Has an 8-seed ever won March Madness?
North Carolina is looking to win March Madness as an 8-seed. Has that ever happened in the history of the NCAA Tournament?
The chalk largely held in the end for March Madness as a 1-seed and two 2-seeds reached the Final Four. The outlier was North Carolina, which upset 1-seed Baylor and 4-seed UCLA on its way to the Final Four as an 8-seed.
The Tar Heels’ run to the Final Four isn’t unprecedented since 8-seeds have gotten this far before, with this UNC team becoming the sixth 8-seed to win a region since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. North Carolina has also done this before, getting to the Final Four as an 8-seed in 2000 before bowing out to Florida.
Has an 8-seed ever won March Madness before?
Of the six 8-seeds to get to the Final Four, only one has managed to cut down the nets and win it all. That team was the 1985 Villanova Wildcats, who pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history by knocking off the reigning national champion Georgetown Hoyas, who were led by future NBA Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing.
The record of 8-seeds in the Final Four itself actually isn’t bad since they are 3-2 in that round with the 2011 Butler Bulldogs and 2014 Kentucky Wildcats joining Villanova as finalists. Butler came within a half-court heave from Gordon Hayward of winning the national championship while Kentucky lost to 7-seed UConn, which rode a magical March run from Shabazz Napier to a stunning title in an upset-filled NCAA Tournament.
Time will tell whether Hubert Davis’ Tar Heels can match Villanova’s accomplishment as the highest-seeded team to ever win March Madness. There is also a possibility that North Carolina can go for that bit of history against the Wildcats, who are squaring off with Kansas in the other Final Four matchup and seek revenge for their loss to Jay Wright’s team in the 2016 national championship game.
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