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Winning takes precedence over all. There’s no gray area. No almosts.

Kobe Bryant

• The Image above was taken from the NCAA’s website

We’ve all experienced what it’s like to be an underdog. From our lowest points of life, we rose from the ashes and defied the odds despite the obstacles around us. The blood, sweat, and tears that we sacrificed in order to get what we wanted always paid off in the end right? Well, this year’s March Madness was no different.

This year, we saw all of the one seeds crumble for the first time in March Madness history. We saw the smallest D1 college in the country take down Purdue. We saw an Ivy league team surprise everyone and make it past the first round. We saw all of the underdogs take down the conglomeration of the top teams in the nations.

We saw so many moments that make this year’s competition one of the greatest March Madness tournaments of all time.

That’s why we’re here today, discussing the top stories from March Madness 2023. We’ll be going over the team’s accomplishment, their history, and most importantly why they’re an underdog.

Getting your foot in the door: Kennesaw State University

For the first time, Kennesaw States men’s basketball team has made the NCAA’s March Madness tournament.

Kennesaw state was founded in 1963, and didn’t step into college sports until 1982 into the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes) program. KSU athletics would later grow to an NCAA division II school, and eventually a D1 program competing in the ASUN conference.

Over the years, Kennesaw State would see major success in their athletic programs , from the 1994 NAIA National Championship with their baseball team, the 2003 national championship won by the women’s soccer team, and the men’s basketball team winning the NCAA DII championship against Southern Indiana in 2004.

When Kennesaw States Basketball program was introduced into NCAA’s D1 program, it got off to a rocky start. Even though they would win a couple of ASUN conference titles in the future, the team would go 7-7 under head coach Tony Ingle in the 2005-2006 season, and would continue to barely reach the 0.500 win-mark until 2016.

After several head coaching changes from Tony Ingle, to Lewis Preston, Jimmy Lallathin, and Al Skinner, it was clear that Kennesaw State needed to find their guy for the foreseeable future. It was clear that one candidate was the man for the job: Amir Abdur-Rahim.

When Amir Abdur-Rahim stepped in as head coach in 2019, many were skeptical as to how he would build this program up into a formidable ASUN conference opponent.

Going 1-28 in his first season, many lost faith in the program and didn’t know what would happen in the following seasons.

However, after 2 seasons going below 0.500 again, Rahim and the team were on a mission to prove that Kennesaw State should be respected as a national D1 Basketball program, and they did it.

After a win against Liberty (67-66), Kennesaw state secured a spot in the 2023 March Maddness Tournament for the first time in school history.

This monumental moment in school history, along with Kennesaw State joining Conference USA in 2025, proves that Kennesaw state is Georgia’s #1 basketball team.

Proving everybody wrong is one thing, but being the only team from your state in the entire tournament, that’s something that deserves the title of an underdog.

Dominating the Ivy’s: Princeton

For the 11th time in March Madness History, the 15th seed Princeton Tigers Men’s basketball team dethroned the number 2 seed Arizona (according to the athletic) in a stunning 59-55 victory.

Over the years, Princeton hasn’t had much success in the NCAA tournament, making the bracket around 25 times, but not progressing further than a first round exit in recent years.

Princeton joined the NCAA D1 Ivy League in 1901, going 10-10 under coach A.W. Enderbrock in their first season. The team would not see much success in the NCAA until 1950s. From 1951-current, the team has been in and out of the NCAA tournament several times, having a variety of records below and above 0.500. Under legendary coaches like Cappy Cappon, Butch Van Breda Kolff and Pete Carril, Princeton would slowly make a name for themselves in the Ivies in the world of basketball.

More recently, coach Mitch Henderson has taken the team to March Madness twice since he joined in 2011.

About an hour ago, Princeton made history, by upsetting the Arizona Wildcats in the round of 64, causing an outrage on social media. Because of Princetons win, around 0.12%-0.17% of perfect brackets remain in circulation (according to ESPN and March Madness).

Let this be a lesson to all fans of March madness: anything can happen to a team if the tiger has enough bite to make an impact.

Shocking the World from Jersey shore: Fairleigh Dickinson

This is why they call it “March MADNESS”. Today, Fairleigh Dickinson’s basketball team dethroned No. 1 seed Purdue in a huge upset, winning 63-58.

FDU’s defense was impeccable throughout the entire game, especially towards the end of the game when Purdue struggled to inbound the ball with less than 12.5 seconds left.

The FDU Knights, located in New Jersey, are the smallest D1 college in the entire tournament, playing in the Northeastern Conference with teams like Central Connecticut state, Sacred Heart, and Quinnipiac just to name a few.

The FDU Knights got their start in 1965 in the Men’s Metropolitan Collegiate conference, and had been hopping around conferences and independent play before joining the NEC in 1988.

