March Madness: Another Historical Upset By a New Jersey University

Wow!

Just one day after 15th seeded Princeton knocked off the number 2 seed Arizona, there was yet another enormous upset. And once again, it was a New Jersey school which managed to be on the right end of this shocking bit of history.

Fairleigh Dickinson University became only the second 16th seed in NCAA Men's Basketball history to knock off a Number 1 seed in the first round of the "March Madness" tournament. In the last few days, the tournament certainly has been living up to it's name, with a number of huge upsets. 

Only once has this happened before in the history of the men's tournament. That happened in 2018, when the UMBC Retrievers stunned then then number top seed, Virginia Cavaliers. To their credit, Virginia responded the following season by winning the whole thing, taking the championship, which was the first in that school's history.

Of course, it remains to be seen how Purdue will respond, following this rather humiliating loss. It was not a blowout, as the UMBC-Virginia game wound up being in 2018. UMBC just got on a roll, and Virginia just played flat. But in this one, Purdue looked like they were likely going to win for much of the game. Only Fairleigh Dickinson took over in the second half, particularly in the final minute, to secure the unlikely win. 

But this might just have been an even bigger upset than that first game between UMBC and Virginia proved to be. Here's a bit of history from Nick Bromberg's Yahoo article on the game:

UMBC — the University of Maryland-Baltimore County — became the first No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 in 2018 when it defeated Virginia. And FDU’s upset may be even bigger than UMBC’s. The Retrievers were a 20.5-point underdog ahead of the game against Virginia and FDU was a 23.5-point underdog against the Boilermakers.

Purdue are apparently no strangers to rather stunning losses to much lower seeds, and even to losing to New Jersey schools in the first round. Again, a bit of history from Bromberg (see link below):

It’s also the second straight tournament loss for Purdue against a low-seeded team from New Jersey. The Boilermakers lost to No. 15 seed St. Peter’s in the Sweet 16 as a No. 3 seed a year ago. And the year before that, Purdue lost 78-69 to No. 13 North Texas as a No. 4 seed. The Boilermakers have lost their last three tournament games to low-seeded teams since making the Elite Eight in 2019.

Again, wow!

March Madness: No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson shocks No. 1 Purdue by Nick Bromberg Fri, Mar 17, 2023:

FDU is the second No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 in the first round of the men's NCAA tournament Nick Bromberg Fri, Mar 17, 2023:

https://sports.yahoo.com/march-madness-no-16-fairleigh-dickinson-shocks-no-1-purdue-010848173.html