We’re only two days away from the NCAA Men’s Tournament, but after No. 16 seed FDU’s wrath against No. 1 seed Purdue on Friday night, there are no perfect parentheses left on CBSSports. com. FDU’s win was only the second 16-1 upset in NCAA Men’s Tournament history.
And even before that big upset, entering the action of Friday’s NCAA Tournament, only 0.002% of the slices on CBSSports.com were perfect.
That percentage actually dropped to 0.001% when No. 3 seed Xavier held on to beat No. 14 Kennesaw State, 72-67. But actually, it’s not really shocking that there were zero perfect parentheses left, given how much chaos Day 1 of March Madness ended up producing.
The two biggest upheavals on Thursday came in the South region.
In Game 2 alone, No. 13 seed Furman was able to defeat No. 4 seed Virginia in what was one of the most shocking endings in recent memory. In the dying seconds, Virginia’s Kihei Clark was trapped by the Furman defense and attempted to throw the ball downfield in a bid to miss time. However, Furman managed to intercept Clark’s pass and JP Pegues hit a winning line with just 2.2 seconds left to give the Paladins the upset 68-67 victory.
Later Thursday afternoon, the brackets were broken again when No. 2 Arizona was knocked down by No. 15 seed Princeton 59-55. It was close competition throughout as the Tigers trailed just a single point at halftime despite facing the Pac 12 tournament champions. Arizona took a 51-41 lead at eight minutes. of late, but Princeton hasn’t thrown in the towel. Instead, the Tigers finished the game on a 9-0 run and kept the Wildcats scoreless for the final 4:44 of the contest.
Remember: they call it March Madness for a reason.