How Many 15 Seeds Beat A 2 Seed? 2024

History of 15-seed shocks against 2-seeds in the NCAA Tournament – Only ten No.15 seeds have ever won a first-round game in the NCAA Tournament, but six of those victories — including two in the same year! — have occurred in the last ten years, and there is a significant explanation for this uptick.

Prior to the 1991 NCAA Tournament, a number of No.14 seeds had pulled off first-round upsets, but No.15 Richmond’s dramatic upset of No.2 seed Syracuse in 1991 may have been the first really shocking I can’t believe this just occurred upset. Steve Nash, the eventual two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, led Santa Clara to a second 15-over-2 upset two years later, while coach Fang Mitchell’s 15th-seeded Coppin State team defeated South Carolina in 1997.

In 2001, Hampton became the fourth 15 seed to win, followed by a gap of more than a decade. On the same day of the 2012 event, two No.15 seeds won their opening-round matches. Norfolk State defeated Missouri, and Lehigh defeated Duke at Greensboro, North Carolina, roughly one hour from the Blue Devils’ campus.

Then it occurred again in 2013 (Florida Gulf Coast) and in 2016 (Florida Gulf Coast) (Middle Tennessee).
So, what precipitated this change? Consider the Top Four.
In 2011, the NCAA Tournament increased from 64 to 68 participants, adding four additional at-large teams and introducing the First Four games.

The teams with overall seeding 65, 66, 67, and 68 compete for the opportunity to face the No.1 seed. As a result, two teams who would have been 15 seeds prior to the 2011 tournament became 16 seeds. In addition, two teams that would have been 14 seeds became 15 seeds, and so on.

Observe how this improved the caliber of the teams at the bottom of the seeding list. This is how Lehigh, led by future NBA superstar C.J. McCollum, beat Duke in 2012 as a 15 seed. Middle Tennessee State, a very talented experienced squad, earned a 15 seed after placing second in C-USA during the regular season and receiving the automatic bid with a tournament championship for the conference ranked 20th out of 32 conferences by KenPom.

Prior to expansion, teams of similar level would never have landed in the 15th seed line. Summit League champion Oral Roberts spoiled several March Madness brackets on the opening day of the 2021 NCAA Tournament by upsetting No.2 seed Ohio State, the runner-up of the Big Ten and the sixth overall seed.

The Golden Eagles needed strong performances from Kevin Obanor (30 points on 9-of-21 shooting and 11 rebounds) and Max Abmas to pull off the upset (29 points on 10-of-24 shooting, 5-of-10 3-point shooting, five rebounds and three assists). No other Golden Eagle reached double figures in scoring. A year later, Saint Peter’s stunned the world by repeating the feat, defeating the Kentucky Wildcats 85-79 in overtime with a score of 15 over 2.

Both guard Daryl Banks III and sixth man Doug Edert ended with 20 or more points, with Edert grabbing a crucial rebound late in the game and then coolly converting two free throws. It was John Calipari’s first first-round loss as head coach of the Wildcats, and Saint Peter’s first time advancing past the first round.

Year	Winner	Loser	Score
1991	Richmond	Syracuse	73-69
1993	Santa Clara	Arizona	64-61
1997	Coppin State	South Carolina	78-65
2001	Hampton	Iowa State	58-57
2012	Lehigh	Duke	75-70
2012	Norfolk State	Missouri	86-84
2013	Florida Gulf Coast	Georgetown	78-68
2016	Middle Tennessee	Michigan State	90-81
2021	Oral Roberts	Ohio State	75-72
2022	Saint Peter’s	Kentucky	85-79

How frequently does a 15 seed defeat a 2?

All Expansion – Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s Saints defeated the 6th-seeded Kentucky Wildcats 85-79 in overtime. This loss will undoubtedly go down as one of the most surprising in Kentucky basketball history.

