9-Seeds

The poor 9-seeds.  First they play against a team (the 8-seed in their region) that should be a fairly even match.  Not an easy win and there’s no fanfare if they do win.  Then, if they win, they have to face the 1-seed in the very next round.  Only the 13-16 seeds reach the Sweet 16 less frequently than the 8- and 9-seeds.  In fact, 9-seeds only have two more Sweet 16 appearances than 13-seeds.  Overall, 9-seeds have had a slight upper hand in their series against the 8-seeds.  In an evenly matched series, though, you’d expect streaks and trends to go back and forth a little.

Overall Performance

• 78 (of 152) advanced to the Second Round
• 8 went on to the Sweet 16
• 5 reached the Elite 8
• 2 reached the Final 4

Performance Over the Last 10 Tournaments

• 20 (of 40) advanced to the Second Round
• 4 went on to the Sweet 16
• 4 reached the Elite 8
• 2 made it to the Final 4

Record in the Second Round

• vs 1-seeds:  6-70
• vs 16-seeds:  2-0

Feats of Strength

• The only two 9-seeds to make a Final 4 run are:
  • 2013:  Wichita State
  • 2023:  Florida Atlantic
• All four 9-seeds have advanced to the Second Round five times (’89, ’94, ’99, ’01, and ’19)
• Only thrice did none of the 9-seeds advance (’00, ’02, and ‘15)