would miss the front end of a one-and-one, and Denham Brown was unable to repeat his heroics from the end of regulation, giving the Patriots another unlikely victory on their unlikely run.

How Far Would Cinderella Go?

George Mason would lose in the Final Four to the eventual national champion Florida Gators, 73-58.

6. 1991 Final Four: Duke 79, UNLV 77

In the 1990 National Championship game, UNLV didn't just beat Duke, they destroyed Duke, winning 103-73 and leaving the Blue Devils embarrassed and unable to explain what had happened.

So when Duke got their chance for revenge a year later in the Final Four, they knew the kind of fight that they were in for.

UNLV was in the midst of a 45-game winning streak with a high-powered offense that featured Larry Johnson, Anderson Hunt, Greg Anthony and Stacey Augmon.

The game featured 17 ties and 25 lead changes. UNLV led 43-41 at the half, and with 12.9 seconds left, the game was tied at 77 apiece with Duke's Christian Laettner headed to the foul line. Laettner would hit both free throws, giving Duke a two point lead, 79-77.

Jerry Tarkanian called a timeout and drew up the last play for the Runnin' Rebels, which was to go either to Johnson or Hunt. Johnson took the ball at the top of the key and tried to get Laettner to bite on a fake shot—Laettner didn't flinch. Johnson fed the ball to Hunt on the wing who had already drained four threes in the game, and Hunt launched one with the clock running.

The ball bounced off the side of the rim, and when it finally landed the buzzer had sounded and Duke had beaten the unbeatable.

How Far Did Cinderella Go?

Duke wasn't really a Cinderella team, but they went on to win the National Championship, defeating Kansas 72-65.

5. 1956 East Regional First Round: Canisius 79, No. 2 NC State 78

Back in 1956, the NCAA tournament didn't have teams seeded. Only 25 teams made the tournament, one from each conference.

NC State, ranked second nationally, was heavily favored to crush the unranked Golden Griffins from Canisius College, a small school in Buffalo, NY.

The Griffins had other plans and held a five-point lead at halftime, 39-34. The Wolfpack mounted a second half comeback and the game was tied at the end of regulation, 65 apiece.

With 10 seconds left in the fourth overtime, NC State led 78-77 and had the ball, forcing Canisius to foul the man with the ball—who just happened to be the Wolfpack's best free-throw shooter.

But he missed the front end of a one-and-one, and the ball was rebounded by Canisius' Dave Markey. Markey passed the ball to Jim McCarthy, who got the ball to Fran Corcoran.

Corcoran, who had scored two points all night, hoisted a shot...and it went in, giving the Golden Griffins an unexpected one-point victory.

How Far Did Cinderella Go?

Canisius would beat Dartmouth in their next game before losing to Temple by two, 60-58, in the Elite Eight. 

Photo courtesy of Canisius.edu.

4. 1996 Southeast Regional First Round: No. 13 Princeton 43, No. 4 UCLA 41

Not the powerhouse that they were the previous season, the 1995-96 UCLA Bruins were the defending national champions and favored to win against their first-round opponent, the Princeton Tigers.

Princeton, champions of the Ivy League, were a low-scoring team who prided themselves on playing solid defense and an offensive mindset that was based on ball control, back-door cuts and passes out of the high post.

The Tigers were able to run their offense to perfection, which in turn limited the chances that J.R. Henderson, Toby Bailey, Charles O'Bannon and Jelani McCoy would have to get out and run—which is how Jim Harrick and his Bruins squad preferred to play.

By the time halftime arrived, neither team had scored 20 points—the Bruins led 19-18.

Scoring was up slightly in the second half, but UCLA had no answers for Princeton coach Pete Carril's offense—and the Tigers were starting to hit some shots that they had no business hitting.

The game was tied at 41 apiece with 26 seconds remaining and the Tigers had possession of the ball.

UCLA knew what was coming. The crowd knew what was coming.

And with four seconds left on the clock, Princeton's Gabe Luwellis took a perfect pass from Steve Goodrich and delayed Carril's retirement for the time being.

