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March Madness definitely lived up to its name on Friday evening. No. 16 seed FDU pulled off a spectacular upset of No. 1 seed Purdue, creating the Knights only the second group in NCAA Tournament history to win a 16-1 matchup.
The win was practically not possible to predict on a lot of fronts: No. 16 seeds had been 1-150 in 1st-round matchups getting into Friday FDU is the nation’s shortest average team, according to KenPom, although Purdue is the tallest as 23.five-point underdogs, the Knights had been in line to produce the most significant upset in tournament history with a win and if the point required any additional exemplifying, FDU’s victory eliminated all the remaining best men’s brackets at CBS Sports.
FDU, in truth, was fortunate to even get to the Large Dance. The Knights lost the NEC title game to Merrimack, but considering the fact that Merrimack is transitioning to Division I, it was ineligible for the NCAA Tournament, therefore awarding the conference’s automatic to FDU. The Knights had been listed as the No. 68 all round seed — the final group in the field.
The Knights’ historic win comes 5 years right after UMBC became the 1st group to win a 16-vs.-1 matchup. UMBC beat Virginia as a 20.five-point underdog in that game.
Rather of becoming bitter about FDU stealing its spotlight, UMBC celebrated the fellow underdog’s win although issuing a friendly reminder for fans to be civil toward Purdue:
The March Madness account was all for the FDU-UMBC connection, as was FDU …
Chris Extended, a former NFL defensive finish and Virginia alum, regarded FDU’s win a cause for fans to cease trash speaking his Cavaliers — Purdue fans, in unique …
CBS Sports pointed out that FDU coach Tobin Anderson had an notion this win was probable days ago …
Right here are some other reactions from the Twitterverse …
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