Flynn Clayman is a March Madness star. Learn more about the High Point coach
Here's a closer look at High Point men's basketball coach Flynn Clayman, whose Panthers team beat Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA tournament
Among its many wonderful traits, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament has a way of creating indelible moments and making heroes of the people at the center of them. It took only the fourth game of the first full day of the 2026 NCAA Tournament for such a moment to arise. High Point pulled off the first upset of the tournament, with the No.
12 seed Panthers getting a bucket from Chase Johnston with 11. 2 seconds remaining to earn an 83-82 victory against No. 5 seed Wisconsin on Thursday, March 19.
REQUIRED READING: 'Nobody would play us': High Point coach gives fiery interview after Wisconsin upset As impressive as High Point’s players were in earning the win, it was the team’s coach who stole the show in the minutes after the victory. In a postgame interview with TBS, Panthers coach Flynn Clayman used the opportunity to talk up not only his own team, but other talented mid-major programs who struggle to get non-conference games against squads from the sport’s Power Five (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East and SEC) that don’t want to risk a loss to a team from one of college basketball’s smaller conferences. "It looks pretty obvious to me that high-majors need to play mid-majors during the season," Clayman said .
"Because they said we ain't played nobody? We played somebody now. " When later asked about how the win felt, he added that "It feels unreal, because nobody would play us, just like they wouldn't play Miami (Ohio).
Continue to the original source for the full article.