Tonight, UMBC became the first 16-seed in NCAA Tournament history to beat a #1 seed. Prior to this game, 16-seeds were 0-135. UMBC finished second in the America East conference in the regular season, 3 games behind first-place Vermont. The Retrievers made the Tournament by hitting a last-second 3-pointer to beat Vermont in the America East Championship. As a reward, the Committee put them on the 16-seed line and slotted them against the #1 overall seed Virginia who was 31-2 and had the best defense in the nation.
A minute after the game started, former CBS college hoops analyst Seth Davis tweeted one of his famous “sharpie” tweets.