String of Upsets in NCAA Tourney

March 16, 2001 -- Seeded low and lightly regarded, Hampton, Georgia State and UtahState rocked the NCAA tournament.

Upsets and close calls filled the first half of the tournament'sopening round Thursday, with 15th-seeded Hampton punctuating a wildfour-game set in Boise, Idaho, in West Regional games.

Maryland Avoids Upset

Last year, three teams seeded 10th or lower won first-roundgames. With just half the first round completed, five double-digitseeds have advanced to the second round.

Hampton beat second-seeded Iowa State 58-57. No. 11 GeorgiaState beat sixth-seeded Wisconsin 50-49, and 10th-seeded Georgetownstopped No. 7 Arkansas 63-61. Third-seeded Maryland avoided anupset, holding on for a 83-80 win over George Mason.

The combined seven-point margin of victory in the Boisesubregional shattered the previous record for the closest four-gameregional. The four games at the 1998 East Regional in Washington,D.C., were decided by 17 points, as was the 1986 Midwest Regionalin Minneapolis.

In other first-round upsets, No. 13 Kent State beatfourth-seeded Indiana 77-73 in a West Regional game in San Diego,and No. 12 Utah State stopped No. 5 Ohio State 77-68 in overtime inan East Regional game in Greensboro, N.C.

Pirates Storm the Cyclones

Tarvis Williams flipped in a 4-footer in the lane with 6.9seconds remaining as Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championHampton stunned Iowa State.

Jamaal Tinsley missed a layup with 1.2 seconds to go, settingoff a celebration as the Pirates (25-6) and their fans stormed thefloor.

Hampton, making its first NCAA tournament appearance, became thefourth 15th seed to beat a No. 2 since the tournament expanded to16 seeds per region in 1985.

"It was a great win. I thought our kids persevered," coachSteve Merfeld said. "They took control of the game, but we justhung in there and hung in there."

The Cyclones (25-6), who came within one game of the Final Fourlast season, left the court in shock.

"It's just devastating to go out like this," Iowa State guardKantrail Horton said.

Missed Free Throws Cost Wisconsin

Georgia State, led by former Maryland coach Lefty Driesell,knocked off the sixth-seeded Badgers to set up a second-roundshowdown with the Terrapins.

"I told my team this might be the greatest win I've ever had,"said Driesell, fired by Maryland 15 years ago. "We came back inthe second half and showed what kind of club we have."

Georgia State's Darryl Cooper made a four-point play and a stealto set up the game-winning basket in the final minute. The winwasn't sealed until Wisconsin's Mark Vershaw missed two free throwswith 3.2 seconds to play.

Kevin Morris led Georgia State (29-4) with 18 points. MarkVershaw had 19 for Wisconsin (18-11), which played in the FinalFour last year.

Maryland (22-10) used Steve Blake's late 3-pointer and JuanDixon's two free throws with 4.9 seconds left to beat George Mason(18-12). Dixon and Byron Mouton scored 22 points each for Maryland.

In other West Regional play in San Diego, St. Joseph's upsetGeorgia Tech 66-62, top-seeded Stanford beat North CarolinaGreensboro 89-60 and Cincinnati beat Brigham Young 84-59.

In the East Regional in Uniondale, N.Y., Kentucky edged HolyCross 72-68, Iowa beat Creighton 69-56, Boston College held offSouthern Utah 68-65 and Southern California beat Oklahoma State69-54.

In Greensboro, N.C., UCLA defeated Hofstra 61-48, top-seededDuke beat Monmouth 95-52 and Missouri edged Georgia 70-68.

Play begins today in the South and Midwest regions.