Kel brought this up in the group, a huge win and great memory for all that were there. We watched it on the front porch of the KSig house and jumped in the back of pick-up trucks to drive around Clarksville in celebration. We were ready to do the same next game, but that punk Billy "The Kid" Donovan pushed off to get the game winning three, "we was robbed", lol.
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From ESPN
Classic NCAA Cinderellas
A big upset happens every year. You come to expect it, yet still can't believe it. Once the NCAA brackets are announced, NCAA Tournament fans start looking for the unknown or overlooked team that will surprise a heavily favored school from one of the power conferences. Waiting for the Cinderella to appear is one of the great joys of the tournament. What makes a Cinderella? For ESPN Classic's Cinderella ranking, we used the following criteria: a Cinderella can't come from a traditional power conference, must beat a highly regarded traditional power and must be seeded No. 12 or higher. Also, only games since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 have been considered.
10. Let's Go Peay
#14 Austin Peay 68 #3 Illinois 67
March 12, 1987
Birmingham, Alabama
The high-flying Illini, led by Kendall Gill, Nick Anderson and Ken Norman, were grounded by Austin Peay. Tony Raye hit a pair of free throws with two seconds left to lift overwhelming underdog Austin Peay to a 68-67 win over Illinois. Austin Peay coach Lake Kelly said their strategy was to "Sic 'em. If we had to play the Lakers and Celtics combined Saturday night, it wouldn't have made any difference." Darryl Bedford led Austin Peay with 24 points, 15 on 3-pointers. Norman paced the Illini with 17.
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From collegehoopsnet.com / Adam Glatczak
March 18th, 2004 - 16 Biggest First Round Upsets in NCAA Tournament History
When the NCAA expanded its Division I basketball tournament to 64 teams in 1985, it certainly couldn’t have had any idea what fun it was creating.
Since the first 64-team field began play that March, the tourney has taken off in ways few could have imagined. Its emergence led to the NCAA signing a mind-boggling $11 billion contract just for its top division basketball tournament. It also practically made a struggling cable network. Before its college basketball coverage exploded in the mid-80s, ESPN was still a struggling network searching for its niche nationally.
The tourney has also quickly turned the term ‘office pool’ into a part of the national lexicon. Ten years ago, the only time you may hear that term was if there was a leak in a roof somewhere. Now, everyone hears office pool and immediately remembers the cardinal rule about always pick a 12 seed to upset a 5 seed.
The NCAA Tournament has grown from a mostly regional, hard-core fan event into a national mania. History would have been greatly altered, though, if the tourney had never proven to be so unpredictable when it expanded to 64 teams.
If Navy, Arkansas-Little Rock or Austin Peay had never marked those first few years of the larger field with stunning performances, ESPN might be showing Australian Rules Football reruns at all hours of the day. How many of the Quinnipiacs, Sacramento States and Hamptons of Division I would have moved up to that level if not for the financial incentive the D-I tourney now carries? And what would the purpose be of an office pool if everyone knew who would win?
The Final Four was starting to become a national event in the 1980s, but the entire NCAA Tournament as a whole was still strictly regional, much like the college baseball postseason now. When smaller schools began doing the unthinkable and started bouncing top 10 teams from the tourney, the NCAA Tournament acquired its reputation for being the event with Cinderellas and true underdogs, and it became a three-week national happening.
Because they have had such an impact on history (and because it’s just fun to relive the past) this is a list of 16 of the biggest upsets that have occurred in the first round in NCAA Tournament history. For our purposes, games considered were from 1979 and after, the first year seeds were used to rank teams. It was also the first year the tourney ever included a sixth round. Before that, what is now the first round didn’t exist; the tourney started with what is now the second round.
Besides the fact that most of the results of these games were shocking, what’s also interesting is so many of the teams that pulled upsets almost never had the chance to. Many didn’t necessarily have monster seasons preceding their big wins. Some dominated their leagues, but many were just good teams in lightly regarded conferences. Fun facts and assorted tidbits like this are called ‘Oddballs.’
The order of the games on this list is purely subjective, the opinion of one person who has followed the NCAA Tournament for 17 years, enjoys researching it and has seen or watched tapes of almost all of the games. Or, in a few cases maybe just remembers where he was when he heard the score of the game. In general, games are placed in an order of historical significance, with the quality of the game or memorable moments also playing a factor. Surely there are games some people might remember as more or less important to them than others, but hopefully it’s a fun history lesson, if nothing else.
And now, the revealing of the 32-team field…
3) 1987 #14 Austin Peay 68, #3 Illinois 67
It's very tempting to make it a three-way tie at the top, but the edge goes to the other two games only because they were the trendsetters. This was another of those defining TV moments for the NCAA Tournament. Years ago, before the tiring overuse of the term "mid-major" had developed, Dick Vitale worked in the ESPN NCAA Tournament studio and told the audience that the tourney was for the "best" 64 teams. Hard as it may be to believe now, at that time he frankly had no use for the Idaho States, Austin Peays, or any of the other "little guys." Vitale was so certain Austin Peay couldn't beat Illinois that he announced he would stand on his head if the Governors somehow beat the Fighting Illini. Well, they did, and Vitale did. It was statements like Vitale's followed by upsets like this (as well as ESPN's superb coverage of the tourney at this time) that displayed the charm of this event to an entire nation.
Austin Peay needed a 30-foot shot by Richie Armstrong at the buzzer of the OVC final against Eastern Kentucky just to get to the NCAAs. Their flair for the dramatic continued in the tourney. The first half ended with five points scored in the final second. Illinois made a pair of free throws with one second left, and after the second make the Governors’ Tony Raye took the ball out from the basket, stepped across the end line with one foot and in one motion threw a one-handed 70-foot pass to Lawrence Mitchell, who caught it, squared up and banked in a three to tie the game at the half. AP continued to hang around in the second half, refusing to go away, and Raye hit the go-ahead free throws with two seconds left in the game. Austin Peay’s Darryl Bedford had an outstanding overall game, as the 6-foot-8 post player hit for 24 points, including five three-pointers while shooting a set shot that bewildered the Illini for its form and for the fact it was coming from a player so big. In the first year of the three-point line, post players didn’t usually shoot from the half-moon line unless their name was Brad Lohaus.
Oddball: Austin Peay wasn't even an example of a team being great all year and just being ripped by the NCAA Selection Committee with a bad seed. The Govs were an average team for most of 1986-87, finishing tied for fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference with an 8-6 record. They went into the OVC Tournament at 16-11, and likely wouldn't have made any kind of postseason if Armstrong hadn't hit his buzzer-beater in the OVC championship.
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