Everything you need to know about UMBC, the No. 16 seed that just beat a No. 1 for the 1st time in the NCAA tournament

My roommate asked me a question for which i didn’t know the answer, and it was fairly embarrassing for a sports writer: “What even is UMBC?” And I quickly realized I didn’t know. In fact, I didn’t even really have a good guess. So thanks to the magic of Google, now I know the answer to that question, and I think you should too.

And if you clicked on this blog, like this incredible spike in Google Trends data would indicate, you also would like to know what UMBC is.

The University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers — yes, that’s their nickname — is located 150 miles away from the University of Virginia team it just upset. The school is southwest of downtown Baltimore, and in the same University system as Towson and the much more popular University of Maryland (which is located in College Park).

Here’s the rundown from the school’s website:

UMBC is a dynamic public research university integrating teaching, research and service to benefit the citizens of Maryland. As an Honors University, the campus offers academically talented students a strong undergraduate liberal arts foundation that prepares them for graduate and professional study, entry into the workforce, and community service and leadership. UMBC emphasizes science, engineering, information technology, human services and public policy at the graduate level. UMBC contributes to the economic development of the State and the region through entrepreneurial initiatives, workforce training, K-16 partnerships, and technology commercialization in collaboration with public agencies and the corporate community. UMBC is dedicated to cultural and ethnic diversity, social responsibility and lifelong learning.

But, uhh, don’t click on that hyperlink because it won’t get you anywhere apparently.

Some more quick facts to get you up to speed on the school:

So now you know all about UMBC, the school 150 miles from UVA that pulled off the biggest upset in NCAA history.