Through the first weekend of this year's NCAA Tournament, one thing is clear: The underdogs and lower seeds weren't going to lie down.\nI'm not just talking about the upsets by Wisconsin-Milwaukee (a 12 seed) and Bucknell (a 14 seed), but the close-call heavyweight teams were forced to sweat it out in games usually reserved for easy Vegas spread-covers.\nSecond-seeded Wake Forest trailed at halftime to the 15 seed Chattanooga. No. 14 Utah State gave No. 3 Arizona a scare. Delaware State narrowed the gap against Duke to single digits with just under two minutes to play.\nHeck, even lowly Fairleigh Dickinson hung with the No. 1-overall seed Illinois for 30 minutes. Three of the No. 16 seeds stuck close with the vaunted top seeds only to eventual wilt and bow to the more talented opposition. However, the gap is closing, and in the next decade a 16 seed will do what has yet to be done -- topple the unblemished one seeds.
Oh my gosh, a 12-seed made it all the way to the sweet 16! An 11-seed beat a six-seed! Can you believe it? How surprising! That glass slipper sure does fit this year! How much madder can this March get?\nOkay, enough with ending sentences with punctuation other than a period. The point here is upsets happen every single year in the tourney. They don't surprise me. So I've decided to dedicate this column to the teams that have been surprising in another facet -- surprisingly bad. \nBill Self's Kansas Jayhawks come to mind.\nHistory was on their side for an opening round win. The Jayhawks haven't lost a first-round match-up since a 1978 loss to UCLA and have advanced to the second-round their last 21 tries. \nBut 14th-seeded Bucknell ended its streak Friday. The Jayhawks' loss also dashed every fan's hope of a North Carolina-Kansas match-up, pitting former Kansas coach Roy Williams up against his old squad.\nI can see Vermont's, West Virginia's, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee's upsets. Talking heads buzzed about these teams' chances at pulling off an upset or two. But Bucknell? Eh, I guess I change my mind. The Bisons' upset finally gave me a reason to show some surprise.
Who saw this one coming? A school that had never won a NCAA tournament game before this year just secured a spot in the Sweet 16. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers, champions of the Horizon League, dispatched major conference powers Alabama and Boston College earning the right to dance with some of the best teams in America. \nDon't expect them to be satisfied with their success though; this is a team that knows what it's like to be overlooked. The Panthers aren't even considered the best basketball program in their hometown; that honor goes to Marquette. They are used to being the underdog and even seem to play better with that label.\nThe Panthers used great ball movement, solid teamwork and excellent outside shooting to dispatch the Crimson Tide in their first round game. They then disrupted and confused Boston College with their disciplined defense. For that effort they were rewarded with a match-up against No. 1 ranked Illinois. \nThe Wisconsin-Milwaukee players and coaches probably know that the Illini expect to win. I'm sure they are also aware that everyone thinks their great run will end this Thursday in Chicago. I'm sure they hope we keep thinking that way; after all they've made a habit of proving people wrong so far.
