NCAA Tournament Final Four Upsets

    During this series, I have broken down the biggest upsets that have occurred in each round of the NCAA tournament. Now we come to the end as we break down the biggest upsets that have occurred during the Final Four and National Championship.

   The No. 5 biggest NCAA tournament Final Four upset was when the Duke Blue Devils defeated UNLV Rebels 79-77 in the 1991 NCAA tournament national semifinal. A year prior, UNLV defeated the Blue Devils by 30 in the NCAA championship game, the biggest blowout in the history of the national championship game. For the 1991 season, the Rebels retained the core of their championship team in future NBA players Stacey Augmon, Larry Johnson and Greg Anthony. They also were undefeated heading into the championship game and had little trouble progressing through the tournament. However, the Duke contained a talented roster themselves in Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill and Christian Laettner. Laettner was the star for the Blue Devils putting up 28 points. The other factor was the Duke got Anthony into foul trouble early and took Augmon out of the game, only allowing six points.

    The No. 4 biggest upset was when the Kansas Jayhawks defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 83-79 in the 1988 National Championship game. Oklahoma was a powerhouse featuring three superstars and Kansas had one. Oklahoma featured Stacey King, Harvey Grant and Mookie Blaylock, while Kansas had Danny Manning and coach Larry Brown. In this game, one superstar was better than three as Manning finished with 31 points and 18 rebounds to cap off a great collegiate career. The game was close throughout with the game being tied at 50 at half-time.

   The No. 3 biggest upset was when the North Carolina State Wolfpack defeated the Houston Cougers 54-52 to win the 1983 National Championship. Houston was a powerhouse coming into the 1983 tournament with future NBA Hall of Famers in Hakeem Olajuwan and Clyde Drexler.  Great games aren't defined by statistics, they are defined by moments and NC State's run to the championship was full of buzzer beating shot, but none was bigger than this moment. A 17-2 run by Houston to begin the 2nd half looked to have ended the story, but NC State fought back to tie the with two minutes left. The last designed play was a 30-foot heave by Dereck Whittenburn that glanced off the rim only to be dunked in by Lorenzo Charles. The other standout moment was when NC State head coach Jim Valvano ran onto the court after the play looking to hug as many people as possible.

    The No. 2 biggest upset was when the Villanova Wildcats defeated the Georgetown Hoyas 66-64 to win the 1985 National Championship. Georgetown was lead by Patrick Ewing and was poised to win the title, especially against the No. 8 seeded Wildcats, whom Georgetown had already defeated twice during the season. However, Villanova shot 78 percent against the best defensive team in the college basketball even going nine for 10 in the 2nd half. After the game, Georgetown coach John Thompson and the rest of the Hoyas applauded Villanova's performance and showed praise for their opponent rather then hanging their shoulders after the loss. Villanova is still the lowest seeded team to ever with the national championship as a No. 8 seed.

    The No. 1 biggest upset was when Texas Western defeated Kentucky 72-65 to win the 1966 NCAA championship. Kentucky was coached by legendary Adolph Rupp and featured All-Americans Pat Riley and Louie Dampier. This team was known as Rupp's "runts" and featured an all white player roster and no player was taller than 6'6". While Texas Western featured the first all African American starting lineup in NCAA championship history. Texas Western exploited Kentucky's lack of size and athleticism and ran on every play. This win resulted in Rupp recruiting the first African American player to the South Eastern Conference and really ushered in change to college basketball.

    These are the biggest upsets in college basketball history.