15-seeds - MEAC's Norfolk State, Lehigh steal show at NCAAs

OMAHA, Nebraska -- The NCAA Tournament belongs to Lehigh and Norfolk State, at least for a day, after they made Ohio's upset of No. 4-seed Michigan ho-hum news and pushed Virginia Commonwealth's postseason show to the back burner.

Only four times had a No. 15 seed beaten a No. 2 seed in the tournament, and not at all since 2001. Then it happened twice within three hours Friday.

It is noteworthy that the three biggest upset losers - Michigan, Duke and Missouri - are perimeter teams that lack size and rely on guards making outside shots. They can look great some days, and then other days, this happens.

Norfolk State introduced us to the personality of the event - lovable, quotable Kyle O'Quinn - while eliminating Missouri 86-84, and Lehigh used the "organic" approach to stun Duke 75-70.

Lehigh forward Jordan Hamilton had told reporters on Thursday, "I think we're able to approach this from a more organic perspective."

READ MORE

Norfolk State's historic win resonates

OMAHA, Nebraska -- Moments after the most stunning NCAA tournament upset of the past decade, the Norfolk State Spartans reacted like typical college students. They hurried into the locker room -- and pulled out their cellphones.

"We're trending on Twitter right now -- nationally," one player said. A teammate spoke up from across the room. "I just got a text. People are jumping into the fountain back on campus."  Soon it was revealed that the website for Norfolk State's student newspaper had crashed because of an overload of traffic.

Then came the announcement that only two of the 6.45 million participants in ESPN.com's bracket challenge still had perfect records -- mainly because of No. 15 seed Norfolk State's 86-84 victory over Missouri on Friday at the CenturyLink Center. Even U.S. President Barack Obama had No. 2 seed Missouri going to the Final Four.



READ MORE