A slew of upsets destroyed a ton of brackets on the first full day of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
The body of unlikely outcomes was highlighted with14th-seeded Harvard Crimson’s defeat of the No. 3 seed New Mexico Lobos, 68-62.
According to the Associated Press, The Harvard Lampoon poked fun at all those who picked Harvard to loose.
"America, we are sorry for messing up your brackets and also you’re financial system and everything else,'' they said.
Even Houston Rockets Point Guard Jeremy Lin, a Harvard Alum, joined the pro Crimson tweets. “YYYYYEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!! HARVARD winssss!!! hahahahhah i told you.... #threepointgoggles #bracketbusters” he tweeted Thursday.
Harvard got big games from guard Wesley Saunders, who turned in 18 points, and their freshman point guard Siyani Chambers, who added seven assists. The Crimson were able to overcome an outstanding game by Lobos Center Alex Kirk, who finished the game with 20 points and nine rebounds.
“I was just playing in the moment, enjoying the moment,” Chambers said according to ESPN.com. “It felt like, just getting here, was our night.”
Also among last night’s upsets was the 13-point victory by the twelfth-seeded Oregon Ducks over the fifth-seeded Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Contributing to the win was Oregon’s two freshman— point guard Dominic Artis and guard Damyean Dotson. Artis had 13 points and four steals, while pouring in 17 points to help the Ducks advance.
The Ducks were not the only twelfth seed to beat a five Thursday, as the California Golden Bears beat the UNLV rebels.
The Golden Bears were led by guard Allen Crabbe, who finished with 19 points and nine rebounds. Guard Justin Cobbs who had 13 points and six assists. Rebels forward Anthony Marshall put up 15 points and 11 rebounds in the losing effort.
The first upset of the day was ninth-seed Wichita State blowing out eighth-seed Pittsburgh. Many people had mistakenly picked the Panthers to win this game. According to the Michael Kay show on ESPN Radio, 68 percent of brackets had the Shockers taking the loss.
The Shockers got a 22-point effort from Malcolm Armstead, and a 21-point, 7 rebound effort of the bench from forward Cleanthony Early.
"Our guys took the fight to them, by getting a body on them, being quicker to the ball," said Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall according to AP. "The steals we had on them were big, big baskets and gave us a lead, and a comfortable lead as the game went on."
According to the AP, Pitt’s leading scorer, guard Tray Woodall, was held to two points and was in tears after the game. At the post game press conference, Woodall started crying and guard Dante Taylor had to console him.
"It's a bitter taste in my mouth to end my career with one of [the] worst games I've ever played," said Woodall, according to the AP. "I'm sorry. I let my team down."
Panthers Center Steven Adams had 13 points and 11 rebounds in the loss.
