No. 1 Villanova chopped down by N.C. State 71-68

PITTSBURGH — Raise your hand if you saw North Carolina State 71, Villanova 68 coming.

Perhaps you did. A No. 1 seed lost in the Round of 32 each of the last two seasons, after all — Wichita State to Kentucky in 2014, and Gonzaga to Wichita State in ’13.

So now we’re at three years in a row, but come on — this was different. This was wholly unexpected. This was the last Atlantic Coast Conference team in the NCAA Tournament, a tied-for-sixth-place squad that, just over a week ago, was being blasted by 24 points by Duke in the league tourney. Read more