How Sweet It Is

03/20/2023

By: Jeff Yoder

Record-Setting Sweet 16 Awaits After Epic 1st Weekend in the NCAA Tournament

Phew… Deep breaths, people. The opening weekend of March Madness is in the books, and it was a historic four days of hoops. We saw a 15-seed reach the Sweet 16 for the second straight year. A 16-seed knocked off a 1-seed for the second time, ever. And when the dust settled, there are more conferences represented in the second weekend of the tournament than ever before (11). Your bracket? It’s likely busted. But that doesn’t mean the tournament is over. Here are some of the biggest storylines and highlights from the first weekend of March Madness.

Biggest Opening Weekend Storylines

#16 Fairleigh Dickinson Upsets #1 Purdue (63-58)

The biggest shocker of the first round was the biggest odds-on upset in NCAA Tournament history. The 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson — the shortest team in Division I — took down 1-seed Purdue and their 7-foot-4 player of the year candidate in Zach Edey. A matchup nightmare for Purdue saw FDU pack the paint and force the Boilers to shoot. They failed. FDU was a 23-point underdog and just the second 16-seed ever to knock off a 1-seed. They took 9-seed Florida Atlantic to the wire in Round 2, but that’s where the road ended for head coach Tobin Anderson and the Knights. Fun Fact: FDU won four games last season.

#15 Princeton Reaches Sweet 16

The biggest upset on Day 1 belonged to the Ivy League champs from Princeton. The 15-seed Tigers took down 2-seed Arizona, then they punched 7-seed Missouri to reach the Sweet 16. Princeton defends the 3-point line better than anyone, and they forced ‘Zona and Mizzou into a combined 9-for-38 shooting from deep (23.8 percent). It’s the fourth time in NCAA Tournament history that a 15-seed has reached the second weekend.

Top Seeds That Fell

#1 Purdue, #1 Kansas, #2 Arizona, #2 Marquette, and #3 Baylor all fell in the first weekend. If you add in #4 Virginia and #5 Duke, that’s seven of the top-16 teams in the final AP Poll that failed to reach the Sweet 16. Four of the top 10 (Purdue, Kansas, Marquette, and Arizona) didn’t escape the opening weekend.

Sleepers on the Move

As we stated, #15 Princeton has all the makings of a historic 15-seed Cinderella run. No 15-seed has ever gotten beyond the Elite Eight — Saint Peter’s set that record last season. Other high-seed sleepers like #6 Creighton, #8 Arkansas, #7 Michigan State and #9 Florida Atlantic are lurking in the Sweet 16. That’s five teams seeded 6 or higher still alive, and four of those five are on the left side of the bracket. Could we be in for another sleeper all the way to the Final Four like 8-seed North Carolina a year ago? The other 11 teams are seeded 1-5 — essentially chalk.

11 Conferences Represented

The SEC (3) and Big East (3) are bringing six teams into the Sweet 16 as the top conferences in the tourney. The Big 12 (2) has a pair of top seeds still playing in #2 Texas and #3 Kansas State. The Big Ten (1), ACC (1), and Pac-12 (1) had major letdowns with only #7 Michigan State, #5 Miami, and #2 UCLA remaining between all three. Overall, a record-setting 11 different conferences are represented in the Sweet 16, including the six power conferences previously listed, as well as the American (1: Houston), West Coast Conference (1: Gonzaga), Mountain West (1: San Diego State), Ivy League (1: Princeton) and Conference USA (1: Florida Atlantic).

The Sweet 16

South Region

#1 Alabama, #5 San Diego State, #6 Creighton, #15 Princeton

Midwest Region
#1 Houston, #2 Texas, #3 Xavier, #5 Miami

East Region

#3 Kansas State, #4 Tennessee, #7 Michigan State, #9 Florida Atlantic

West Region

#2 UCLA, #3 Gonzaga, #4 UConn, #8 Arkansas

Round of 32 Highlights

#1 Alabama def. #8 Maryland (73-51)

#1 Houston def. #9 Auburn (81-64)

#8 Arkansas def. #1 Kansas (72-71)