4-Seeds

Two years ago, Connecticut took advantage of the first ever Elite 8 without any top 3 seeds and became the second 4-seed to win the tournament.

The 4-seeds might be the trickiest to pick.  It’s likely that one will lose in the first round, but 4 of the last 12 Final 4’s included a 4-seed.  The only thing you can be fairly certain of is that we won’t see one in the championship game, since it’s only happened four times.

Overall Performance

• 123 (of 156) 4-seeds advanced to the Second Round
• 74 went on to the Sweet 16
• 25 reached the Elite 8
• 15 reached the Final 4
• 4 made the championship game
• 2 won the tournament

Performance Over the Last 10 Tournament

• 32 (of 40) advanced to the Second Round
• 23 went on to the Sweet 16
• 7 reached the Elite 8
• 2 reached the Final 4
• 1 made it to the championship game
• 1 won the tournament

Record in the Second Round

• vs 5-seeds:  44-36
• vs 12-seeds:  30-13

Feats of Strength

• 2014’s tournament was the first to see all four 4-seeds reach the Sweet 16.  They were UCLA, San Diego St, Michigan St, and Louisville.
• Twice, the Final 4 had two 4-seeds in it
  • 1990 – Arkansas and Georgia Tech (both teams lost)
  • 2013 – Syracuse and Michigan faced off against each other
• Arizona became the first team to win the tournament as a 4-seed in 1997
• Connecticut became the second team to win as a 4-seed in 2023