The NCAA Tournament has been full of surprises and upsets this year. One of the biggest shocks occurred before the tournament even began. In the South West Athletic Conference Championship game, Grambling State University defeated Texas Southern University to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the school’s history. This victory earned the Tigers a 16 seed and a trip to Dayton, Ohio to play another 16 seed, Montana State, in the tournament’s First Four. In that game, Grambling made history once again.
In its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament, Grambling’s basketball team becoming the first team since Northwestern in 2017 to win their NCAA Tournament debut. They achieved this by defeating Montana State 88-81 in overtime. Furthermore, Grambling State University is the ninth HBCU program to win in the NCAA tournament and the sixth since 2000. Following their victory over Montana State, Grambling gained widespread recognition as the underdogs of the tournament.
The whole country was captivated by the Tigers’ story. Donte’ Jackson, the SWAC coach of the year, had his team playing phenomenal basketball. They played so well that they caught the attention of Vice President Kamala Harris. Before their match-up against the top-seeded Purdue Boilermakers, Harris, an HBCU graduate of Howard University, called Jackson to congratulate the Grambling Tigers.
“What you guys did as a team and coach – I saw your interview afterwards – and just being so cool and calm and collected,” Harris said on speaker phone after Grambling’s victory over Montana State. “I just had to call you all to tell you – you made me proud and you made history for Grambling. And as a fellow HBCU – proud HBCU graduate – I just had to let you all know that you’ve got fans all over the place. Including in the White House. So congratulations for last night.”
After traveling to Indianapolis, GSU’s Cinderella story came to an end when they faced the Boilermakers. Despite the Tigers’ efforts, Purdue’s Zack Edey dominated the game. The 7-foot-4, 300-pound Canadian-born basketball player scored 30 points, grabbed 21 rebounds, and led his team to a 78-50 victory over Grambling. According to David Worlock, the NCAA’s director of media coordination, Edey became the first player to score at least 30 points and collect 20 rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game since Joe Smith achieved the same feat for Maryland in 1995. This marked the 19th recorded 30-20 game in tournament history.
While Grambling’s captivating story captured the hearts of fans everywhere, the NCAA tournament wouldn’t be complete without an upset, right? And the biggest upset occurred in Pittsburgh, Pa. The game took place at the PPG Paints Arena and featured a strong Kentucky team seeded third, led by two freshman phenoms, Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard. Both are projected to be lottery picks in the 2024 NBA Draft.
The 14th-seeded team was the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, and no, the school isn’t in Oakland, California. In reality, it’s located in Rochester, Michigan, with its campus extending to Auburn Hills in Oakland County. Learn something new everyday! Now that the geography lesson is over, let’s get back to basketball. The Kentucky Wildcats were 14.5-point favorites, but to everyone’s surprise, they lost. Oakland’s guard, Jack Gohlke, put on a sharp-shooting clinic and led his team to an 80-76 victory in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
“We wanted Kentucky because they’re the best,” head coach Greg Kampe said after the game.”We wanted that and we wanted to stage, and our kids came through.”
Despite being a strong team, Kentucky couldn’t stop Gohlke. Standing at 6-foot-3, Gohlke came off the bench and scored 32 points, sinking 10 out of 20 3-pointers, making him only the fifth player in NCAA tournament history to do so. This win marks Oakland’s second-ever NCAA tournament win, but its first in the field of 64. What made this upset special was not only Gohlke’s performance, but also the confidence he showed in himself and his team. After the victory, Gohlke optimistically expressed himself
“I know [the Kentucky Wildcats] have draft picks and I know I’m not going to the NBA, but I know, on any given night, I can compete with those guys and our team can compete with those type of guys,” Gohlke, who began his collegiate career with Division II Hillsdale College in Michigan before transferring to Oakland this season, said at the post-game press conference. “That’s why I was so confident going into it. And that’s why I said we’re not a Cinderella because, when we play our A-game, we can be the best team on the floor.”
He continued, “We came in as an underdog, but we believe in ourselves.”
The Golden Grizzlies’ historic tournament run ended in the second round of the NCAA tournament after losing to 11-seeded North Carolina State, 79-73 in overtime at PPG Paints Arena.
Although Grambling and Oakland were the two biggest surprises in this year’s March Madness tournament, more upsets happened. There were a total of 13 teams to win as the lower seed through the first two rounds.
Here are the most notable ones:
The 13-seeded Yale Bulldogs took down the fourth-seed Auburn Tigers 78-76 in the first round of the East Region in Washington at the Spokane Arena. John Poulakidas led the Bulldogs with a career-high 28 points, including six 3-pointers and the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2 minutes left.
The 12-seeded James Madison University Dukes defeated the fifth-seeded Wisconsin Badgers 72-61 in the first round of the South Region at the Barclays Center in New York. JMU had four players score double figures. Terrence Edwards Jr. finished with 14 points. T.J. Bickerstaff and Julien Wooden each had 12, and Michael Green III added 11.
The 12-seeded Grand Canyon Antelopes upset the fifth-seeded Saint Mary’s Gaels 75-66 in the first round of the West Region in Washington at the Spokane Arena. Tyon Grant-Foster scored 22 points for the Antelopes and secured the school’s first-ever NCAA Tournament victory.
The 11-seeded Duquesne Dukes knocked off the Brigham Young Cougars 71-67 in the first round of the East Region at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Dae Dae Grant scored 19 points to lead the Dukes to its first tournament win since 1969.
The 11-seeded North Carolina State Wolfpack took down the sixth-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders 80-67 in the South Region at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA. Ben Middlebrooks scored a career-high 21 points for the Wolfpack to secure a victory.
The 11-seeded Oregon Ducks defeated the sixth-seed South Carolina Gamecocks 87-73 in the first round of the Midwest Region at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA. Jermaine Couisnard scored a career-high 40 points, which is the most for an Oregon player in NCAA Tournament history.
The 10-seeded Colorado Buffaloes beat the seventh-seeded Flordia Gators 102-100 in the First Four game played in Indianapolis at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Colorado’s KJ Simpson led the way with 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.
While there were a ton of upsets, the best teams in the tournament all handled business. For only the fifth time since 1979, every No. 1 seed and No. 2 seed made the Sweet 16.
