By Cody Marshall-Sultan of Sports

Every year, millions of Americans will fill out brackets for office pools, competitions, or just for the fun of it. The goal is to have a perfect bracket, with no losses from the First Four to the Final Four. However, year after year there is always at least one team who makes the unthinkable happen. The 2012 tournament is no different, and may just be the most unpredictable bracket of the last decade.

The first day of second round play went by “normally” when you look at who won each game. The only win that may have surprised people was the #12 Virginia Commonwealth Rams upsetting the #5 Wichita State Shockers 62-59. However, when you look at VCU’s last tournament appearance in which the Rams went from a 12 seed all the way to the Final Four, this doesn’t seem to be such a shocker, no pun intended. Meanwhile, #11 Colorado’s 68-64 win over #6 UNLV was the only other game in which the lower seed won on the opening day of the second round.

The real madness started on Friday when Norfolk State and Lehigh, both 15 seeds in the West and South regionals respectively managed to pull off upsets in their games. The Spartans (Norfolk State) shocked the #2 Missouri Tigers 86-84, before being trounced by #7 Florida in the third round 84-50. Meanwhile, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks defeated the #2 Duke Blue Devils 75-70. Of course, it becomes that much easier to pull off an upset when two players try dribbling through three defenders on a consistent basis, which I’m sure wasn’t in Coach K’s playset. Anyways, the Mountain Hawks moved on to Sunday, where they were eliminated by the #10-seeded Xavier Musketeers, 70-58. The upsets continued when the #13 Ohio Bobcats upset the #4 Michigan Wolverines, 65-60, and then earned a Sweet 16 birth after beating the #12-seeded South Florida Bulls, 62-56. However, Xavier and Ohio aren’t alone when it comes to double digit-seeded teams making the Sweet 16. North Carolina State managed to upset #6 San Diego State on Friday, 79-65, and then squeaked by the #3 Georgetown Hoyas, 66-63.

This year’s tournament marked the first time that 2 15 seeds pulled an upset over a #2 seed in the same tournament. Until this year, the last time a #15 seed won in the second round was in 2001 when Hampton beat Iowa State.

On a personal basis, I still have 11 of my Sweet 16 left, 7 of my Elite 8, and 3 of my Final Four (thanks a lot Missouri). I’m sticking with my original pick of Kansas to win the national championship. If you’re looking for an upset pick from me, I’m looking at the East regional. #1 Syracuse will have their toughest test without Fab Melo when they play the #4 Wisconsin Badgers, who beat SEC Tournament champion Vanderbilt in the third round, 60-57. If the Badgers can hold the Orange to 50 points or less, Syracuse’s run may end in Boston.