Pour one out for all the busted brackets out there.
No. 15 Middle Tennessee defeated No. 2 Michigan State in the NCAA Midwest first round Friday, shocking the nation with a 90-81 upset win. Junior forward Reggie Upshaw led the Blue Raiders with 21 points, while Spartans star guard Denzel Valentine was held to just 13 points, though he did pour in 12 assists.
The Blue Raiders were 0-22 all-time in games against AP top-10 opponents heading into today's matchup, and the Spartans are the highest-ranked team they've ever defeated. It's only the eighth time in tournament history that a 15th seed has defeated a second seed (no top seeds have ever been upset).
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MSU had the second-highest odds to win the championship, at +500, according to the odds from earlier Friday, while Middle Tennessee was sixth-to-last with +100,000 odds. The Blue Raiders will face No. 10 Syracuse in the second round Sunday, where they'll hope to continue their Cinderella story.
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