My, how refreshingly different things look for a change after the first weekend of the Division I NCAA men's lacrosse tournament.

Since 1992, with only one exception, every tournament final four has included at least three of the following five schools -- Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Syracuse, Virginia and Maryland. With the quarterfinals ahead this weekend, only Johns Hopkins is still around. And that might not be the case after the third-seeded Blue Jays take on sixth-seeded Georgetown on Saturday.

Syracuse never even made it to the postseason, after stumbling to a 5-8 finish for its worst season since winding up at 3-8 in 1975. Yet, that was a mere warm-up to yesterday's telling, first-round toppling of kings.

Princeton, trying to get back to its second final four since 2002 and looking for its seventh NCAA title since 2001, went down in overtime to Georgetown. Then came the loudest tremors of all.

Defending national champion and No. 2 seed Virginia was nearly shut out on its home field in the second half, as the Cavaliers tumbled hard in a 14-8 rout at the hands of unseeded Delaware. That marked the first time a No. 2 seed has fallen in the first round since the NCAA expanded the tournament to 16 teams in 2003.

After that stunner, unseeded UMBC, playing in only its fourth Division I tournament, scored 13 of the game's last 19 goals and ran by No. 7 seed Maryland at Byrd Stadium, 13-9.

That clears a first-ever, final four path for the winner of Sunday's Delaware-UMBC quarterfinal at Navy. It creates the possibility of a Hopkins-UMBC semifinal matchup at M&T Bank Stadium on May 26, of UMBC coach Don Zimmerman going against Hopkins, where he won three NCAA titles in the 1980s before getting fired, following a 6-5 finish and first-round tournament exit in 1990.

Wow.

In the past 15 years, only the 2001 tournament turned out to be this unpredictable. Towson and Notre Dame each made it to the final four, only to be bounced by Princeton and Syracuse, respectively.

But this time, both of those bluebloods are gone already, and Virginia and Maryland will be watching the rest of the games.

This feels like the future of the NCAA tournament.