NCAA Tournament 2nd Round Upsets

    Continuing my series on the past NCAA tournament upsets, I will now look at five of the best upsets that have occurred during the 2nd round. While the University of North Carolonia (UNC) has experienced great success in NCAA tournaments they also have faced some horrible upsets that have occurred during the 2nd round, as they appear twice on this list.
    
     The No. 5 greatest upset in NCAA tournament 2nd round history was when No. 14 Cleveland State  defeated No. 6 St. Josephs  75-69 in the 1986 NCAA tournament. Cleveland State were already coming off a huge upset over No. 3 Indiana in the 1st round and rode that momentum into the Sweet Sixteen. The Hawks was led by future NBA players Maurice Martin and Wayne Williams. The Hawks struggled in the 1st round to beat  No. 11 Richmond, before running into Cleveland State. Ken McFadden led Cleveland State and still holds the school record for career points. McFadden may have had a team high of 23 points, but the key to victory was the performance of Clinton Smith who put up 16 points and 15 rebounds. This was the first time a 14 seed had advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.
  
     The No. 4 greatest upset was when No. 14 UT-Chattanooga  Mocs defeated No. 6 Illinois 75-63 in the 1997 NCAA tournament. What made this such an odd upset was how good Illinois had looked in the 1st round as they defeated Southern California 90-77. Kiwane Gerris led the way for Illinois  by averaging 19 points and six assists. UT-Chattanooga was able to get the victory due to balanced scoring where five players ended the game in double digits, center Chris Mims led the way with a double-double 12 points and 12 rebounds.

    The No. 3 greatest upset was when No. 11 George Mason Patriots defeated No. 3 North Carolina (UNC) Tar Heels 65-60 in the 2006 NCAA tournament. UNC was led by forwards Tyler Hansbrough and Rayshawn Terry.  Hansbrough brought tenacity and energy that fueled the team on as he average 19 points and eight rebounds. The key to the upset for George Mason was a good defensive  game plan by head coach Jim Larranaga that focused on containing Hansbrough and limited him to 10 points and nine rebounds in the game. On offense, guard Lamar Butler led the way for the Patriots by putting up a team-high 18 points. George Mason was able to stay in the game by getting Hansbrough into foul trouble and keeping the Tar Heels emotional leader off the court. Geoge Mason's Cinderella run did would continue onto the Final Four.

   The No. 2 greatest upset was when No. 9 Northern Iowa Panthers defeated No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks 69-67 in the 2010 NCAA tournament. Kansas had a roster that included five future NBA players including Cole Aldrich, Marcus Morris, Sherron Collins, Xavier Henry and Markieff Morris. They also had only three losses on the season, but Northern Iowa was able to bridge the talent gap by play great defense and slowing down the pace. Another key to the upset was Northern Iowa's ability to make plays during the big moments. Guard Ali Farokhmanesh led the Panthers with 16 points and gutsy play. With 35 seconds remaining the Patriots led by one 63-62 with the ball and a chance to run some clock, but Farokhmanesh decided to put end the game right there with a three-pointer that made the score 66-62 and ended the game. If Farokhmanesh had missed the shot he would have given Kansas plenty of time to win the game.

   The No. 1 greatest upset in  2nd round NCAA tournament history was when No. 9 Boston College Eagles defeated No.1 UNC Tar Heels 75-72 in the 1994 NCAA tournament. North Carolina featured two future NBA all-stars in Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse, not to mention another solid NBA player Eric Montross who led the way for the Tar Heels with 16 points. Not only did UNC have the edge talent-wise they also had history on their side as UNC during the past 13 seasons had advanced at least to the Sweet Sixteen. Boston College also featured two future NBA players in forward Bill Curley and guard Howard Eisley, while both played solidly it was guard Gerrod Abram that took over. Abram had only averaged eight points per game during the 1993-94 season, but against UNC he put up 21 points to lead all scorers in the game. Overall, Boston College had five players get into double digits which allowed them to keep up with a very talented Tar Heels squad.