The team has only been to the NCAA March madness tournament seven times, losing in the first round every-time, until now.

The Knights recently hired new head coach Tobin Anderson, who is a new head coach with FDU being his first team. Anderson’s father coached at the D3, D2 and D1 levels previously, which possibly instilled a level of confidence in Anderson to start coaching and to perform at this competitive level thanks to his hard work and dedication to this team.

Because of Anderson and the locker room, FDU shattered the remaining “perfect” brackets and became one of two teams to beat a 1 seed as a 16th seeded team.

This is what March Madness is all about. As fans of the sport, We love the underdog stories, We love the grind to the round of 32, and We love when upsets like this happen.

Underdogs come in many forms, and sometimes it’s the unknown programs that take down the large entities even when they least expect it.

A West coast Miracle: San Diego State

History continues to be defined, as No. 5 Seed San Diego State upset No. 1 seed Alabama, winning 71-64, in spectacular fashion.

This game was a textbook example of “defense wins games”, as scoring production for both teams did not increase until the second half of play.

Bama’s defense struggled against San Diego State, especially with Darrion Trammell leading the offense for SDSU, leaving the arena with 21 points and 5 rebounds. You also cannot forget Adam Seiko, Lamont Butler, Aguek Arop , Jaedon LeDee, and other player’s contributions to the game on both sides of the ball. Finally, we cannot forget Brian Dutcher’s performance and game plan that led to the fall of the Crimson Tide.

The San Diego State Aztecs first began playing basketball in 1921, competing against junior colleges due to close proximity to other colleges in the region. The team would then become an NAIA team in 1926, and would stay there until they became a division II team in 1956. The team would see successes pre-D1, appearing in several NCAA DII tournaments and NAIA championships. SDSU would finally go D1 around the late 60/ early 70s, competing in the Mountain West conference. The Aztecs would compete under many legendary coaches such as Steve Fisher, Fred Trenkle, Jim Brandenburg, and Smokey Gaines just to name a few. Fisher and Dutcher have seen the most success in the NCAA tournament thus far out of all coaches.

Over the years, San Diego state made a name for themselves by gaining significant attention from recruits ever since 2016, racking up transfer players along the way.

San Diego state has never made the elite 8… until now.

They are the first team to go to the elite 8 in their conference.

If this doesn’t inspire you to keep grinding and pushing through the struggle, I don’t know what will. That’s what an Underdog is, and that’s what an underdog does in order to achieve greatness.

The Aztecs are currently in the final four bracket, facing none other than an underdog: Florida Atlantic.

Welcome to Boca Raton: Florida Atlantic

March continues to shock basketball fans, as No. 9 Florida Atlantic take down No.3 Kansas State 79-76 in order to advance to the final four of the NCAA March Madness Tournament for the first time in SCHOOL HISTORY.

The team’s scoring chart was led by guard Alijah Martin who had 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists followed by Center Vladislav Goldin, Bryan Greenlee and Johnell Davis on the stat sheet.

The Florida Atlantic university Owls started to play competitive basketball in 1988. They were an NCAA division II team competing in the Trans America Athletic Conference until 1993, where they moved up into D1 basketball, playing in the A-SUN conference until 2006. FAU would then play in the sun belt conference from 2006-2013, before joining their current division: Conference USA.

The Owls haven’t seen much success in the NCAA, other than making it into the first round of the tournament in 2001. The team has gone through several coaches such as Tim Lonnie, Kevin Billerman, Sidney Green, Mike Jarvis and Michael Curry before Dusty May took over the program in 2018.

Dusty May took the program from a below .500 team in 2017, and built it up to a 34-3 record in 2023, winning the CUSA title and securing the 9th seed in the tournament this year.

Florida Athletic could not have made it this far with sheer luck.

It takes a level of maturity, basketball IQ, coaching and dedication to take down teams high seeded teams like Tennessee and Kansas state.

I know this hurts for many Kansas state fans, with remarkable players like Keyontae Johnson, Markquis Nowell , Cam Carter and Desi Sills. Their stories and amazing performances will not be forgotten as they carry the wildcat legacy.

It was hard to pick a favorite in this matchup. But the Owls came out on top.

That’s why this isn’t a Cinderella story. That’s why FAU will continue to defy expectations moving forward. That’s why underdogs always win, not by having all of the firepower but by persevering through it all.

Closing remarks

From the beginning of this tournament, an underdog has been present every step of the way. From the round of 64 all the way to the final four, we have seen what it’s like to rise above the negative expectations and cement your legacy into college basketball history through the eyes of these teams.

So remember, whenever you feel that doubt crushing your accomplishments, or fear is hindering your aspirations, always remember to think, breathe and live like an underdog.

Thanks for reading!