How Far Did Cinderella Go?

The Tigers were defeated in the next round by Erick Dampier and Mississippi State, 63-41.

3. 1966 National Championship Game: Texas Western 72, Kentucky 65

Texas Western University—now known as the University of Texas at El Paso, or UTEP—had an all-black starting five in 1966.

Kentucky, under coach Adolph Rupp—a notorious racist—was the No. 1 team in all the land and a big favorite against the underdog Miners with their all-white squad.

Both teams had wildly successful seasons, each starting the season 23-0 before losing their first game.

Behind a strong performance from Bobby Joe Hill (20 points), the Miners took the lead with about 10 minutes remaining in the first half and led at the half, 34-31.

The teams would trade baskets in the second half and Kentucky pulled within one with 3:30 remaining in the second half.

But the Miners answered with six straight points courtesy of Hill and Orsten Arias (15 points) and with less than three minutes left in the game had increased the lead to nine, allowing them to slow the game down and hold on for the unlikely victory.

Not only was this a case where David beat Goliath, but it served as a statement as well, with the bigoted Rupp getting his just desserts by losing the National Championship to a predominately black team.

2. 1985 National Championship Game: No. 8 Villanova 66, No. 1 Georgetown 64

Georgetown, the defending national champions, were prohibitive favorites to repeat with a deep squad led by Reggie Williams, David Wingate and Patrick Ewing.

Villanova had played their Big East rival twice in the regular season, losing both games by a combined nine points.

The Wildcats knew what they were up against in the Hoyas, and they knew it would take a nearly perfect game to beat the best defensive team in the country.

Villanova shot the ball well in the first half, missing only five shots and holding onto a one-point lead at intermission, 29-28. But they would come out of the locker room on fire, missing only one shot in the second half and shooting a ridiculous 78 percent from the field for the game.

Sophomore Harold Jensen would hit the biggest shot in the history of Villanova basketball, a mid-range jumper that gave them a 55-54 lead with 2:37 to play, and it would be Jensen who held the ball like a newborn child on the last inbounds pass of the game, falling to the floor as the Wildcats pulled off the second greatest upset in NCAA tournament history.

1. 1983 National Championship Game: No. 6 NC State 54, No. 1 Houston 52

NC State entered the NCAA tournament on a hot streak, having won the ACC tournament. That being said, nobody expected the Wolfpack to make a deep run.

But that is exactly what they did, starting with a double-overtime win over Pepperdine 69-67 in the opening round. They would proceed to beat UNLV by one, Utah by 19, Virginia by one and Georgia by seven, set to face the best team in the country.

Houston, on the other hand, had its high-flying dunk show known as "Phi Slamma Jamma." Led by Akeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, the Cougars were the No. 1 team in the country and had just beaten No. 2 ranked Louisville in the Final Four, at one point dunking eight times in a row, deflating the Cardinals.

Jim Valvano had his Wolfpack squad ready to play and they were able to slow down the game with their half-court offense, taking a 33-25 lead into the locker room.

Houston would start the second half with a vengeance, going on a 17-2 run but NC State continued to fight back, with Derrick Whittenburg hitting two big shots to tie the game at 52 apiece with two minutes remaining.

Valvano told his team to start fouling Houston on every possession, a strategy that worked well—the Cougars shot 52.6 percent from the line on the day, missing nine of the 19 free throws that they attempted.

No miss was bigger than that by guard Alvin Franklin, who missed the first shot of a one-and-one with 1:08 left to play. With 44 seconds remaining, NC State calls a timeout to set up the last shot of the game.

The play is set, and the ball is to wind up in the hands of Whittenburg with about eight seconds left. But the play breaks down, and Whittenburg is forced to launch a deep three-pointer with four seconds left.

The shot falls short, but with two seconds left on the clock, Lorenzo Charles goes up and slams the ball home with one second left on the clock, giving the Wolfpack a two-point victory and the biggest upset in NCAA tournament history.

For your printable bracket for the 2012 NCAA tournament, click here