After failing to reach the Final 4 during the first 29 years of the tournament, we’ve seen a 7-seed in the Final 4 in three of the last eight.  The 7-seed has done relatively well against their first opponent, but there is a steep drop off in performance after that.  At least two 7-seeds have advanced to the Second Round in all but five (out of 37) years.

Overall Performance

• 90 (of 148) advanced to the Second Round
• 28 went on to the Sweet 16
• 10 reached the Elite 8
• 3 reached the Final 4
• 1 won the championship

Performance Over the Last 10 Tournaments

• 25 (of 40) advanced to the Second Round
• 10 went on to the Sweet 16
• 4 reached the Elite 8
• 3 reached the Final 4
• 1 won the championship

Bracket Performance History and Advice

• First Round:  86% chance of at least one upset.
• Second Round:  61% of 7’s reach this round.
• Sweet 16:  19% of 7’s reach this round.  There is a 43% chance not a single 7-seed gets this far.  This isn’t too surprising, as the 7-seed usually runs into the 2-seed for their Second Round game.
• Elite 8:  Only 7% of all 7-seeds make it this far.
• Final 4:  A 7-seed reached the Final 4 for the first time in 2014, but has repeated the feat only twice since then.
• Final:  One 7-seed has made it this far, but they won the title.

Record in the Second Round

• vs 2-seeds:  24-58
• vs 15-seeds:  2-3

Feats of Strength

• In 2014, Connecticut became the first 7-seed to not only reach the Final 4, but to win the championship.
• The only other 7-seeds to reach the Final Four were Michigan State in 2015 – which my 7 year old son somehow predicted in his first ever attempt at filling out a bracket – and South Carolina in 2017.
• The 2012 Florida Gators are the only other 7-seed to reach the Elite 8 since 2005, where they lost to 4-seed Louisville by 4.
• Two 7-seeds have reached the Sweet 16 in the same tournament six times:  in ’86, ’90, ’93, ‘15, and ’17.