Beware Tar Heels, the Catamounts are coming. In the history of the NCAA mens’ basketball tournament, no number 16 seed has ever beaten a number 1, and to be sure, few brackets around the country will have UVM beating North Carolina to become the first, but the opportunity is there for the Catamounts after they played their way into the Big Dance last night, beating the Lamar Cardinals in Dayton, Ohio 71 to 59.
It was a huge game for freshman Four McGlynn, who came off the bench to score 18 points for Vermont. Matt Glass and Sandro Carissimo added 11 and 10 points respectively while Brian Voelkel ruled the boards with 12 rebounds.
UVM will now try to give the school just its second victory in tournament history, and if they were able to upset the Midwest Regional number 1-seeded Tar Heels it would surpass even the incredible first round win over Syracuse in 2005, when the number 13-seeded Catamounts stunned the number 4-seeded Orangemen. Yeah, it’s a long shot, but they don’t call it March Madness because it’s predictable.