The NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament is known for its crazy games and upsets, but there was not much madness this year in the round of the 64.  

In nine of the past 13 years, there have been at least 10 upsets throughout the tournament. There were exactly 10 in the 2023 NCAA tournament and nine in 2024.   

The average number of upsets in the first round is 4.7 with the most being eight in 2016, and the least being one in 2000.  

“There have been a few upsets but not as much as I’m used to seeing,” UND student Alec Kulasingham said. “I love watching a Cinderella story and I don’t know if we’ll have that this year.”  

Not counting nine seeds beating eight seeds, there were five upsets in the round of 64.   

12-seed Colorado State defeated five-seed Memphis 78-70. CSU opened and closed as a betting favorite.  

12-seed McNeese defeated five-seed Clemson 69-67. McNeese State was the first double-digit seed to advance to the round of 32.  

11-seed Drake defeated six-seed Missouri 67-57. This was the Bulldogs first NCAA tournament victory since 1971.  

10-seed New Mexico defeated seven-seed Marquette 75-66. The Lobos picked up their first NCAA tournament victory since 2012.  

10-seed Arkansas defeated seven-seed Kansas 79-72. It was the fifth season that Kansas began the preseason ranked No. 1 under Head Coach Bill Self, and for the fifth time, it finished by failing to make the Sweet 16.   

“It’s been a pretty boring tournament so far this year. I really hope the tournament spices up,” UND student Liam McFadden said.   

Many fans have seen the tournament as boring because of mild upsets and few close games.  

Of the 32 games played in the round of 64, 20 were double-digit defeats, and 12 of those by at least 20. Four of the 32 ended as one-possession games.   

Outside of McNeese listed above the other three one-possession games were: five-seed Michigan defeating 12-seed UC San Diego 68-65, seven-seed Saint Mary’s (CA) defeating 10-seed Vanderbilt 59-56, and nine-seed Baylor defeating eight-seed Mississippi State 75-72.  

For the first time since 2017, the top four seeds in each region went a combined 16-0 in the round of 64. Only two of them did not win by double digits.   

Four-seed Texas A&M defeated 13-seed Yale by nine points and two-seed Alabama defeated 15-seed Robert Morris by nine points.  

There were no buzzer-beaters in the round of 64 this year.  

“I miss that 2022 Saint Peter’s tournament run,” Kulasingham said.  

Seven conferences received multiple NCAA tournament bids this season, and here is how they performed in the round of 64:  

Big Ten: 8-0  

West Coast Conference: 2-0 

Big 12: 6-1  

Big East: 4-2  

SEC 8-6  

Mountain West: 2-2  

ACC: 2-3 

Elijah Andrews is the Dakota Student Sports Reporter. He can be reached at elijah.andrews@und.edu.