If one would ask another on the street: Who would win in a basketball game? Michigan State or Middle Tennessee State? It would be a safe bet that 99.9 percent of people would have picked Michigan State. Michigan State entered the tournament as a number-2 seed, which drew the ire of multiple bracketologists who thought that the Spartans should have been the number-one seed instead of the Oregon Ducks, who were the top seed of the West Region. The MTSU Blue Raiders entered the big dance as the 15 seed, winning the Conference USA automatic bid.

Surprisingly, this game was weird for most from the start. Middle Tennessee State NEVER trailed in the game. The Blue Raiders used the same balance that led them to win the C-USA tournament championship over Old Dominion. The Blue Raiders led Michigan State at the break, 41-35. MTSU led the Spartans by eight with just only eight minutes left to play. The Blue Raiders would capitalize on Michigan State fouls and eventually take the game 90-81.

This is just the eighth time in history that a number-two seed has been defeated by a number-15 seed in the Round of 64. Many analysts have speculated that this game was the “greatest upset in NCAA Tournament history.” This is not the first time that Middle Tennessee State has played spoiler. In 1989, when the Blue Raiders were a 13 seed, they defeated the #4-seeded Florida State in the first round. Also in 1982, the Blue Raiders defeated Kentucky.

MTSU will move on to the Round of 32, where they will take on Syracuse, another team with a lengthy pedigree on Sunday, March 20.