Another March, and another year of March Madness. Last Sunday, people all over the country printed out their brackets, and filled out what they thought would be the winning bracket in their local pool. We know of course, that when it comes to March Madness, nothing ever goes as planned. Last year for example, UConn won the tournament after having a slow season. They got hot at the right time as they won five games in five days to win the Big East tournament prior to the NCAA tournament. Cinderella team VCU and 2010 American sweetheart Butler also returned to the Final Four with Butler advancing to the championship game before losing to UConn. No matter how good you think your bracket is, chances are you will stumble along the way.
In the first games played on Thursday, there weren’t any major upsets at all. VCU upset Wichita State, but anyone that follows college basketball closely knows that VCU doesn’t lose their first game in the tournament. No. 11 seed Colorado upset UNLV, but again, it didn’t come as a huge shock. After the first day, all brackets looked to be going according to plan. On Friday however, the tournament showed why the madness is included in its name.
The safe bets when filling out your brackets are to have all over your No. 1 seeds advance and all over your No. 2 seeds advance. Never in the history of the tournament has a No. 16 seed defeated a No. 1 seed. As for No. 2 seeds, only four times before has a No. 15 seed defeated them. On Saturday, this changed as brackets were officially breaking. The first major upset of the day came when No. 15 Norfolk State University squared off against No. 2 Missouri. Missouri (30-4) was a trendy pick to make it to the Final Four, and even the title game. What happened instead was a shocker to almost all of the nation.
Norfolk State (26-9) came out in full-force against Missouri, and went into the half tied 38-38. In the second half, Norfolk continued to apply pressure, and keep their foot on the gas pedal. Led by senior Kyle O’Quinn’s career high 26 points and 14 rebounds, the Spartans were able to knock off the Tigers 86-84 for the monumental upset. Pendarvis Williams and Chris McEachin each contributed 20 points of their own in the upset win. The Spartans ruined a lot of brackets as they move on to face Florida in the round of 32.
As rare as it is for a No. 15 to defeat a No. 2 seed, it’s even more rare for a it to happen twice in one day; in fact, it’s the first time it has ever happened in the same tournament. Legendary basketball program Duke (27-7) faced off against Lehigh University (27-7) from the Patriot League. Just like Missouri, Duke was predicted by many to reach the Final Four or even the title game (guilty as charged). Duke is a young team with stars Austin Rivers and Seth Curry, as well as the Plumlee brothers. They were however, no match for Lehigh’s C.J. McCollum (seriously?), as the quick guard scored 30 points en route to a 75-70 win for the Mountain Hawks. This marks just the second time in the past 16 years that Duke has lost their opening game. The last came against VCU (I told you they don’t lose their opening game) in 2007. After the game, Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski said that the better team won the game.
Unfortunately for you, the better team in the bracket didn’t.
Photo Credit: Associated Press
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