Kansas shocked in huge tourney upset

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- In their 110th season, the Bucknell Bison finally won their first NCAA tournament game. And, wow, what a victory it was.

Chris McNaughton banked in a hook shot over Wayne Simien with 10.5 seconds left, then Simien missed an open 15-foot jumper at the buzzer, giving the 14th-seeded Bison a stunning 64-63 victory over third-seeded Kansas on Friday night to shake up the Syracuse Regional.

Bucknell (23-9) began playing basketball in 1896, joining Yale and Minnesota as the nation's oldest Division I programs. But the only other times the Bison even made the NCAA field were 1987, when they lost by 22 to Georgetown, and '89, when they lost by 23 to Syracuse.

Now they're the first No. 14 seed to win since Weber State beat North Carolina in 1999, and they ended the title hopes of Kansas, the preseason No. 1. This also is the first tournament win by a team from the Patriot League -- and they'll go for another Sunday against seventh-seeded Wisconsin (23-8), which beat Northern Iowa 57-52 earlier Friday.

The Jayhawks (23-7) ended a streak of 15 straight first-round tournament wins and 21 in a row overall. Although they had their share of scares along the way, including one by Utah State in Oklahoma City just two years ago, this was their first opening-round exit since being eliminated by UCLA in 1978.

Kansas seemed vulnerable because it had lost five of its last eight and second-leading scorer Keith Langford was slowed by a lingering flu problem and a creaky left ankle. However, the Jayhawks weren't too concerned because four of those recent losses were to teams that won first round NCAA games.

Bucknell knew it could hang with the big boys after winning at Pittsburgh this season when the Panthers were undefeated and ranked No. 7. Not everyone was so sure this might happen, though -- the band took off for spring break and couldn't be gathered in time to make it here, so the Northern Iowa crew was faxed sheet music earlier Friday, donned orange Bucknell T-shirts and filled in.

Kevin Bettencourt got the good karma going with a four-point play to open the Bison's scoring. He finished with 19 points and had five of their 3-pointers. Bucknell put up a season-high 31, while trying to stay away from Simien inside.

The Bison led by as many as seven in the first half and protected the lead even through a nearly six minute drought between baskets. Then they went scoreless the last 4:33 of the half and Kansas used a 10-0 run to take the lead.

Yet the Jayhawks were never able to seize control.

After a timeout, Kansas tried the Grant Hill-to-Christian Laettner play Duke used to beat Kentucky in the NCAAs. Michael Lee's heave to Simien went perfectly and he spun for a good look at the basket. But his shot hit the rim and bounced away.

Bucknell celebrated wildly at midcourt -- as you'd expect from a program that once had Jim Valvano as its coach -- while Simien walked straight to the locker room, his college career over.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: