It wouldn’t be a true March Madness campaign without a massive upset or two in the tournament. This year’s tourney is certainly no exception, as there were as many as four heavy underdogs who surprised the field and emerged as proverbial Cinderellas at the Big Dance. Who are these programs that have stepped up their game to the next level for an unlikely bid for the national title?
Nitrobetting is ready to dish out key assists and lob passes with betting tips and news coverage throughout the 2023 March Madness tournament. Let’s recap the most significant upsets from the first and second rounds of the 2023 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Shocking Upsets in the 2023 March Madness Tournament
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(13) Furman def. (4) Virginia
Gone are Virginia’s heydays from their 2018-19 title-winning season and this year’s lackluster showing at the national tournament is another case that’s working against the once-feared Cavaliers. That’s now three first-round exits over the last five years for UVA, with little-known Furman University being the latest program to topple the Cavs.
A base pass by Virginia’s Kihei Clark led to a Furman steal and the game-winning three-pointer by Furman’s JP Pegues, sending the Paladins to the second in their first March Madness appearance in over four decades. Virginia, meanwhile, will have to lick its wounds as it’s once again reminded of the nightmare that was losing to 16th-seeded UMBC back in 2018. However, as we’ll get into shortly, misery loves company as the Cavaliers are no longer the only team in Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament history to have the distinction of having been eliminated in the first round as a No. 1 seed.
(15) Princeton def. (2) Arizona
Don’t call them a mere preppy bunch, as the Princeton Tigers are dead-serious about returning to March Madness relevancy. The Ivy League standouts escaped with a 59-55 victory over No. 2 seed Arizona, who entered the contest as 15-point favorites only to get the boot in humbling fashion.
Many considered the Wildcats as strong contenders for the national title this season after cruising to back-to-back Pac-12 title-winning runs. However, the Tigers played inspired basketball and continue to do so as we speak. As of this writing, Princeton is the only Cinderella team out of the three featured here who made it to the Sweet 16 stage after a convincing 15-point rout of the other Tigers from the field in No. 7 Missouri in the second round. Princeton is currently a (+10.0) underdog in its regional semifinal matchup against the sixth-seeded Creighton Bluejays.
(16) Farleigh Dickinson def. (1) Purdue
The most shocking upset of the Big Dance has got to be Jersey’s very own Farleigh Dickinson handing top-seeded Purdue a blow for the ages. The undersized Knights certainly punched way above their weight class against the Boilermakers, who had arguably the best player in the nation in 7-foot-4 Zach Edey getting swarmed by the pesky underdogs.
This bitter loss is a tough pill to swallow for Purdue, which now joins the aforementioned Virginia Cavaliers as the only No. 1 seed in Division I history to be beaten by a 16th-seeded opponent in the very first round of March Madness. Unfortunately for Farleigh Dickinson Knights, their Cinderella run came to an end at the hands of the Florida Athleic Owls in the second round, 78-70.
(8) Arkansas def. (1) Kansas
Speaking of the second round, the tournament didn’t stop with the literal madness as it is now guaranteed that a new national champion will be crowned when all is said and done. Kansas came up short of its bid for a repeat as Bill Self and his boys ran into arguably March Madness’ biggest spoilers in Arkansas.
For the third straight year, the Razorbacks had to face a No. 1 seed in the national tournament. The last time out, they succeeded in upending Gonzaga’s magnificent campaign and have now dealt the defending champs an early second-round exit. Arkansas only took the lead with under two minutes left in the contest and iced the narrow 72-71 victory with Wichita State transfer Ricky Council IV draining all five of his free-throw attempts in the clutch. Arkansas now has to regather its composure for a Sweet 16 showdown against No. 4 UConn, with the Huskies currently pegged as (-3.5) favorites to put an end to the Razorbacks’ rampage.
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