Thankfully, Wikipedia already has stats and info regarding THIS YEAR’S NCAA Tournament. I thought I was going to have to wait until next year to have all my questions answered. But, it looks like it is true – this is the MOST unlikely Final Four ever…
Trivia Regarding #1 Seeds in the Final Four
Since the NCAA started seeding teams (1979), only once have all #1 seeds made it to the Final Four (National Semifinals):
- 2008 Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA, Memphis (Memphis’s season was later vacated by the NCAA due to use of an ineligible player)
The championship game has matched two #1 seeds only six times:
- 1982 North Carolina defeated Georgetown
- 1993 North Carolina defeated Michigan
- 1999 Connecticut defeated Duke
- 2005 North Carolina defeated Illinois
- 2007 Florida defeated Ohio State
- 2008 Kansas defeated Memphis
At least one #1 seed has made the Final Four in every year except:
- 1980 – Louisville – #2 (champion), Iowa – #5, Purdue – #6, UCLA – #8
- 2006 – UCLA – #2, Florida – #3 (champion), LSU – #4, George Mason – #11
- 2011 – Connecticut – #3, Kentucky – #4, Butler – #8, Virginia Commonwealth – #11
In 2011, the highest seed to advance to the Final Four was #3 seed Connecticut; the only time that neither a #1 seed nor a #2 seed advanced into the final weekend of play. In the same tournament, Butler made history as the first program to make consecutive Final Fours while not being seeded #1 or #2 in either season.
The only team to beat three #1 seeds in a single tournament was #4 seed Arizona in 1997. Due to tournament structure, it is impossible to play a team from each one of the regions in a single tournament, thus it’s impossible to play all four #1 seeds in a single tournament.
(you can read the whole wikipedia article here.
