If you’ve accomplished something truly mind-blowing, then the floor is all yours to talk trash, throw shade and whatever it is you do to your detractors.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County certainly earned that privilege big time Friday when the Retrievers became the first No. 16 seed in NCAA Division 1 men’s tournament history to knock off a No. 1 seed, by routing the University of Virginia Cavaliers 74-54.

A top seed had won 135 consecutive times prior to the Retrievers’ upset special.

The school clearly won the day and, by engineering the ultimate shocker in North American sports, perhaps this whole competition already.

Which brings this conversation to UMBC Athletics’ Twitter account.

RESPECT. US.

— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018

PUT SOME RESPECK ON IT! WE HAVE DEFEATED NO.1 OVERALL SEED VIRGINIA 74-54

— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018

A team has to be swelling with self-confidence to be able achieve what UMBC did, and its social-media handlers weren’t short on that either, their clapback-filled running account of Friday’s game making for a most entertaining second-screen experience.

Just havin fun, cuz that's all 16 seeds are supposed to do https://t.co/QdZfjNFFle

— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018

We also beat UVA on twitter too btw

— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018

There was a beef with American sportswriter and US college-basketball analyst Seth Davis that started when Davis belittled the Retrievers’ chances.

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

Hi Seth, remember when you declared the game over at tip? We are up 14 with 14 minutes left https://t.co/duUviOMvZO

— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018

We appreciate it Seth, feel free to pick against us again https://t.co/8lCkfL8Gha

— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018

Then there was UMBC’s response to somebody mockingly asking where the school is.

University of Maryland Baltimore County, who are you? https://t.co/XGp9MacmGb

— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018

Oh, but Retriever social media was just getting started.

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

WOOOO, NEW BULDINGS! https://t.co/lg6aAj7Cc6

— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018

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

.@HarvardWBB was the first, seriously. Don’t ever forget that. They laid the groundwork, it just took us 20 years to catch up https://t.co/UPmd8yLzs9

— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018

Ahh we remember this game at Maryland in December....hopefully you enjoyed our game from your couch dude! pic.twitter.com/qwRC9zSQuE

— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018

5k before the game 43k now https://t.co/4FgEYIish0

— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) March 17, 2018

UMBC will next face No. 9 seed Kansas State in the second round on Sunday.

Virginia Cavaliers guard Nigel Johnson reacts after losing to the UMBC Retrievers in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Charlotte on Friday. Bob Donnan, USA Today Sports/Reuters

The UMBC Retrievers celebrate beating the Virginia Cavaliers in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Charlotte on Friday. Bob Donnan, USA Today Sports/Reuters

"We just believed in each other and we came in with the mindset of working with each other," said UMBC senior guard Jarius Lyles, who scored a game-high 28 points on 9-of-11 shooting.

The deflated Virginia players however wore shocked and saddened expressions.

The UMBC Athletics Twitter site sent dozens of messages as their team became a trending topic, including: "We won 24 games and a conference title, it's not like we are a YMCA team, dude."

"We just came out and dug in," senior Retrievers guard Jourdan Grant said. "We made defense a priority all season and it paid off tonight."

Call it Retriever Fever. They created Retriever Believers. And it will be UMBC that faces ninth-seeded Kansas State on Sunday in Charlotte for a berth in the NCAA's famous "Sweet 16" field.

"I'm so proud," said UMBC coach Ryan Odom. "I love seeing their smiles. They are great guys. They are high-character kids. They deserve it."

For Virginia it was UMB-See you later.

"We got our butts whipped. That wasn't even close," Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. "We kept getting broken down. We did a poor job.

"We got outplayed. I don't know what to say except that was a historic butt-whipping."

UMBC's greatest-ever college basketball upset drew instant comparisons to the most epic stunners in US sports history, including the US ice hockey victory over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics; Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson for the undisputed heavyweight title in Tokyo in 1990; and the 16-7 victory of the NFL's underdog New York Jets over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl 3 in 1969.

While Virginia won the prestigious Atlantic Coast Conference tournament to finish 31-2 and leave the Cavaliers as the nation's top-rated squad, the Retrievers only made the national tournament when Lyles sank a 3-pointer with 0.6 of a second to play to beat host Vermont 65-62 in the America East final and stand 24-10.

It was such an expected mismatch that UMBC was given a one percent oddsmakers' chance of beating Virginia even when freshman star reserve DeAndre Hunter was lost for the NCAA tournament with a broken left wrist.

But after battling Virginia level 21-21 at half-time, the Retrievers outscored the Cavaliers 53-33 in the second half, pulling away well before the finish in humbling one of the nation's top defensive teams.

— With a report from Agence France-Presse

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