Key figures from historic NCAA Tournament upsets seeking more March Madness in Sacramento

As anniversaries go, two of them resonate deeply in March Madness lore.

A coach and a program involved in two of the biggest upsets that have made the NCAA Tournament what it has become — unpredictable, wild and fun — are at Golden 1 Center for first- and second-round games, aiming to make more history in the Sacramento sub-regional.

It was five years ago Thursday when little-known University of Maryland, Baltimore County became the only No. 16 seed to upend a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Retrievers took an indelible bite out of Virginia, 74-54, in what has been regarded as the greatest upset in tournament history, if not the college game in general.

And it was 27 years ago this week that Princeton, seeded 13th, bounced defending national champion UCLA in a tournament opener, 43-41.

UMBC was coached by Ryan Odom, now the second-year coach at Utah State. The Aggies of the Mountain West Conference are seeded 10th in the South Region. On Thursday they will face No. 7 Missouri, an upstart taking on the No. 23-ranked team in the land out of the powerhouse Southeastern Conference.

Princeton is unranked nationally, something the Tigers are used to and inspired by. They carry a No. 15 seed into their game against second-seeded Arizona in what looks like a mismatch on paper. The Tigers don’t view it that way, especially not Mitch Henderson, the 11th-year coach and a key figure on the 1996 Princeton team that fared just fine against a Pac-12 heavy in UCLA.

Henderson had eight points and four steals in that stunner over UCLA. Photos of his on-court celebration are etched in the minds of Tigers fans everywhere. Some can’t avoid the images since they are displayed in the athletic department on the school’s New Jersey campus.

Princeton was coached then by Hall of Fame great Pete Carril. He’s also a big name locally. Carril was a longtime assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings, masterful in the art of back-door cuts, big-man passers and chewing on cigars on his stroll to the parking lot. Carril was brought to Sacramento by one of his greatest Princeton players in Geoff Petrie, the Kings general manager from 1994-2013. Carril died in August at 92. Princeton players wear a patch that honors the program patriarch.

“The ’96 season, we had lost to Penn eight times in a row, then beat them to get to the NCAA Tournament,” said Henderson, a four-year starter for Carril, adding that never in his wildest dreams did he think he’d end up coaching the Tigers. “I pinch myself every day.”

“This is a very similar situation, in a way,” Henderson said of the irony of facing UCLA then and Arizona now. “Just three days ago, we were fighting to make the tournament. It’s just a joy to be here. Twenty-seven years ago yesterday was when we beat UCLA. I think about coach (Carril) a lot. (Like UCLA in 1996), it’s a tall order. Arizona, they’re unbelievable. We just want to try to play really well together, see if we can hold our own.”

It’s the upstarts that create the upsets in March Madness. In sizing up the field at Golden 1 in quick order, it’s this simple: If UCLA and Arizona don’t both go 2-0 here, then something stunning will happen. Those tradition-steeped programs tower over the other six teams in Sacramento.

Utah State is 28-7 and was in the NIT last season. The Aggies have not won an NCAA Tournament game since 2001, an eight-game losing streak. No. 10 Boise State is 0-8 all time in the NCAA and plays No. 7 Northwestern, which is in the Big Dance for just the second time in the 85 years the tournament has been around.

No. 15 UNC Asheville is the No. 15 seed in the West, the ultimate darkhorse as it readies for UCLA. But the Bulldogs are no pushovers. They are 21-1 in 2023 and have a talented 6-foot-11 big man in Drew Pember, who averages 21.2 points and 9.3 rebounds.

Odom, the Utah State coach, said memories are made with upsets. He’ll certainly never forget beating Virginia. Neither have a host of his friends, who blew up his phone last week to celebrate his current team and the anniversary of a 16th seed knocking off a No. 1. He is living proof that anything can happen.

“That game was special,” Odom said. “The game before that was even more special, to be honest with you, because we had to win our conference championship in order to even make it to the NCAA Tournament.”

Odom recalled how, at the crack of dawn after a Mountain West Conference Tournament victory last week, his phone lit up.

“I got a barrage of text messages,” he said. “It was a group text message that one of the former coaches had put together about the five-year anniversary. Literally, I could not go back to sleep. This time of year, when you’re a coach in college basketball, it’s hard to sleep. I literally was in tears, not from an emotional standpoint, just laughing. It was fun because it reminded me of why we do this, why we coach. It’s to have those interactions, to have those special memories.”

He added, “Each team that we’re fortunate enough to coach has one life to live. That particular team lived a great life. The joy that that team experienced was unlike any other. That’s the cool part about college athletics. It’s just fun to be a part of this. This is what all coaches and players want. They want to be a part of March Madness and the upset.”

NCAA Tournament

Sacramento sub-region

Thursday’s first-round games

No. 7 Missouri vs. No. 10 Utah State, 10:30 a.m. (TNT)

No. 2 Arizona vs. No. 15 Princeton, 1:30 p.m. (TNT)

No. 7 Northwestern vs. No. 10 Boise State, 4:35 p.m. (TruTV)

No. 2 UCLA vs. No. 15 UNC Asheville, 7:05 p.m. (TruTV)

Saturday’s second-round games

UCLA/UNC Asheville winner vs. Northwestern/Boise State winner

Arizona/Princeton winner vs. Missouri/Utah State winner