March Madness: First Round Recap

As usual, the first round of March Madness brought an action-packed slate of games with many different outcomes. Many teams exited the first round in heartbreak as their seasons came to an end on Thursday and Friday of last week. There were several outcomes that could really shake up the outcome of the entire tournament. 

One of the craziest upsets had to of been the matchup between #15 Princeton and #2 University of Arizona. Arizona came into the tournament as a top 10 AP-seeded team and had been playing some of the best basketball in the PAC-12. #15 Princeton came into this tournament with nothing to lose and they were here to prove that anything can happen in March. #15 Princeton beat #2 Arizona, 59-55, in a first-round thriller. This win by Princeton left the country with a 0.12% chance of perfect brackets remaining. This game will go down in history as one of the greatest upsets in March Madness history.

Many thought things couldn’t get more wild until #16 Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) shocked the country as they beat #1 Purdue–which was projected to win the entire tournament in a majority of brackets. FDU beat Purdue 63-58 in what was probably the most entertaining game in the tournament so far. The only other time a #16 seed has beaten a #1 seed was in 2018 when the University of Maryland of Baltimore County stumped the University of Virginia. This upset left the country with 0 perfect brackets out of 20 million made. The odds of this upset occurring were slim to none, and Fairleigh Dickinson stunned one of the best teams in all of college basketball.

These weren’t the only two surprises, but they were definitely the two that ruined the chance of a perfect bracket for this year’s tournament. After this exciting first round, this year’s tournament is shaping up to be one of the most entertaining tournaments ever. With a 1 and 2 seed gone anything can happen, and after all, it is March!