For UMBC, this was the opportunity of a lifetime.Ĭoach Ryan Odom led UMBC to its first NCAA berth in a decade last year. For Virginia, they were most likely looking forward to a long tournament run. One of the reasons why so many people participate or watch sports is that you never know the outcome. The Retrievers had only been in the NCAA Tournament one time before, in 2008. Odom and his UMBC players faced a team that had a 32-1 record. Spectators perpetually hope to witness a Cinderella story each March. The tournament has always been about great games and upsets. He asked the 44-year-old coach if his team was going to be the first in history to pull off the upset? Odom pointed to a tee-shirt worn by a player’s father that stated, “Why not us?” Shortly before the game, while the team was warming up, Odom was speaking with CBS announcer, Jim Nantz, who told Odom he wanted to call the first game ever of a 16th seed defeating a top seed. UMBC advanced to the first round of the NCAA Tournament, where they would face the country’s No. UMBC star Jairus Lyles led the comeback that night and hit a three-pointer with less than one second left on the clock to defeat Vermont, 65-62. In the championship game, Vermont had a nine-point lead with eight minutes to go. In their two meetings during the regular season, Vermont won twice by a combined total of 43 points. UMBC had lost to Vermont 23 times in a row. To get in, UMBC had to defeat the University of Vermont in the America East Conference championship game. Yet, even he hadn’t faced the long-shot odds that his son was about to experience.Ĭoach Ryan Odom was thrilled that his team even qualified for the tournament. Ryan’s father, Dave Odom, was a highly respected NCAA coach-most notably at Wake Forest-that developed two of the greatest players in college basketball history, Ralph Samson and Tim Duncan. In the 80-year history of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, not once has a 16th-ranked seed defeated a top seed in the annual basketball championship tournament.

This one game could elevate Ryan’s status within the basketball world. 1 ranked team in the nation, University of Virginia, in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament last March. How often does someone have a chance for a career advancing opportunity in one evening? This was the case for Annapolis newcomer, Coach Ryan Odom, as his 16 th-seeded team, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County Retrievers, faced the No.

One shining moment 2008