Chaminade Defeated NCAA Playoff-Winning Team Three Consecutive Seasons

Today is the anniversary of a "David vs. Goliath" game hailed as one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history when national player of the year Ralph Sampson and Virginia got coal in their Christmas stocking by losing at Chaminade, 77-72, in Hawaii in 1982-83. The contest triggered one of the greatest achievements in small-college history as Chaminade went on to defeat an NCAA Division I school winning at least one NCAA playoff game in three consecutive campaigns. Following is a chronological list of victories by small schools over major universities going on to win at least one NCAA playoff game that season:

NOTES: Michigan '89 became NCAA champion and Louisville '59 reached the Final Four. . . . UC Riverside subsequently moved up to the NCAA Division I level in 2000-01.

Oakland, which nearly upset #1 Michigan State prior to Christmas, almost joined Chaminade and Northern Iowa among the following list of seven nationally unranked non-DI or mid-major schools in the last 50 years upsetting the nation's top-ranked team from a power conference then or now (DePaul only university in this #1 category losing at home to mid-major):