15 biggest NCAA Tournament upsets of all time

15. No. 2 Duke over No. 1 UNLV, 79-77 (1991, Final Four)

The 1990-91 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels were a force that no team in college basketball seemed to truly have an answer for. Led by a star-studded group that included Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Anderson Hunt and Greg Anthony, Jerry Tarkanian’s team had not lost a game as they entered the 1991 Final Four (and had also won 45-straight games), and most assumed that they would continue that run all the way to cutting down the nets. Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke Blue Devils had other plans.

Duke and UNLV had actually met in the 1990 National Championship Game the previous year, and the result wasn’t close. The Runnin’ Rebels, led by the same core of players, simply dominated Coach K’s Blue Devils, winning the title in emphatic fashion with a 30-point victory. That certainly colored the perception of how the 1991 Final Four matchup would play out.

There were several things that Duke did in the Final Four matchup to turn the tides in their favor. While Greg Anthony had a big game against Duke with 19 points and six rebounds, the Blue Devils put the pressure on him with a fast-break offense that ultimately caused Anthony to foul out, taking out a big weapon in crunch time of a close game.

On top of that, Duke played tremendously efficient offense behind Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Brian Davis and Grant Hill, shooting 51.8 percent from the field, by far the highest percentage that UNLV allowed all year. The combination of that coupled with clutch free throws from Laettner and some lockdown late-game defense led to a stunner late in the NCAA Tournament, but a massive upset nonetheless.