1-Seeds

Five 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 last year. 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 63% of the past 38 tournaments and 7 of the last 10!

Overall Performance

• 150 (of 152) 1-seeds advanced to the Second Round
• 128 went on to the Sweet 16
• 101 reached the Elite 8
• 61 reached the Final 4
• 37 made the championship game
• 24 won the tournament

Performance Over the Last 10 Years

• 38 (of 40) advanced to the Second Round
• 30 went on to the Sweet 16
• 22 reached the Elite 8
• 14 reached the Final 4
• 11 made it to the championship game
• 7 won the tournament

Record in the Second Round

• vs 8-seeds:  58-15
• vs 9-seeds:  70-7

Feats of Strength

• 2008 is the only year all four 1-seeds reached the Final 4.  Those teams were North Carolina, UCLA, Memphis, and Kansas.
• Eight 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