KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When the name popped up on CBS’ Selection Show 20 years ago, Jeff Hawkins still remembers what he didn’t know.
“It says ‘Bucknell’,” Hawkins, a former Kansas backup guard, remembered. “We were almost like, ‘Who the hell is Bucknell?’ I never heard of a Bucknell. What is that? Is that the mascot?”
Hawkins and Kansas would soon find out in the most painful way possible. Twenty years ago this month No. 14 seed Bucknell beat third-seeded Kansas 64-63 in one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history.
Don’t be dismayed if you don’t remember that late-night opening round game in Oklahoma City. In 2005, the current Jayhawks who will play Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, were in diapers.
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Since that time Kansas’ Bill Self won two national championships, was awarded a lifetime contract and entered the Naismith Hall of Fame while still an active coach. But on that night a college hoops blue blood entered. It exited bleeding.
When Bucknell’s Chris McNaughton banked in the winner with 10.5 seconds left, jaws were dropping from Lawrence to Nuremberg, Germany, McNaughton’s hometown. They were celebrating the program’s first NCAA Tournament win in tiny Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. home of the 179-year old liberal arts school with an enrollment of 4,000.
There are always reasons for an upset but for this slice of college basketball royalty there were no excuses. Kansas, a program that had come off a pair of Final Fours and an Elite Eight, lost a first-round NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 1978.
But as we ease into another March, Bucknell over Kansas is a shining example why we love this time of year so much. It’s not that anything can happen. Cinderellas are the lifeblood of the…
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