Princeton Puts Chaos at Forefront of Early Tourney Action with Shocking Arizona Upset

In case you weren't convinced the first Thursday of the men's NCAA tournament is the best day of the college basketball season, let me present to you March 16, 2023.

At the moment I wrote this sentence, not even half of the scheduled games had been completed.

Yet we've already watched West Virginia miss a buzzer-beating three that would've sent Maryland into understandable tears. We've set the internet ablaze after 13th-seeded Furman drilled a last-second triple to stun Virginia. We've seen No. 5 San Diego State escape an upset bid from the College of Charleston.

And we've basked in the absolute mayhem of 15th-seeded Princeton eliminating second-seeded Arizona.

The wildest part? That was literally only the South Region.

It took merely six games in one quadrant of the 2023 tourney to send our perceptions into the trash—along with our brackets.

Of course, that's an inevitable moment.

You may have heard a version of this before, but the odds of picking a perfect bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion. You are 3 million—3 million—times more likely to identify the exact tree in which a single acorn is hidden among the 3 trillion trees on Earth than to correctly fill out every line on your bracket.

ESPN's Tournament Challenge totaled 20,056,273 entries. Only 34,922 unblemished brackets remained after Arizona's loss, and that number dwindled to 18,078 when Arkansas beat Illinois.

That ship has sailed, folks. Embrace the madness.

Princeton is the unquestioned story of the day—for now—especially because of an incredible connection.

Back in 1996, Princeton took down Pac-10 champion UCLA in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Mitch Henderson tallied eight points, four steals and three assists in that victory.

Fast-forward 27 years, and Henderson is the head coach of a now-iconic Princeton squad that defeated Pac-12 tournament champion Arizona.

AP Photo/José Luis Villegas

As if that's not remarkable enough, the Ivy League program made it three straight years where a 15th seed won a first-round game. Princeton joined 2021 Oral Roberts and 2022 Saint Peter's, which advanced to the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, respectively.

Once is an anomaly. Twice is a coincidence. Thrice is a trend—a glorious, extraordinary, bracket-imploding trend.

Chaos has wasted no time infiltrating March Madness in 2023.

During the day's first game, West Virginia quickly built a 13-point edge. Maryland responded and carried a lead into halftime, yet WVU bounced back to build a nine-point advantage in the second half—until Maryland stormed ahead and pulled out a 67-65 win as Kedrian Johnson's three-pointer at the buzzer fell short.

Minutes later, Furman provided the tournament's first massive upset with a thrilling 68-67 triumph over Virginia.

At the under-12 timeout in the second half, UVA held a 50-38 lead. Furman chipped away at the deficit and took a 63-60 lead with 2:33 remaining. Virginia rattled off seven straight points, and a 67-63 advantage with 19 seconds to play seemed to suggest UVA would survive.

You know where this is headed, though.

Two free throws for Furman and a jaw-dropping turnover from UVA later, JP Pegues splashed a game-winning triple and sent Virginia to yet another first-round NCAA tournament exit.

San Diego State avoided that level of drama but needed to withstand the College of Charleston in the last minute. A semi-controversial foul on Charleston's Jaylon Scott with 13 seconds left helped SDSU seal its 63-57 victory with Adam Seiko's ensuing free throw followed by a Micah Parrish block.

The uncomfortable SDSU win snapped the Mountain West's skid of 11 straight NCAA tournament losses.

And then Princeton happened.

This much anticipated Thursday in mid-March rarely disappoints. Even if it does, Friday's portion of the first round generally provides a proper level of pandemonium. But we didn't need to wait in 2023.

While dozens of games remain in this tourney, continued chaos is never guaranteed.

However, it's hard to imagine the Big Dance will suddenly become a slow jam. Throw on your neon shirts and crack the glow sticks, my friends, because we're fully invested in a three-week rave.

Southeast Missouri State's tight loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Mississippi State's pair of harrowing last-second misses in a loss to Pitt in the First Four tipped off an exciting tournament.

Maryland and San Diego State survived and advanced. Furman began the opening round in style, sealing a place in this year's edition of "One Shining Moment." Princeton sent a shockwave around the college basketball world and etched a place in March Madness history.

The beautiful part? We've only just begun.