You can usually “sharpie” in the number one seeds to move on to the second round of the NCAA tournament, but the past decade has proved otherwise.
No. 1 seed Purdue just lost to No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson 63 to 58, making it only the second time in NCAA tournament history that a 1 seed has been knocked out by the mega-underdog 16 seed.
Is it too corny to say that this Purdue loss was “Fairleigh” bad?
The first time it happened was five years ago, when the Retrievers of UMBC knocked out the Virginia Cavaliers in the first round of March Madness.
Following the ending of the game, they have tweeted out their support in being joined by FDU in NCAA history books:
The Purdue Boilermakers have had an extremely rough go at it the last three years of the “big dance.” In last years tournament, Purdue lost as a 3 seed to the buzzsaw that was the 15-seeded Saint Peter’s Peacocks (remember Dougie Buckets?) in the Sweet 16. In 2021, the Boilermakers got knocked out by North Texas in the first round of the tournament, which was a bracket-busting No. 13 seed over a No. 4 seed.
Not as bracket busting as this year’s early exit though…
NCAA Brackets were burned early in this year’s tournament, and any that remained in tact will probably be thrown out now for sure with this historic upset.
The No. 16 Seed Fairleigh Dickinson moves on to the round of 32 to play the winner of the Memphis-FAU game, and it marks only the second time a team of their seed has ever moved on to the second round. A 16 seed has never moved on to the Sweet 16, so FDU has a chance to continue the run and extend their historic performance.
Back in 2021 when UMBC took the role of the Cinderella team, they ran out of steam and barely lost in the second round of the tournament. This year’s Cinderella team, the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights, look like the shoe fits pretty well.
If they play like they did against Purdue again on Sunday, I’d say they have a “Fairleigh” good chance to move on to the Sweet 16.
Oh, by the way, the internet is tearing the Purdue Boilermakers apart:
Oh, and FDU’s Coach legendary called his shot:
