ST. LOUIS (AP) – Nobody wants an NCAA Tournament mulligan more than Michigan State.
But the Spartans’ spotlight as the biggest flop of the first round is one of many reasons it’s time to reboot March Madness. Time to frame around the 32 teams left competing for a title.
Millions of bracketeers prove it: Nobody saw this set coming. The fantasy of a perfect bracket – already far unlikelier than Powerball – was dashed in 21 games despite all the permutations generated by ESPN, Yahoo and CBS Sports users. Hoops fans on ESPN thought a Michigan State loss to Middle Tennessee State was so unlikely that more picked one of three No. 1s – North Carolina, Oregon and Virginia – to be the first top seed ever to lose to a 16.
By the time No. 11 seed Northern Iowa beat Texas on a buzzer-beating halfcourt rainbow Friday night, the Missouri Valley Tournament champions became the record-setting 10th double-digit seed to win a first-round game. Three of the four No. 9 seeds also were victorious.
Indeed, it’s been a tournament for the bracket underdog. Or at least the under-seeded.