Pictured: BYU walks off the court after being upset Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

March Madness: 86% of brackets busted after 2 games

Originally posted on Action Network | By Ricky Henne | Last updated 3/21/24

Well, that didn’t take very long.

Only 13.8% of brackets remained perfect just two games into the NCAA Tournament. Lower seeds prevailed early to kick off March Madness as 9-seed Michigan State blew out 8-seed Mississippi State 69-51 before 11-seed Duquesne sent 6-seed BYU home with a 71-67 win.

The latter dealt the bigger blow to the public. Duquesne was a 9.5-point ‘dog, and most expected them to lose by double-digits, with 55% of the money backing BYU. The Dukes were also between +330 to +375 on the moneyline to win. Nonetheless, they went toe-to-toe with the Cougars, who were a trendy pick to go far. Instead, Duquesne won its first NCAA Tournament game since 1969.

DUQUESNE (+330 ML) GET THEIR FIRST TOURNAMENT WIN SINCE 1969 ✅pic.twitter.com/fTp9G09Uqb
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) March 21, 2024

While the public largely rued the upset, one particularly notable person was thrilled by the outcome – LeBron James. Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot was James’ high school coach at St. Vincent-St.Mary, and he made sure all of his 52.8 million followers on X knew how proud he was.

LeBron's first high school coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary was Keith Dambrot

Dambrot just lead Duquesne to their first NCAA Tournament win since 1969 as a 9-point underdog pic.twitter.com/VW7XXA5FX7
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) March 21, 2024

Meanwhile, Michigan State easily handled Mississippi State in an 18-point blowout. The Spartans were 2-point 'dogs. However, while they might have busted brackets as a lower-seed coming out on top, they had a lot of love from the betting public. The Spartans were +110 on the ML, and 70% of all bets backed them to win straight up.

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