Here’s why this is the maddest March we’ve seen in a while

The 2018 NCAA Tournament gave us the first-ever 16-1 upset in history, but that’s not the only reason this March feels madder than usual.

What’s your definition of a March Madness upset?

While you might term any lower seed pulling off a surprise win over a higher seed (and busting your bracket in the process) an upset, the NCAA record book technically classifies an upset as “when the winner of the game was seeded five or more places lower than the team it defeated.”

Going by those standards, the 2018 iteration of March Madness isn’t actually crazier than others that have come before it — yet, anyway. There’s a lotta ballgame(s) left!

The years 1985 and 2014 were actually the maddest; per the records, each tournament produced 13 upsets, followed by 1986, with 12.

We’ve had seven games in this tournament so far in which a team seeded five or more places lower than its opponent has stunned to come out on top.

The most notable example, of course, was the No. 16 UMBC Retrievers shocked the No. 1 Virginia Cavaliers by not only taking the win in the First Round, but doing so to the tune of 74-54.

Thus, that matchup is historic for two reasons. It’s the first ever 16-1 upset, but the point margin is extremely rare. Per NCAA records, nearly 45 percent of tournament upsets are won by a one-to-four-point margin.

Other big upsets so far this week included No. 13 Marshall’s 81-75 win over No. 4 Wichita State and, of course, No. 11 Loyola Chicago’s victory over No. 6 Miami.

The 13th-seeded Buffalo Bulls took down fourth-seeded Arizona in the First Round only to fall to Kentucky in the Second Round.

The Loyola Ramblers kept it going in the Second Round, taking out third-seeded Tennessee 63-62. And Texas A&M emerged victorious with a stunning 86-65 blowout over No. 2 UNC on Sunday, as well.

Then, of course, there was No. 11 Syracuse’s 55-53 win over Michigan State:

The Orange advanced to the Second Round after taking down No. 6 TCU in the first round.

But plenty of other games have had shocking endings that got viewers buzzing on Twitter and busted some brackets, to boot, even if they didn’t count as technical upsets by NCAA standards.

No. 10 Butler took down No. 7 Arkansas in the First Round, for example, while the No. 9 seeds took a slight edge over their eighth-seeded opponents in every region but the Midwest.

Why so many upsets already this season? It certainly seems to indicate that the selection committee might have whiffed on the seeding, for one.

Next: 12 Biggest Cinderellas In March Madness History

We may not set a new record for madness in 2018; to do that, we’d need to record seven more official upsets.

With the way things have been going, though, there’s definitely a shot.