I bet many people never even heard of the school Fairleigh Dickinson. On Friday night, many people probably did a simple google search, including myself, wondering where the hell FDU was located. Which I found in a town called Madison in the state of New Jersey. On Friday night, this unknown University made history being the second only team in NCAA history to be he 16th seed to knock off a number one seed. They did it to the University of Purdue in a shocking upset in Columbus, Ohio. It was a game that featured the shortest team in the tournament beating a Giant center in Zach Edey, and a well established Big Ten basketball program. Talk about a significant trophy kill. The Knights would beat the Boilermakers 63-58 as the buzzer sounded, and the world would rejoice seeing one of the ultimate Cinderella stories unfold in a classic David versus Goliath style of game.

The Boiler makers went 15-5 in the Big Ten with a 29-6 overall record and won the conference tournament. The selection committee made Purdue the number one seed in the Eastern Region. The Boiler Makers have one of the best head coaches in the country in Matt Painter. Painter has been on the other side of the fence before as he brought a small school, Southern Illinois, to the tournament with a 25-5 record back in the 2003-04 season. Painter would move on from SIU and take the job at Purdue where he been ever since. At Purdue he has 5 conference titles under his bel,t and as head coach has compiled up a impressive record of 438-203 which is a .683 winning percentage. The Boilermakers the last three seasons have made the tournament but have been dropped by double digit seeds. Last year, Purdue was a number three seed and was, knocked off by St. Peter’s who were a 15. Then in 2021, the Boilermakers were a number 4 seed and dropped by a 13th seed in North Texas.

Fairleigh Dickinson came into the tournament with a 20-15 record before facing the Boilermakers. FDU had to beat Texas Southern University in the First 4, which they obviously did to play another game of Friday night. FDU did not win their conference tournament as they took a loss to Merrimack University in the NEC Championship. The Warriors of Merrimack were not eligible for the tournament, so the automatic bid went to FDU and the Knights would take full advantage. The head coach of FDU, Tobin Anderson is in his first season on the job as being the guy and has two tournament wins. After the victory against Texas Southern, Anderson’s gut feeling was he could beat Purdue with his team. After his team pulled off the upset in his interview, he wished his father was here to see this miracle but knew he was watching from the heavens as he was the real coach of the family. Anderson’s dad was a former basketball coach and Tobin is following in his footprints.

FDU pulled off the upset with quickness and full court pressure most of the game against the Boilermakers. Purdue did not shoot very well going 19-23 and hitting only 5 three pointers. It seem at the end of the game, no one on Purdue wanted to shoot the ball as they were all off and lacked confidence. The big man for Purdue, Zach Edey, had 21 points with 15 rebounds, but he played soft most of the night as the FDU players were like little Napoleon dogs nipping at the big junk yard mutt ankles all night long causing him to turnover the ball. FDU players razzled and dazzled the Boilermakers, moving the ball around defenders and quick passing that set up great shots for the Knights. Sean Moore had a big night for the Knights scoring 19 points. The native from Columbus had maybe his best game of his college career in front of his family and friends. Moore’s season average was only 6.7 points per game. At the end, FDU joins only UMBC as teams that won as a 16th seed. UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County) beat Virginia in 2018. FDU will move on to play another day and go up against the Owls of Florida Atlantic, a number 9 seed. This year it seems there’s no clear cut favorite team to win the entire enchilada. It would be cool to see the underdogs battle it out in the final four. It will be interesting to see if FDU can continue their stretch and make it to the sixteen. UNBC would lose their next game after beating Virginia. If FDU can get by the Owls, they would make more history for their basketball program out of Madison, New Jersey… just in case you’re asking.