High Point's upset starts run of wins by double-digit seeds

By — Associated Press Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/high-points-upset-starts-run-of-wins-by-double-digit-seeds Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter High Point's upset starts run of wins by double-digit seeds Nation Mar 20, 2026 11:53 AM EDT Well, the dream was fun while it lasted — all two-ish hours of it. The bid for a perfect NCAA Tournament bracket disappeared for more than 25 million people by mid-afternoon on Thursday, fueled by 12th-seeded High Point's first-round stunner over fifth-seeded Wisconsin. That was just the start. By the end of the first day of March Madness, fewer than one of every 2,400 entries in the ESPN bracket challenge were blemish-free. READ MORE: Duke, Arizona, Michigan and Florida get top seeding for March Madness High Point was one of four double-digit seeds to win. Following the Panthers were No. 11 seeds VCU and Texas and 10th-seeded Texas A&M. Some of those upsets weren't that surprising. North Carolina didn't have freshman sensation and leading scorer Caleb Wilson (broken thumb) in its 82-78 overtime loss to VCU. Of course, that was no excuse for the Tar Heels blowing a 19-point lead in the second half. BYU never really recovered from losing star Richie Saunders (torn ACL) two months ago, having lost five of nine entering the tournament, and it couldn't make it all the way back from a 17-point deficit before losing 79-71 to the Longhorns. Saint Mary's leading scorer Paulius Murauskas didn't start because of an illness and was limited to four points in 23 minutes of a 63-50 loss to Texas A&M. READ MORE: Trump told FIFA, Olympics and NCAA to get in line. For the most part, they complied After the conclusion of the tournament's first day, ESPN reported that just over 10,000 of its 26.5 million brackets — 0.04% — remained perfect. Just think how many more would have been busted if 16th-seeded Siena could have held on to its double-digi...