History of #1 Seeds and #1 Teams in the NCAA Tournament

(updated through the 2016 tournament)

Since the NCAA tournament began seeding in the modern format (four regions, each seeded first to last) in 1979, #1 seeds have fared very well, and high seeds in general (#1-3) have done EXTREMELY well.  But there have been a few exceptions.


Out of 38 tournaments in this era:

- 23 have been won by #1 seeds (60.5%)

- 33 have been won by a team seeded 1, 2 or 3 (86.8%)

- The only sub-3 seed winners: 
4 seed Arizona (1997) 
6 seed NC State (1983)
6 seed KU (1988)
7 seed UConn (2014) 
8 seed Villanova (1985)


If you confine it to 1990 through 2016 (27 tournaments), it gets even chalkier:

- 18 have been won by #1 seeds (67%)
- 25 have been won by a team seeded 1, 2 or 3 (93%)
- The only exceptions: 4 seed Arizona (1997), 7 seed UConn (2014)


However, in spite of all this chalky success, the overall #1 team has not performed up to expectations.  The concept of an "overall #1 seed" hasn't existed long, so I substituted the #1 team from the final AP poll in each season in looking at this.


In the 38 tournaments with modern seeding:

Only 7 champions were the overall #1 seed (or ranked #1 in the era before the existence of such a measure):

1982 UNC
1992 Duke
1995 UCLA
2001 Duke
2007 Florida (note - they were #3 in final AP poll)
2012 Kentucky
2013 Louisville (note - they were #2 in final AP poll)

8 champions were ranked #2 (and had a #1 seed):

1980 Louisville
1984 Georgetown
1990 UNLV
1994 Arkansas
1996 Kentucky
2000 Michigan State
2005 UNC
2009 UNC

5 champions were ranked #3 (and had a #1 seed):

1979 Michigan State
1987 Indiana
1999 UConn
2010 Duke
2015 Duke (note - they were #4 in final AP poll)

3 champions were ranked #4 (and had a #1 seed):

1993 North Carolina
2002 Maryland
2008 Kansas

The rest of the champs:

1981 Indiana - ranked 9th, seeded #3

1983 NC State - ranked 16th, seeded #6

1985 Villanova - unranked, seeded #8

1986 Louisville - ranked 7th, seeded #2

1988 Kansas - unranked, seeded #6

1989 Michigan - ranked 10th, seeded #3

1991 Duke - ranked 6th, seeded #2

1997 Arizona - ranked 15th, seeded #4

1998 Kentucky - ranked 5th, seeded #2

2003 Syracuse - ranked 13th, seeded #3

2004 UConn - ranked 7th, seeded #2

2006 Florida - ranked 11th, seeded #3

2011 UConn - ranked 9th, seeded #3

2014 UConn - ranked 18th, overall seed 26th, seeded #7

2016 Villanova - ranked 6th, overall seeded 7th, seeded #2

What about the #1 teams (and overall #1 seeds) who have failed to get the job done?

1979 Indiana State - Runner-up

1980 DePaul - Round of 32 loss

1981 DePaul - Round of 32 loss

1983 Houston - Runner-up

1984 North Carolina - Sweet 16 loss

1985 Georgetown - Runner-up

1986 Duke - Runner-up

1987 UNLV - Final 4 loss

1988 Temple - Elite 8 loss

1989 Arizona - Sweet 16 loss

1990 Oklahoma - Round of 32 loss

1993 Indiana - Elite 8 loss

1994 North Carolina - Round of 32 loss

1996 UMass - Final 4 loss

1997 Kansas - Sweet 16 loss

1998 North Carolina - Final 4 loss

1999 Duke - Runner-up

2000 Duke - Sweet 16 loss

2002 Duke - Sweet 16 loss

2003 Kentucky - Elite 8 loss

2004 Stanford - Round of 32 loss

2005 Illinois - Runner-up

2006 Duke - Sweet 16 loss

2008 Memphis - Runner-up (vacated)

2009 Louisville - Elite 8 loss

2010 Kansas - Round of 32 loss

2011 Ohio State - Sweet 16 loss

2014 Florida - Final 4 loss

2015 Kentucky - Final 4 loss

2016 Kansas - Elite 8 loss