It’s the first time UK has lost its opening NCAA Tournament game since 2008, when the Cats fell to sixth-seeded Marquette in Billy Gillispie’s first season as head coach.
And it was only the sixth time in the previous 50 years that Kentucky had lost its tournament opener.
It was just the sixth occasion since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 when a 15 seed upset a 2 seed.

The 15 seeded entered this year’s March Madness with an all-time record of 9-135 and a 6.25 winning percentage. The past 15 seeds to pull off an upset in the NCAA Tournament are as follows: in 1991, Richmond defeated Syracuse 73-69. ▪ Santa Clara beat Arizona 64-61 in 1993.

In 1997, Coppin State beat South Carolina 78-65. In 2001, Hampton beat Iowa State 58-57. In 2012, Lehigh beat Duke 75-70. In 2012, Norfolk State beat Missouri 86-84. In 2013, Florida Gulf Coast beat Georgetown, 78-68.2016 saw Middle Tennessee upset Michigan State 90-81. In 2021, Oral Roberts beat Ohio State 75-72.

Florida Gulf Coast in 2013 and Oral Roberts in 2012 are the only two 15 seeds to go through the first week of the NCAA Tournament. Saturday, Saint Peter’s will face the winner of Murray State and San Francisco. Now that Kentucky’s season has over, preparations will begin for the 2022-23 campaign.

This article was first published on March 17, 2022 at 10:26 PM.
Ben Roberts covers the men’s basketball team at the University of Kentucky for the Lexington Herald-Leader.
He formerly specialized in recruiting coverage for UK basketball and founded and managed the Next Cats blog.
He is a native of Franklin County and joined the Herald-Leader in 2006.

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They continued their winning ways and became the third No.15 seed in NCAA history to progress to the Sweet 16 round. Florida Gulf Coast was the first to do this in 2013, followed by Oral Roberts just last year.

Has a 15 seed ever reached the Elite Eight?

The ” Elite Eight ” consists of the last eight teams in the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship and NCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Championship, signifying the regional finals or national quarterfinals. In Divisions I and III, the Elite Eight is comprised of the winners of each of the four regional championship games.

The victorious teams advance to the Final Four.
Since 1997, when the NCAA registered the word as a trademark, the Division II Elite Eight consisted of the eight regional champions.
As with the Division I Final Four, all Elite Eight games for Division II are staged in a single set location.
Saint Peter’s University in 2022 is the lowest-seeded team in Division I ever to reach this round in the current 64-team tournament era.

Missouri in 2002 and the #12 Oregon State Beavers in 2021 both progressed to the Elite Eight as the No.12 seed. LSU (1986), Loyola Marymount (1990), Temple (2001), George Mason (2006), Virginia Commonwealth (2011), Dayton (2014), Xavier (2017), Loyola Chicago (2018), and UCLA are the nine #11 seeds to reach the Elite Eight ( 2021 ).

Only four times have two double-digit seeded teams reached the Elite Eight: 1990 (10-seed Texas and 11-seed LMU); 2002 (12-seed Missouri and 10-seed Kent State); 2021, when both were from the same conference; and 2022 (10-seed Miami and 15-seed Saint Peter’s).
Each year, on average, three of the four top seeds advance to the Elite Eight.

In the men’s competition, the Elite Eight remains together for fewer than 24 hours between the second Friday evening and the following Saturday. Each qualifying team must win three rounds (games) to advance to the national quarterfinals, with three rounds left to advance to and win the national championship game.

Similar to “March Madness,” “Elite Eight” previously referred to the Illinois High School Boys Basketball Championship, a single-elimination high school basketball tournament administered by the Illinois High School Association. In 1956, when the IHSA playoffs were downsized from sixteen to eight teams, a new moniker for Sweet Sixteen was required.

Elite Eight quickly gained popularity. The IHSA registered the word in 1995; the trademark rights are presently maintained by the March Madness Athletic Association, a joint venture between the NCAA and IHSA founded after a 1996 court ruling permitted both organizations to use “March Madness” for their respective tournaments.