2023 March Madness 1st round bracket breakdown: East Region
No. 1 Purdue vs. No. 16 Texas Southern/Fairleigh Dickinson
A No. 16 seed has only defeated a No. 1 seed once, and it isn鈥檛 likely the second time will come in this year鈥檚 East Region. Texas Southern came into last week鈥檚 Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament at just 11-20, but rattled off three wins in a row to earn an automatic bid in the Big Dance. Meanwhile, Fairleigh Dickinson went just 19-15 on the year, and actually lost its conference tournament championship to Merrimack, who was ineligible for the NCAA Tournament due to the NCAA鈥檚 transition rule as the Warriors recently moved from the Division II to the Division I level. Texas Southern and Fairleigh Dickinson will do battle in the First Four on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, 29-5 Purdue has been a force to be reckoned with the entire season. The Boilermakers were ranked No. 1 in the AP poll multiple times, won the regular season title in a tough Big Ten Conference, and won three games to win the Big Ten Tournament this past weekend. The headliner for Purdue is 7-foot-4 Zach Edey, who is a national player of the year candidate that鈥檚 averaging 22.3 points, 12.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks. He has been nearly unstoppable most of the year, and that should continue throughout the NCAA Tournament. Also led by good guard play from freshmen Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith, Purdue should easily get by in this one before what鈥檚 likely to be a tough second-round matchup.
Let鈥檚 GOOOOO鈥硷笍
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall)
