FDU upset Purdue! The story behind the greatest upset in March Madness history
They call it madness for a reason because you would have to be insane to take Fairleigh Dickinson (FDU) over Purdue in the first round. But the biggest upset in history is official, where a 16 seed that wasn’t even supposed to be invited to the tournament, beat the boilermakers busting everyone’s bracket across America. But FDU’s win is a reminder that March Madness exists to showcase the best college basketball teams in all of division 1. And even though you’ve never heard of them, it is clear that Fairleigh Dickinson is one of those teams. And the only reason they were overlooked is because David has always been a lot smaller than Goliath.
Who is FDU?
Who they are it’s simply a really good basketball team that perhaps is the definition of underrated. They were the shortest team on average in the entire tournament, with none of their starters above 6 foot seven. But their 2 all conference players on the first and second team are Demetre Roberts, and Grant Singleton who are both only 5’8 and 5’9. And it is fitting that they were the ones to sleigh Goliath because Purdue was not only a number 1 seed, But had the national player of the year on their team and he is a 7 foot four center.
And FDU beat Purdue with the players in Division 1 that nobody else wanted. Both Roberts, Singleton and their leading scorer against Purdue, Sean Moore were all transfers from the same Division 2 school St Thomas Aquinas. You can’t make this stuff up, because beyond that, literally every player on FDUs roster was an unranked recruit out of high school. but I’m starting to think they probably should’ve been.
How good is FDU?
Entering the tournament FDU won 20 games in 2023, and their biggest win was against Saint Joseph’s of the Atlantic Ten conference by 17 points. And It’s a good thing the selection committee is determined to offer an automatic bid to every single D1 conference. Because the honest truth for anyone who watched the game, is that FDU was more athletic and more aggressive than Purdue ever was. Yet they were the underdog, because nobody has been paying attention to them not just all season, but for their entire careers! And they extended their stay in Columbus, Ohio for one more game. Which has cemented their place in college basketball history. So it’s safe to say that nobody not even Goliath will be overlooking FDU or any of its players any more.
KNOW THE GAME. WIN THE GAME.
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