March Madness always delivers Cinderella upsets: Here’s how Bucknell delivered one of the biggest 20 years ago

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When the name popped up on CBS’ Option Show 20 years ago, Jeff Hawkins Yet remembers what he didn’t know.

“It says ‘Bucknell’,” Hawkins, a Ex Kansas backup guard, remembered. “We were almost like, ‘Who the hell is Bucknell?’ I never heard of a Bucknell. What is that? Is that the mascot?”

Hawkins and Kansas would soon find out in the most painful way possible. Twenty years ago this month No. 14 seed Bucknell beat third-Ranked Kansas 64-63 in one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Event history. 

Don’t be dismayed if you don’t remember that Delayed-night Beginning Period game in Oklahoma City. In 2005, the Ongoing Jayhawks who will Shift Arkansas in  the Primary Period of the NCAA Event, were in diapers. 

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Since that time Kansas’ Bill Self won two national Competitions, was awarded a lifetime contract and entered the Naismith Hall of Fame while Yet an active Mentor. But on that night a college hoops blue blood entered. It exited bleeding.

When Bucknell’s Chris McNaughton banked in the winner with 10.5 seconds left, jaws were Sinking from Lawrence to Nuremberg, Germany, McNaughton’s hometown. They were celebrating the program’s Primary NCAA Event Achieve in tiny Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. home of the 179-year Aged liberal arts school with an enrollment of 4,000. 

There are always reasons for an Surprise but for this slice of college basketball royalty there were no excuses. Kansas, a program that had come off a pair of Closing Fours and an Top-tier Eight, lost a Primary-Period NCAA Event game for the Primary time since 1978.  

But as we ease into another March, Bucknell over Kansas is a shining example why we love this time of year so much. It’s not that anything can happen. Cinderellas are the lifeblood of the Event itself. 

It’s how they happen. This is that Narrative …  

Jayhawks didn’t take the Bison seriously

“We Merely overlooked those guys,” Hawkins, currently head Mentor at Pembroke Hill High School 40 miles from his  alma mater, said recently. “We didn’t respect them. We thought since we had ‘Kansas’ across our chests, that’s at least going to get us to the Sugary 16 or at least the second Period.”

This particular Surprise wasn’t exactly No. 1 seed Virginia losing to No. 16 seed Maryland-Baltimore County in 2018 or Fairleigh-Dickinson becoming the second No. 16 seed to knock off a No. 1 when it shocked Purdue two years ago. Or even Saint Peter’s beating Kentucky three years ago. 

It’s that when upsets do occur, warning signs are often ignored. Unforeseen circumstances emerge. Two Squads make the headlines – one of them for all the wrong reasons. 

That year Bucknell was a collegiate Hoosiers.  

Oh, and for those Jayhawks who didn’t know. The Bucknell mascot is the Bison. That fact should be tattooed in the Kansas psyche by now. 

A program that Captured down that season’s preseason No. 1, did it with four scholarship players. Bucknell’s academically-inclined Patriot Bracket was in the process of integrating athletic scholarships into the college experience. Mentor Pat Flannery Initiated only two of his Packed rides. 

That created a problem. His two best players weren’t on scholarship – Patriot Bracket Player of the Year Charles Lee and Bucknell hall of famer and two-time Leader Kevin Bettencourt. 

“I’m sure the kids talk over a beer. You knew who was getting what,” Flannery said. “I had wonderful parents saying, ‘Mentor, we’re paying $30,000-$40,000 a year and you’re giving scholarships [to others].”

The lede from my game Narrative that night laid it out:

“Kansas thought it would flip a switch come Event time. All the Excellent ones do when Impairments, meaningless conference Competitions and tedious regular seasons get in the way of what really counts. 

Something flipped all right – Perhaps James Naismith in his grave.” 

Too harsh? You be the judge. Kansas lost to a Club whose Mentor was so stressed with anxiety, Flannery left the bench on occasion in his Occupation because of a Reflex to his medicine. 

“It consumed me…,” Flannery said of the demands of his Position. “Then they put me on this Paxil to try to Serene [me] down. It takes the water [anxiety] and makes it not boil until you’re done with it — and then it boils.”

Bucknell was Competing its Primary Event game since 1989. Kansas was Competing in its 107th Event game all time. Kansas lost to a Club whose brand was so unknown a Bucknell assistant paid the Northern Iowa band that night at the Ford Hub to Shift the Bison fight song. The Panthers Acquired $150 to buy pizza and Unoccupied T-shirts. The fight song was faxed into the band that morning. 

