(CNN) Only the first round is complete, and March Madness has already delivered some big surprises.
So far, the No. 1 seeded Purdue University, the No. 2 seeded Arizona Wildcats and the No. 4 seeded Virginia Cavaliers have all been summarily knocked out of the tournament, succumbing to the 16th seed Fairleigh Dickinson, the 15th seed Princeton Tigers and the 13th seed Place Furman Paladins
Fairleigh Dickinson’s 63-58 win over Purdue marked only the second time in NCAA men’s tournament history that a No. 16 defeated a No. 1, and players flocked to the court to celebrate afterwards.
“We just have faith in what we’re doing and our guys are so tough and competitive,” FDU head coach Tobin Anderson told TNT.
“I love our boys. you are tough They are amazing. They played their hair out. This is an incredible win.
Just 2.36% of completed Men’s Bracket Challenge Game attendances predicted an FDU win over Purdue, the second-lowest percentage of any team in the field, according to the NCAA.
The shocking victory also means that the last hopes of anyone attempting the virtually impossible task of predicting a perfect bracket have been completely eliminated, the NCAA noted.
Any hopes of a perfect bracket had already been dashed on Thursday after Princeton’s unlikely 59-55 win over Arizona and the Paladins’ stunning 68-67 win over Virginia.
Princeton defeated Arizona and advanced to the second round.
After Princeton’s win alone, only 0.065% of the men’s brackets remained intact, out of the millions completed brackets, according to the NCAA March Madness Twitter.
“A year after all the staples burst in Game #28, nobody stayed perfect past Game 25 of the tournament,” the NCAA said.
For much of the first half, the score was teetering on the razor’s edge before Arizona took control after a quick start to the second half.
But with eight minutes left, 10 points behind, the Tigers fought back and completed a famous win.
The Paladins also nabbed their unlikely win after making a comeback and closing a 12-point deficit in one stage to topple Virginia.
“You know, this game is – interesting, I would say,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said afterwards as he reflected on his team’s loss.
“You feel like we’ve got it, we’ve got it, and then suddenly in a moment at the end it changes.”
