Largest Final Four upset
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UNLV was such a powerhouse team that a number 2 seed team, Duke, was a 10-point underdog in their 1991 Final Four matchup. Duke went 26-7 during the regular season and was the 6th-ranked team. However, the number one team UNLV, was on a 44-game winning streak and already beat Duke last year in the championship game by 30 points. In addition, UNLV's roster was full of NBA talent; it would have three first-round draft picks, with Larry Johnson being the first overall pick of the next draft.
Duke also was full of NBA talent, being led by Christian Laettner. Duke was only down by two at halftime and would win by two, 79-77. Laettner scored 28 points and would win the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament award. Duke would then go on to beat Kansas to win its first championship. This win is still the largest underdog upset in a Final Four today.
Quotes
I don’t remember a team more intimidating than that ’91 UNLV group. They were just roll-the-ball-out spectacular. They obliterated people. It was like (boxing legend Muhammad) Ali walking into the gym.
Curt Cavin
I think it taught the lesson that there is nothing impossible in sports, that ‘unbeatable’ isn’t a thing. There was a period of time when we had seen those UCLA teams, and Indiana in ‘76, and there was still this feeling that you could do that, that you could have ‘unbeatable.’
Michael DeCourcy
References
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'Unbeatable died that day': An oral history of the 1991 Duke-UNLV Final Four clash in Indy
Coming off the program’s first men’s basketball title, UNLV was on a tear. The Rebels entered the NCAA Tournament 30-0 with an average margin of victory of 28.3 points. Overall, they’d won 41 in a row. Not only would defending its title tie them with UCLA for the third-longest men’s basketball winning streak of all-time (47), but they’d be the first program since those Bruins of the ‘60s and ‘70s to go back-to-back. (UCLA won seven-straight from 1967-73.)
IndyStar
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March 30, 1991: As double-digit dog, Duke stuns unbeaten UNLV in Final Four
That Saturday night, the Blue Devils were 10-point underdogs against an unbeaten UNLV team that was the defending national champion and had future NBA players such as Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony. That group had destroyed Duke the year before in the national title game, 103-73. However, Coach K's club got payback with a 79-77 upset in the 1991 Final Four.
SportsLine
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25 years later, UNLV players still feel the heartbreak of losing to Duke
"Beating that UNLV team was a pivotal moment in Duke basketball history," Grant Hill says. "It legitimized us as a serious program. We became a great program at that moment."
SB Nation
