Friday of Madness Provides Two Remarkable Upsets

Just when I had been saying that Thursday was a little uneventful for March Madness, Friday produced a pair of stunners, as Missouri fell to Norfolk State and Duke went down to Lehigh.  Both Missouri and Duke were #2 seeds, as this day saw these two become the fifth and sixth victims of all time to fall to a #15 seed.  It hadn't happened since 2001, when Hampton beat Iowa State in remarkable fashion.

These two games provided thrilling action, as Missouri and Norfolk State lit the lamp all day long.  Missouri played well on the offensive end, but they couldn't stop Norfolk State's offense, in particular Kyle O'Quinn, who had 26 points and 14 rebounds.  Missouri had a look from 3 to win it, but they could not hit, losing 86-84.  In the other major upset of the day, Coach K's Duke squad fell to Lehigh 75-70.  C.J. McCollum had a performance for the ages, scoring 30 against the Blue Devils.  Duke hadn't been bounced from the first round since an Eric Maynor-lead VCU squad did it to #6 seeded Duke in 2007.

These two games showed the remarkable propensity for anything to happen in this tournament.  I had Missouri in the Final Four, and just like that they were eliminated.  I did not having Duke making it past the Sweet 16, but stuff like this never happens to a Coach K team.  This just shows the wild nature of this great sporting event.  There were also three other upsets, including NC State over SDSU, #13 Ohio over #4 Michigan, and USF defeating Temple.  None of these upsets surprised me that much, though, because I did not have that high of a regard for the teams that got upset.

So it was definitely a wild day of hoops with the Round of 32 now set.