March Madness: Another First Four team marches well beyond Dayton

Syracuse kept up an impressive streak for First Four teams in the NCAA tournament by upsetting Michigan State on Sunday.

The 11th-seeded Orange became the eighth team in eight years to win at least one more game in the tourney after prevailing in their opener in Dayton.

That includes the Dayton Flyers, who topped Boise State at UD Arena in 2015 and made it to the round of 32.

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Syracuse is the fourth team to advance at least as far as the Sweet 16 but the first since Tennessee did so in 2014.

Things did not go so well for the other 2018 First Four teams.

St. Bonaventure, also a No. 11 seed, was crushed by No. 6 Florida in its round of 64 game on Friday.

The No. 16 seeds that won in Dayton also lost over the weekend.

Texas Southern lost to No. 1 seed Xavier 102-83 while Radford was no match for Villanova, falling 87-61.

Of course, with Maryland-Baltimore County shocking No. 1 Virginia on Friday night to become the first No. 16 seed ever to win in the round of 64, you can bet next year’s 16 seeds playing in Dayton will have even more hope of pulling off their own upset if they move on.

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