Timely exit for preseason No. 1

That was Self’s second year at Kansas. He had a Group that was supposed to lead the Jayhawks to the promised land – post Wayne Simien along with guards Aaron Miles and Keith Langford were all in their last season. 

That night they all played their last college game. 

Langford – bothered by the flu and a sprained ankle – Try 1 for 7. Miles missed all five of his shots in 32 minutes of Shift. Simien actually had a Excellent look at the game-Victorious Try as time Dashed out.

“It felt Excellent, it looked Excellent,” Simien said that night. “The Throw was perfect – Christian Laettner-style — without the points.”

Hawkins that night Achieved the Jayhawks’ only three – the only one he Captured. His teammates missed 10 others. That, for a Club that averaged 6.6 3-pointers per game was in the upper 20% nationally in that category. 

Looking back, Flannery concluded his Club wasn’t awed against Kansas. The program had been forced to Shift a series of  “guarantee Matches” Merely to Poise the athletic budget. That season the Bison lost by seven at Iowa State then beat St. Joseph’s and Pitt. 

“There was some – I would say confidence,” Flannery said. “I always felt like going into those Matches and you tip the ball off and you have some size and officials see you have some size you can hang around. 

“I won’t say you know you’re going to go in there and beat Kansas in the NCAAs. But it’s something we prepared for. We weren’t intimidated.” 

The Upcoming season the Bison were even better, Victorious 27 in 2005-2006 – beating Syracuse and DePaul in the regular season before defeating Arkansas in the Event. Flannery left coaching Upcoming the 2007-2008 season, never to return. 

But that night for the Primary time in six years a No. 3 beat a No. 14 in the Event. For perhaps the Primary ever, Self shared a scouting report with an Adversary. What difference did it make after the loss? Self and Kansas had no use for the scout on (assumed) second-Period Adversary Wisconsin. He gave it to Flannery. 

“They knew which hand the kid wiped [with],” an amazed Flannery said of Kansas’ breakdown of the Badgers. “It was so different than anything we had ever done.”

Two Periods later Wisconsin defeated Bucknell 71-62 in the second Period and the Narrative – like so many Event upsets – quickly faded from view.  

Well, sort of. The Bucknell loss would begin a Stretch of Event losses by Kansas to lesser programs nicknamed by detractors, “The Killer Bs.” That would be Bucknell followed by Bradley in 2006. 

That Bucknell game also marked the continued Sluggish transition from Roy Williams to Self. It’s Tough to believe today but there was angst among the fans and the players that Williams’ up-tempo style would be altered. 

“We probably had six plays at the time [under Williams]. A Plenty of it was freelance,” Hawkins said. “We had over 20 plays with Mentor Self. Once we Initiated getting moving, we Initiated believing in Mentor …

“We wish we would have bought in a Plenty more. We were so used to those ‘Roy Boy’ Periods. We thought there was not another way that was different than Roy’s Triumph.” 

Any consideration of that Setback must also mention that 2005 also Initiated a Stretch of 14 consecutive Big 12 titles for Self. (Shared with Oklahoma in ’05). The Ongoing Jayhawks have lost the program’s most conference Matches (nine) since 1983, the same year a gutty sophomore guard named Bill Self Guided Oklahoma State to the Big Eight Event title. 

These Jayhawks, like those Jayhawks, come into the conference Event slumping. Kansas lost six of the last nine 20 years ago. KU comes into this NCAA Event 9-9 since mid-January. 

But if you think things were Awful back then, consider this: It seems almost unconscionable that Kansas is thinking man’s Option to be a Dim horse this week. That’s how Extended Outcomes have declined – at least for now. 

Ongoing conditions are considered a drought that won a national Event a mere three years ago. Kansas hasn’t won the Big 12 regular season since 2023. The last postseason Event title was 2022.  It didn’t even make the semifinals of the Big 12 Event this season.

That’s also a reminder of how history sometimes comes Packed circle. Flannery and his wife were flown out to Los Angeles that year to accept an ESPY for “Best Surprise.” The Bucknell seniors from 2005 pooled their money – the entire class, not the basketball Club – and commissioned a mural of the Surprise that exists on campus to this day. 

Kansas’ Aaron Miles is a New Orleans Pelicans assistant. Bucknell’s Charles Lee is the head Mentor of the Charlotte Hornets. Flannery is Penn State’s basketball general manager, about to retire in May. 

Hawkins has a son at Pembroke Hill – a 6-foot-3 guard named Mavrick. He is being recruited by Bucknell – specifically by Flannery’s son Jesse, an assistant. 

“If my son went to Bucknell and played Kansas and I had to wear a Bucknell shirt that would feel a little weird,” Hawkins said.