FINAL BELOW! Hampton’s men’s basketball team famously shocked the nation in the 2001 NCAA Tournament, knocking off No. 2 seed Iowa State 58–57 in Boise, Idaho — one of the most memorable upsets in tournament history.
In fact, only three other HBCU programs have ever won an NCAA Tournament game outside of the play-in games in Dayton: Alcorn State (1984), Southern (1993), and Coppin State (1997). Hampton remains the most recent — and the only HBCU to defeat a No. 2 seed.
Their opponent in our VABG “Tournament of New Teams” is 2025 NIT champion Chattanooga. We’ve long argued that winning the entire NIT is more impressive than pulling off a single NCAA Tournament upset. But being the last HBCU to win an NCAA game — and doing it against a No. 2 seed — may be even more remarkable.
Now we’ll see which résumé the simulated matchup believes was truly stronger.
Game result: Chattanooga dominated almost all of the game, leading 66-52 and the five minute mark. Then Hampton center Tarvis Williams (24 points, 11 rebounds) took over to score 14 of Hampton's 18 points in the final 5 minutes including a game-tying bucket in the closing moments. However his heroics were spoiled when Chattanooga point guard Trey Bonham hit a buzzer beater for the 72-70 win.
Chattanooga will now face the earliest team in our game, the 1939 national champion Long Island University.
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