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The NCAA men's basketball tournament has included 64 teams every year since 1985, split into four quadrants and seeded 1-16. In all those years — in 135 tries — no 16 seed had ever beaten a top-seeded team.

Until the University of Maryland, Baltimore County beat the stuffing out of Virginia, the best team in the country, 74-54 on Friday night.

All of which is to say, if anyone claims they picked against Virginia in their tournament pool, you should feel comfortable not believing them.

The Retrievers — who made half their three-point shots against easily the best defensive team in the country — were led by 28 points from senior guard Jairus Lyles, and also presumably every four-leaf clover along the shoulders of I-95.

UMBC outscored Virginia 53-33 in the second half, and also outrebounded the Cavaliers despite giving up a lot of height.

University of Maryland, Baltimore County advances to play ninth-seeded Kansas State on Sunday.

The Virginia Cavaliers advance to wincing at trivia questions for the rest of their lives.


"I told our guys we had a historic season," coach Tony Bennett said after the game. "And then we go and make history as the first top seed to lose."  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Sports

Christopher Dean Hopkins

Author

Since the NCAA tournament expanded in 1985, no 16 seed had ever beaten a top-seeded team. Until UMBC beat Virginia, the best team in the country, by 74-54 Friday night.

UMBC's Retrievers put Virginia in a hole, then buried every single bracket

Go Deeper.

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