Early Upsets

The NCAA tournament is always filled with thrilling upsets. Mid-majors always have two or three monumental upsets in the first round of the tournament. This year, two mid-majors upset two higher ranked seeds: 12 seed Western Kentucky beat 5 seed Illinois and 13 seed Cleveland State upset 4 seed Wake Forest.

Western Kentucky dominated most of the game. They were leading 37 to 28 at the half, and led 68-51 late in the game. However, Illinois made a late comeback. Illinois cut the lead to two points with less than a minute left to play in the game, but it was to little to late. The 12 seeded Hilltoppers beat the higher seeded Illinois 76-72 in the first round of the tournament.

The second upset featured an absolute blowout. Cleveland State dominated Wake Forest from the very beginning and eventually won 84-69. Cleveland State took the lead at the beginning of the game and never looked back.

Upsets are always prevalent in every NCAA tournament. This fact is what makes the NCAA tournament great. Mid-major schools always have a chance to upset their higher seeded, power-house opponents. This year was no different. Both Western Kentucky and Cleveland State sent their opponents home early in this year's tournament.