15 biggest NCAA Tournament upsets of all time

8. No. 11 VCU over No. 1 Kansas, 71-61 (2011, Elite Eight)

The George Mason Patriots put the Colonial Athletic Association on the map as an 11-seed in the 2006 NCAA Tournament as they went on a Cinderella run to the Final Four. Five years after the fact, Shaka Smart and the VCU Rams kept the conference lineage alive by doing the same, also as a No. 11 seed, culminating with a titanic upset of the No. 1 seed Kansas Jayhawks in the Elite Eight.

Led by Marcus and Markieff Morris, Kansas looked like a powerhouse that was destined to play for a National Championship. What we didn’t know is that they weren’t ready for what the Rams were ready to run at them — and run at them, and run at them some more, their trademark style of play.

As you would expect, the Rams didn’t have the same caliber of athletes and players as the Jayhawks. But under Smart, they did have a great strategy. VCU knew that they could run a pace that few teams would be able to keep up with for 40 minutes of action, And that proved to be the case early on in this matchup.

The blitzing pace of the Rams put the Jayhawks on their heels and their barely-above-30-percent shooting in the first half dug them in a big hole, trailing by 14 points at halftime. With that type of lead and their pace, VCU had a firm enough hold on the game to keep playing their brand of basketball and cruise to a huge upset win and a berth in the Final Four.