Upsets, the last four years, a look back (Nebraska Girls' Varsity State Basketball Tournament)
(Photo Credit: Wallpapercave.com)
Through the first third of Day Two of the Girls' Varsity Basketball State Tournament in Nebraska, there have been 11 upsets in this year's Tournament for all classes.
What do I mean by upsets?
I mean any team that is seeded lower than a team that is seeded higher at any point of each tournament.
There are six tournaments. One for each of Class A, Class B, Class C-1, Class C-2, Class D-1 and Class D-2.
Nine of those upsets occurred on Day 1. That is the most since last year when there were ten.
In 2016 there were eight and in 2017 there were six.
And two have already occurred today (Friday) on Day 2.
Lincoln Christian (19-8), the #5 ranked team in Class C-1 have won their first two games of the Nebraska State Tournament. Both of them were upsets.
The Crusaders defeated #4 ranked West Point-Beemer in round one 46-35 and #1 ranked Mitchell 44-42 in round two.
They have advanced to the State Championship where they will face #2 ranked Wahoo Bishop Neumann (22-3) tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. Central Time in the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln.
Wahoo ranked third (24-2) and Mitchell ranked first (25-2) will play for third-place at 11:00 a.m. Central time at Lincoln Southeast High School in Lincoln.
In Class D-1, #3 Dundy County-Stratton (24-2) defeated #2 Pleasanton (26-2), 47-43. They will play #4 Archbishop Bergan (18-8) for the Championship at 11:00 a.m. Central Time in the Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Pleasanton will face #8 Elkhorn Valley (24-5) at 1:00 p.m. Central Time at Lincoln Southeast High School for the consolation prize.
Round 1 Upset Winners 2019:
Class C-1: #5 Lincoln Christian
Class C-2: None
Class D-1: #8 Elkhorn Valley
Last year, there were 17 total upsets with Columbus Scotus (C-1) and North Central (D-1) each winning three of those 17 for a total of six.
Ravenna also won their first two games but fell to Superior in Class C-2.
In the 2016-17 season, there were 10 upsets total at the State Tournament.
Lincoln Southwest was the higher seed in round one, but were the underdogs in the next two rounds and won Class A.
Diller-Odell (C-2) also won two games as the lower-ranked team before falling to Howells-Dodge.
And three years ago, there were 15 upsets with Lincoln East (A) and Wynot (D-2) combining for two-thirds of those victories. They each won three games to win state championships.
Waverly won the first two rounds before getting beat by Elkhorn South in Class B.
So the 2018-19 Tournament isn't supposed to produce lots of upsets based on the every other year theory? Like in the 2016-17 season? We're going to find out.
In the second round for upsets the last four years, there have been three, three, four and two so far here in 2019.
For state title upsets, it has been two, one, and one the last three years.
But based off recent history, there's a chance this year may be the most upsets at the state tournament in quite some time.
And a little luck will have to go into it.
