With everyone’s March Madness bracket officially busted, it’s time to rerank the remaining 32 teams in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Thanks, Fairleigh-Dickinson. It would appear as though there are no perfect brackets remaining after the Knights upset the No. 1 seed Purdue Boilermakers on Friday night to truly give the finishing March Madness touches to the end of the First Round.
But even before FDU was fitted for Cinderella’s slipper, the NCAA Tournament had already seen its fair share of surprises, upsets, and last-second shots.
The cream always rises to the top, and with several of the best teams in the country now headed back to campus, let’s rerank the remaining 32 teams left in the tournament.
March Madness 2023: Reranking the remaining teams 32-25
32. Fairleigh-Dickinson (No. 16 – East): Okay, let’s not go nuts. Yes, the Knights became just the second No. 16 seed to ever oust a No. 1 seed. But let’s not pretend that FDU dominated the game. Purdue shot terribly from outside (5-of-26) and turned the ball over 16 times. You wanna move up? Make it to the Sweet Sixteen and then we’ll talk.
31. Princeton (No. 15 – South): Again, no need to overreact. Upsets happen in March Madness. Still, one could argue that Princeton’s takedown of No. 2 seed Arizona was more impressive than FDU knocking off Purdue. The Tigers will have their hands full with Mizzou on Saturday.
30. Northwestern (No. 7 – West): The Wildcats shot the lights out against Boise State, but still only outlasted the Broncos by eight points. Northwestern will have to bring that same level of accuracy to their next matchup if they hope to get past UCLA.
29. Maryland (No. 8 – South): If the Terps will get a chance to prove that the refs were not the only reason they defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers on Thursday afternoon, they’ll get their chance against No. 1-overall seed Alabama on Saturday night.
28. Furman (No. 13 – South): There were a lot of brackets predicting the Paladins takedown of No. 4 seed Virginia. Had it not been for a terrible decision on the part of the Cavaliers during the waning second of the game, Furman would be back in Greenville, South Carolina right now.
27. Xavier (No. 3 – Midwest): It was a nice comeback victory over *checks notes* Kennesaw State, but that type of effort in Round 2 will see you riding back to Cincinnati before the Sweet Sixteen tips off next Thursday. Sean Miller’s Musketeers face a red-hot Pittsburgh team on Sunday.
26. Michigan State (No. 7 – East): You should never bet against Tom Izzo in the NCAA Tournament, but the Spartans did not look very crisp against USC. Michigan State was out-rebounded by the Trojans, something that can’t happen in Round 2 versus Marquette.
25. San Diego State (No. 5 – South): The Aztecs avoided the first-round upset by taking down the College of Charleston, but will need to button up their free throw shooting if they hope to advance. San Diego State shot 61.1-percent from the stripe in their Round 1 win over the Cougars.