Washington (AFP) – There’s free pizza nationwide, a $10,000 retweet giveaway and a much higher profile for the University of Maryland Baltimore County after the Retrievers’ shocking victory in the US national college basketball tournament.
Dazed American fans were still trying to cope with how their predictions brackets were destroyed by UMBC’s 74-54 first-round upset of overall top seed Virginia on Friday at Charlotte, North Carolina, in one of US sport’s greatest stunners.
It marked the first time in tournament history a 16th seed had ever ousted a top seed after 135 failed attempts.
“We had the confidence coming into the game,” said UMBC guard Jairus Lyles, who scored a game-high 28 points. “I don’t think there was a point in the game that we thought we couldn’t play with them.”
The Retrievers will try to continue their unlikely run by toppling ninth seed Kansas State on Sunday, also in Charlotte.
The UMBC website crashed during the game after so many people went looking for information on the Retrievers and the 13,000-student school at Catonsville, Maryland — about a 10-minute drive from downtown Baltimore.
“Obviously a historic game for UMBC, unbelievable. I’m so proud of these kids,” Retrievers coach Ryan Odom said.
“I take so much joy in watching them smile not just at the end there, but throughout the game. I think it’s pretty easy to tell everybody in the arena that these guys have passion. These guys love to play this game.
“This game means a lot to them. It was just a special, special effort.”
UMBC became an internet trending topic during the contest. The UMBC Athletics Twitter account jumped from 5,000 to 43,000 followers thanks to its funny and passionate remarks about naysayers and non-believers as the night wore on.
“We also beat UVA on twitter too btw” and “why aren’t you all studying” were among the gems as the site poked fun at those who picked against them.
Also a popular internet item Friday night were photos of retrievers, the dog breed never so popular with US sports fans.
And then there were those who put their money where their mouths were only to pay the price.
Little Caesars national pizza restaurant chain will give away a four-slice pizza and drink lunch combo for 90 minutes at each store on April 2 — the day of the tournament final — after tweeting a free pizza offer if any 16th seed beat a top seed on Friday.
And minor-league baseball’s St. Paul Saints promised to pay $10,000 for one lucky person who retweeted their message if a 16th seed upset a top seed.
Saints general manager Derek Sharrer watched almost 15,000 retweets in the minutes after the upset and on Tuesday will pick the winner live on Facebook, Twitter and Periscope, according to the Star Tribune newspaper of Minneapolis.
“This is one of the more rewarding payouts we’ve ever been involved with,” Sharrer told the newspaper.
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