by Kaitlyn Rey
Basketball fans around the world were glued to their screens as the first two rounds of March Madness came and went. Fans were shocked at some of the major upsets that occurred in the first two rounds, and nobody could have predicted the final outcomes of these first 48 games. By the end of the round of 32, there were a total of zero perfect brackets remaining. Here are the facts:
– Arkansas beat Kansas in the first round by a final score of 79-72. With Kansas being the 7th seed and a team that usually goes far in the tournament, being beaten by 10th seed Arkansas was not expected. Kansas has been in the tournament 51 times compared to Arkansas’ 37 appearances.
– The University of Michigan, a team with 32 appearances, barely beat UC San Diego by a score of 68-65. Most people expected this win from Michigan but were shocked at how close the game was, given the fact that this was UCSD’s first time ever playing in the tournament.
– Colorado State wasn’t expected to beat Memphis 78-70 because Colorado State had a previous March Madness record of 5-13 and Memphis was the favorite going into the game.
– Houston dominates the 16th seed SIU Edwardsville 78-40. This was also SIU’s first ever tournament appearance.
– Heartbreaking news for New Yorkers: St. John’s was beaten in the second round 75-66 by Arkansas. St. John’s was the second seed.
– One of the biggest upsets that shocked many fans and destroyed numerous brackets was when the McNeese State Cowboys beat the Clemson Tigers 69-67.
McNeese State was the 12th seed and Clemson was the 5th seed. This was McNeese’s first NCAA tournament win in program history and their last March Madness appearance was in 2002.
– After McNeese’s win in the first round, they then lost to Purdue 76-62 in the second round. Everyone believed after their upset over Clemson, McNeese was expected to be the “Cinderella Team” of the tournament. However, this wasn’t to be.
– The University of Michigan continued to dominate the tournament in the second round beating the 4th seed team Texas A&M 91-79.
– The University of Florida Gators beat the UCONN Huskies in the second round 77-75. This ended the Huskies pursuit for a third consecutive national title. This win improved the Gators record against UCONN in the tournament to 2-5. This was UCONN’s earliest exit since 2022.