No. 12-over-No. 5 upset for first time since 2007 NCAA Tournament

The NCAA Tournament's most familiar upset special didn't come to pass this year.

It was the reliable trick to picking upsets in bracket pools: There had been a No. 12-over-No. 5 seed upset in every NCAA Tournament since 2007. Not this year, though, as No. 5 West Virginia's triumph over No. 12 Buffalo on Friday finished a perfect first round for the No. 5s for just the second time this century, and only the fourth time since seeding began.

No. 5s were actually 2-6 in Round of 64 games over the last two Tournaments, with three power conference No. 12s (Cal, Mississippi, and Oregon) rising up in 2013, and three mid-majors (Harvard, North Dakota State, and Stephen F. Austin) busting brackets in 2014.

Traditionally, the No. 5 vs. No. 12 matchups have been ripe for upsets because No. 5 seeds tend to be power conference also-rans and No. 12s are often the lions of lesser leagues. But that wasn't really the case this year: No. 5 Northern Iowa roared past No. 12 Wyoming, a team that needed to win its conference tournament to make the NCAA Tournament field, and while both Utah and Arkansas fit the profile of good-but-streaky No. 5s, they had too much talent for Stephen F. Austin and Wofford on Thursday.

Still, the matchup is likely to be competitive for a long, long time, and even with this tournament's four losses included, No. 12 seeds are 17-19 in the Round of 64 since 2008.

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