Basketball On The Internet.

From BOB CRAVEN in Seattle

THE Men's D-I basketball tourney, so far at least, is throwing some close games at us as well as blowouts, but it's also showing us that big-time upsets can still happen to the big boys at this late stage of the season.

First case in point was in the first round in the East Region where little No.16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson became just the second No.16 seed ever to knock off a No. 1 when they took down Purdue and its giant (224cm and 140kg) Chinese-Canadian post player, Zach Edey (pictured), 63-58.

FDU is the very shortest of the 363 Division One teams and didn't even win its conference tourney.  But the undersized, underdog team is active and quick, and its defensive game plan was perfect and perfectly executed, both in the middle and up the court. 

They showed no fear in swarming Edey with at least two players on him at all times, and sometimes as many as four, making it very difficult for him to get touches, or find teammates quickly when he did get the ball. 

They also identified a weakness in the Purdue backcourt, where the guards were young and relatively inexperienced.  Their plan there was to press Purdue's ball handlers relentlessly all over the court.

Edey, in what was very likely his final college game, was still able to score 21 points and pull down 15 rebounds, but FDU's defence was masterful against him. He attempted zero shots in the final nine minutes, and Purdue was held scoreless for almost six minutes down the stretch. 

No. 16 seeds now have a record of 2-151 in first round games, after this shocker.

All other men's first round games went the way the seedings suggested, with the exception of No. 6 seed Iowa State in the Midwest Region falling to No. 11 Pittsburgh by 18 points. 

Iowa State was ice cold, shooting just 23 per cent from the floor, and missing its first 11 shots. They endured three other stretches where they missed eight consecutive shots.

Another big first round upset occurred in the South Region, courtesy of No.15 seed Princeton, the little Ivy League school that already has a history of knocking off much higher seeds in the Tourney going back to the days of coach Pete Carrill in the 1980s and 1990s. 

They are known for playing slow-it-down, set-it-up, and run-the-offence-again basketball, and they knocked off No. 2 seed Arizona 59-55, a run-and-gun type team. 

The other South Region game that day provided another big upset, as No.4 seed Virginia went down to No.13 seed Furman, which won its first Tourney game in something over 40 years in a 68-67 squeaker. 

In the Midwest Region, there was a minor upset as No.10 seed Penn State took down No.7 seed Texas A&M.

On the first day of Second Round games, there were a couple of upsets as No.1 seed and defending champion Kansas lost a heartbreaker to No.8 Arkansas 72-71 in the West Region, while in the South Region, bracket buster No.15 seed Princeton did it again, outlasting No.7 Missouri, 78-63 to advance again to the Sweet 16 as major underdogs. 

In its game against Kansas, Arkansas sank five consecutive free throws in the final seconds to pull it out.

Day two of Second Round games saw Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo (right) and his No.7 Michigan State Spartans take out No.2 seed Marquette, 69-60.  Izzo reached the Sweet 16 for the 15th time and won his record 16th game with a lower-seeded team - one more than Syracuse's Jim Boeheim, who recently retired at the end of Syracuse's season this year.

Our "local" favourite, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, the No.3 seed in the West, despite being behind most of the game, rallied behind big man Drew Timme to defeat No.6 Texas Christian U. 84-81.  This will be the Zags' eighth consecutive Sweet 16.

Their next game will be a real test as they will go up against No.2 in the West, the Bruins of UCLA, who are playing well right now.  Sweet 16 games are next Thursday and Friday, with the winners playing Saturday and Sunday to determine the Final Four.

TOMORROW: The women's Sweet 16.