(CNN) Only the first round is over, and March Madness has already delivered some major upsets.
So far, the #1 seed Purdue University, the #2 seed Arizona Wildcats and the #4 seed Virginia Cavaliers have been unceremoniously eliminated from the tournament, succumbing to the #16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson, the #2 seed. 15 Princeton Tigers and the 13th seed. Furman Paladins respectively.
Fairleigh Dickinson’s 63-58 victory over Purdue was only the second time in NCAA Men’s Tournament history that a No. 16 seed defeated a No. 1 seed, and their players flooded the court afterward to celebrate.
“We have faith in what we do and our guys are very tough and competitive,” FDU head coach Tobin Anderson told the TNT broadcast.
“I love our guys. They’re tough. They’re great. They played until they were exhausted. That’s an unbelievable win. It’s unbelievable. We shocked the world.”
According to the NCAA, only 2.36% of completed entries in the Men’s Support Challenge Game predicted an FDU victory over Purdue, the second lowest percentage of all teams in the field.
The shock victory also means that the last hopes of anyone completing the virtually impossible task of predicting a perfect group have been wiped out entirely, the NCAA noted.
Any hope of completing a perfect group had already faded Thursday after Princeton’s improbable 59-55 win over Arizona and the Paladins’ stunning 68-67 win over Virginia.
Princeton defeated Arizona to advance to the second round.
The Princeton victory alone left just 0.065% of men’s groups intact, out of the millions of groups completed, according to NCAA March Madness Twitter.
“One year after all supports failed in Game No. 28, no one remained perfect after Game 25 of the tournament,” the NCAA said.
For much of the first half, the outcome had been on a knife-edge before a fast start to the second half put Arizona in control.
But, trailing by 10 points with eight minutes remaining, the Tigers fought their way back into the game and completed a famous victory.
The Paladins also earned their improbable win after completing a comeback, overcoming a 12-point deficit at one point, to topple Virginia.
“You know, this game is… interesting might be the word I’d use,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said afterward, reflecting on his team’s loss.
“You feel like we got it, we got it, and then all of a sudden, at one point, it changes at the end.”
