UMBC Raises The Only Good Banner

UMBC men’s basketball became one of the few programs that got to lift multiple banners to commemorate the previous season’s accomplishments on Friday. The first celebrated the Retrievers’ America East Championship. The second was just another reminder that they were the first No. 16 seed to knock out No. 1 seed in a men’s NCAA tournament. In case you forgot, the team that UMBC upset 74-54 to make that history was Virginia.

Cavaliers fans might want to avert their eyes here.

If you ever find yourself catching a Retrievers game live, the banner wouldn’t be the only reminder of the team’s historic accomplishment. Back in April, the school added a commemorative banner near one of the entrances of a new building: the UMBC Event Center.

It might seem like a lot of pomp and circumstance for just one game to some folks, but the program really deserves to milk every last drop of this moment. Nobody ever thought this would happen at all, let alone to a team like UMBC against an opponent like Virginia. The Retrievers have the right to rub our noses in this accomplishment for the rest of human existence over that doubt.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the banner was in UMBC’s Retriever Activities Center. This has been updated.