1-Seeds · Bracket Research

Seven years ago, it finally happened - after 33 years and 132 straight wins, a 1-seed lost to a 16-seed! And it wasn't even close - UMBC beat Virginia 74-54. Then it happened AGAIN three years ago. Purdue fell to Fairleigh Dickinson 63-58.

You’d expect the 1-seeds to be dominant, right? Sure they get beat plenty in the later rounds of the tournament. Some of my most memorable games are ones where 1-seeds were upset in the second round (Bama over Stanford in 2004 and Northern Iowa over Kansas in 2010). But…yeah. The 1-seeds dominate. They’ve won 65% of the past 40 tournaments and 8 of the last 10!

Overall Performance

158 (of 160) 1-seeds advanced to the Second Round
136 went on to the Sweet 16
107 reached the Elite 8
67 reached the Final 4
41 made the championship game
26 won the tournament

Performance Over the Last 10 Years

38 (of 40) advanced to the Second Round
32 went on to the Sweet 16
25 reached the Elite 8
18 reached the Final 4
14 made it to the championship game
8 won the tournament

Record in the Second Round

vs 8-seeds: 61-15
vs 9-seeds: 75-7

Feats of Strength

2008 and 2025 are the only years all four 1-seeds reached the Final 4.
- 2008: North Carolina, UCLA, Memphis, and Kansas
- 2025: Auburn, Florida, Duke, and Houston
Ten championship games featured a 1-seed face-off:
- 1993 – North Carolina beat Michigan
- 1999 – Connecticut beat Duke
- 2005 – North Carolina beat Illinois
- 2007 – Florida beat Ohio State
- 2008 – Kansas beat Memphis
- 2015 – Duke beat Wisconsin
- 2017 – North Carolina beat Gonzaga
- 2021 - Baylor beat Gonzaga
- 2024 - Connecticut beat Purdue
- 2025 - Florida beat Houston