UMBC's Twitter account shined during upset win over Virginia
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County pulled off NCAA tournament history on Friday night in its 74-54 win against Virginia, becoming the first 16 seed to knock off a No. 1 seed in the history of the tournament.
Social media, naturally, was going nuts.
While timelines were filled with shocked fans from all over the world, GIFs of golden retrievers and plenty more, there was one Twitter account that shined far above the rest.
@UMBCAthletics, the official Twitter account of the UMBC athletic department, had just a few thousand followers before Friday’s game. By the time the Retrievers had knocked off Virginia, it had more than 27,000 followers.
It’s easy to see why. The athletic department did such a good job running its Twitter account, it not only was trending throughout the Untied States, but their website crashed from too much activity.
C'MON GUYS, you crashed our dang website, our IT people wanna watch the game too, please form an orderly line
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
It all started at the beginning of the game. The Athletic’s Seth Davis declared Virginia the winner just minutes into the contest with one of his classic “Sharpie” tweets.
Virginia. Sharpie.
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) March 17, 2018
UMBC didn’t appreciate that.
Seth, Virginia is up 5-3, 15:52 remaining. We will keep you updated, since you already gave us the loss. https://t.co/vQ4SeT6Roi
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
It sure did keep him updated, too, quote-tweeting his original tweet nearly every time there was a new score.
Virginia leads UMBC 13-10 in a game that is still happening, in fact, there's 7:20 left in the 1st half. https://t.co/vQ4SeT6Roi
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
And of course reminded everyone at halftime.
Hi everyone, in case you didn't see, Seth Davis tweeted this one minute into the game pic.twitter.com/vDlrcOtJOn
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
The UMBC bookstore got in on the action at this point, letting the athletic department and Davis know that they sell Wite-out that Davis can use to cover up his Sharpie.
It's ok, we sell whiteout
— UMBC Bookstore (@umbcbookstore) March 17, 2018
Many users were shocked that Virginia could be losing to a team most of the country had never seen play before and didn’t respect. So @UMBCAthletics clapped back.
We won 24 games and a conference title, it's not like we are a YMCA team, dude https://t.co/TNYHHdwNZy
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
Once again, we won 24 games and have a good defense, but we're just a commuter school, right? https://t.co/RwtvyA5ZvC
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
Some were entrenched in other games, too, because they didn’t think watching UMBC was worth their time.
#Preds and #Avs on one TV. Virginia and whoever UMBC is on the other. Solid sporting night.
— Robby Stanley (@RStanleyNHL) March 17, 2018
Yea, that hockey game must be a bummer, huh https://t.co/qy0pcEbxBn
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
It also — in a genius move — decided to alert the country where UMBC is actually located.
Second Half about to start, no matter what happens we just want you all to remember……we are conveniently located just outside of Baltimore and have stellar academics
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
One user decided it didn’t have enough followers to be respected as “Retriever Nation,” and called the account out on it. @UMBCAthletics called the user out on it with a dictionary reference.
The dictionary defines: a large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory……5K is a large amount, dude https://t.co/f0lmPFw64i
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
Midway through the second half, after UMBC had built up a double-digit lead, people were still confused as to who the Retrievers were.
UMBC is beating virginia by14. UMBC looks fantastic! btw, anyone know what UMBC is?
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 17, 2018
@UMBCAthletics took care of that.
University of Maryland Baltimore County, who are you? https://t.co/XGp9MacmGb
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
Someone thought that UMBC sounded like a correctional institution.
It sounds like a jail. https://t.co/1eh4RSozis
— Jake Jardin (@LLCool_Jake14) March 17, 2018
So the account handler hit him where it hurts: his facial hair.
Wow, coming from a dude who doesn't care about what people say about his beard, that hurts https://t.co/rhwy9fKFym
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
Sure, at times the Twitter account wasn’t completely focused on the game, as better and more important issues came along.
We're up 12 on Virginia with 4:07 left, but more importantly we heard their may be some cookies left in the media dining area, will report back soon
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
But the account was there when it mattered, right alongside the team as it accomplished NCAA tournament history and earning respect for a program most of the college basketball world had never heard of.
PUT SOME RESPECK ON IT! WE HAVE DEFEATED NO.1 OVERALL SEED VIRGINIA 74-54
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
One thing is for sure: Whoever is in charge of social media for the UMBC athletic department deserves a raise and a promotion.
We also beat UVA on twitter too btw
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
Oh, and there were no cookies left in the media dining area.
We're up 17 with 3:29 to go thanks to a Lamar three, BUT the media dining is out of cookies and this is the worst day ever
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018
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