Michigan State’s upset loss to Middle Tennessee State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday will go down as one of the biggest in March Madness history. Not only was it a 2-15 match-up and therefore a huge upset by seeding, but just take a look at how many brackets were busted by the Spartans losing.
In ESPN’s brackets, nearly two-thirds of all users had the Spartans in the Final Four and nearly a quarter had them winning it all.
61.8% of @ESPNFantasy brackets picked Michigan State in their Final Four.
22.3% picked Sparty to win it all. pic.twitter.com/yJST63RLFm— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 18, 2016
And for good measure, ESPN adds that only six perfect brackets remained after the upset.
On Yahoo, the Spartans were the second most popular choice to win it all at 27.3 percent.
27.3% of Yahoo Tourney Pick 'Em players had Michigan State winning it all, second only to 31.3% Kansas. March Madness folks …
— Brad Evans (@YahooNoise) March 18, 2016
No perfect brackets remained on Yahoo after the upset.
On CBS Sports, the numbers were very similar:
– 64.6% of CBS Sports brackets had MSU going to the Final Four
– 42% had MSU going to the Championship game
– 23.5% had MSU winning it all— CBS Sports CBB (@CBSSportsCBB) March 18, 2016
If you had Michigan State winning it all, we feel your pain. If you didn’t you may enjoy all the memes and jokes following the loss.
Michigan State is now the eighth two-seed to lose to a 15-seed in NCAA Tournament history, joining ’91 Syracuse, ’93 Arizona, ’97 South Carolina, ’01 Iowa State, ’12 Missouri, ’12 Duke and ’13 Georgetown.
