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How 10 Seeds do in the NCAA’s Men’s Basketball Tournament
The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament involves 64 teams seeded from 1 to 16 in each quarter of the bracket. 10 seeds come into the Tournament without much fanfare but are still often dangerous teams capable of a run to the second weekend.
No team has ever pulled off the upset of winning the Tournament after entering as a 10 seed. Eight 10 seeds have advanced to the Elite Eight, but the most recent of them – Syracuse – became the only one to advance to the Final Four in 2016. The second-most recent was Davidson in 2008, who went on an iconic tournament run with Steph Curry before falling 57-59 to a top-seeded Kansas team that went on to win the championship themselves.
Dating back to 1985, 10 seeds have a 58-90 record against 7 seeds in the opening round. That amounts to slightly under 40 percent.
- 1999 is the only instance where all four NCAA Tournament 10 seeds advanced to the second round
- 1993 and 2007 are the only years where all four 10 seeds made first-round exits.
NCAA Tournament 10 seeds figure to be underdogs in far more of their games than not. Even so, they’re quality programs with a history of pulling off upsets. Keep an eye on 10 seeds this year as a deep run is not without precedent.
