March Madness 2023: UMBC, college basketball globe react to Fairleigh Dickinson’s beautiful upset more than Purdue

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March Madness undoubtedly lived up to its name on Friday evening. No. 16 seed FDU pulled off a beautiful upset of No. 1 seed Purdue, producing 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 quite a few fronts: No. 16 seeds had been 1-150 in initial-round matchups getting into Friday FDU is the nation’s shortest average team, according to KenPom, when Purdue is the tallest as 23.five-point underdogs, the Knights had been in line to generate the greatest upset in tournament history with a win and if the point necessary any a lot more 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 Major Dance. The Knights lost the NEC title game to Merrimack, but considering that Merrimack is transitioning to Division I, it was ineligible for the NCAA Tournament, as a result 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 initial 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 when 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 as FDU’s win a explanation for fans to quit trash speaking his Cavaliers — Purdue fans, in unique … 

CBS Sports pointed out that FDU coach Tobin Anderson had an concept this win was doable days ago …  

Right here are some other reactions from the Twitterverse …