If you were to ask anyone how their March Madness bracket was going anytime after Sunday, odds are they will tell you they ripped it up at some-point  throughout the day. The first day was rather calm, with many people foreseeing Loyola Chicago upsetting Miami of Florida, but the real surprise was Buffalo sending Arizona packing early, as a 13 seed no less. Then the tournament rolled on to day two, where in the nightcap game, University of Maryland Baltimore County, a school slightly more than double the size of Behrend slayed the juggernaut of the Virginia. Or maybe your friends destroyed their brackets when Loyola Chicago slipped into the Sweet 16 on a buzzer beater knocking off Tennessee. If they managed to keep their bracket intact until Sunday, they were greeted by three back to back upsets, where North Carolina, Michigan State, and Cincinnati all suffered defeats. Kudos to anyone who has made it through with even a portion of their bracket intact, but let us break down what exactly happened this past week.

The tournament kicked off the Round of 64 in true madness when 10 seed Oklahoma faced seven seed Rhode Island. Oklahoma was a fan favorite in the beginning of the season, and had what many believed to be the best player in the nation in Trae Young, but they had tapered off since, and after an abysmal 2018, many questioned if they should have made the tournament. Trae Young did not disappoint, as he netted 28 points, including the last 11 points or regulation that sent the game to overtime. Rhode Island did fend off Oklahoma in overtime, but then were promptly crushed by Duke in the Round of 32. A few games later, many thought that the first 16 seed versus one seed upset might happen when Penn led for most of the first half against Kansas, but Kansas took off in the second half and managed to make one seeds 133-0 all time against 16 seeds. Two games later, Loyola-Chicago stepped onto the court, and gave the tournament it’s first upset. Loyola Chicago trailed 62-61 when Donte Ingram hit a three-point  shot with one second left to upset the sixth seeded Miami. Also worth noting is the performance of Rob Gray, a guard for Houston, who scored 39 points in the opening round matchup with San Diego State and saved them from being upset with a last second layup. In one of the last games of the night, Buffalo walked over Arizona with a 21-point victory, capping off a fairly upset-free day to start the tournament.

Day two was fairly run of the mill, with the only surprise being Marshall upsetting Wichita State. What made the Wichita State game so interesting, though, was the 18 minute pause in play to review a deflection out of bounds near the end of the second half. The ball was awarded to Marshall, but many fans still feel that the call was incorrect. Of the other two upsets of the day, TCU losing to Syracuse was expected by many, but UMBC knocking off UVA was historic. A 16 seed had ever defeated a one seed entering this year. Virginia was a 22-point favorite entering the night, and they ended up losing by 20 points. UMBC made three times as many three-point shots as UVA. UVA was ice cold shooting from virtually anywhere on the court, including just 50 percent from the charity stripe. This all combined to the downfall of arguably  the largest title contender entering the tournament.
The first day of the Round of 32 was all about buzzer beaters. Stop when this sounds familiar, Loyola Chicago, as an underdog is trailing 62-61 with 5 seconds left, when above all odds with five seconds left, Clayton Custer hits a fadeaway jump shot to clinch a 63-62 victory shutting down Tennessee. The last game of Saturday night featured Houston and Michigan. Houston had a 63-61 lead with 25 seconds left. Michigan missed a layup, and then Houston rebounded the ball and Houston’s Devin Davis was subsequently fouled. Davis missed both free throws for Houston, and Michigan called a timeout with three seconds left. They then proceeded to run a set play that had never actually been used in game, as per interviews with the players. The ball was inbounded to half court, where the pass was dished to Jordan Poole, a freshman, who had not started a single game, or made a three-point shot during the Big Ten Tournament. Poole then nailed a long three to give the Wolverines a trip to the Sweet 16.

Sunday morning started out on a nail-biter with two seeded Purdue barely beating Butler, The game came down to a missed three pointer at the final buzzer. In the second game of the afternoon, 11 seeded Syracuse had three seeded Michigan State on the ropes at the end of the game, and after trading off free throws, Syracuse held on to the two-point victory. The next game pitted two seeded Cincinnati, who was heavily favored over seven seed Nevada. With 11 minutes and 34 seconds remaining in the second half, Cincinnati held a 22-point lead, then a 30-8 run by the Wolfpack of Nevada tied the game at 73. Nevada then hit the last shot of the game with 10 seconds left to put away Cincinnati. The night games brought the madness of March to a high point, when Xavier fell to the nine seed of Florida State. Xavier had the lead for most of the game, but Florida State put up the last seven points of the game to seal the win, making this the first time in tournament history that two number one seeds, Xavier and UVA in this case, failed to reach the Sweet 16.

After this crazy weekend in college basketball, many brackets are busted. Nine teams that were projected to make the Sweet 16, that is nine of the 1-4 seeds, have already lost out of the tournament. This is compared to just four teams last year, and six the year before. The upsets also had an uptake from the previous years. There were 11 upsets in the first two rounds of this tournament, as opposed to nine last year. In terms of bracket selections, no brackets on either CBS Sports or ESPN made it through the first round perfect. According to ESPN, Virginia, Michigan State, UNC, Arizona, Xavier and Cincinnati were selected as champions in 45% of brackets. One out of every three brackets had Virginia in their Final Four, and North Carolina was the team projected to win out of it’s regional. Loyola-Chicago was only selected in 1.9% of brackets to advance to the Sweet 16, and Syracuse was only selected in 1.4% of brackets. So, now that everybody has had their bracket busted, enjoy the remainder of the tournament and do not forget to fill out your consolation brackets.