How frequently do No.16 seeds in the NCAA Tournament defeat No.1 seeds? It is the greatest of all upsets, and it has only occurred once. University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s 2018 first-round victory over No.1 Virginia as a No.16 seed was one of the most unexpected upsets in NCAA Tournament history.
Has a 15 seed ever defeated a 2?
NCAA History: No.15 Cinderella Seeds Typically Just a Charming First-Week Tale PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — There is a reason why the opening two days of the NCAA Tournament are so entertaining and wild. There are 16 games every day, and there is nonstop basketball for at least 13 hours.
- We enjoy it.
- And what we enjoy most about it are the surprises.
- Some years are more susceptible than others.
- We enjoy it even more when a tiny school defeats a blueblood and makes a run.
- Saint Peter’s, a tiny private Jesuit school located in Jersey City, New Jersey, close over the Hudson River from New York City, is this year’s Cinderella.
It is a founding member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, along with Iona, Siena, and Marist, among others, and has just 2,600 undergraduate students. Even the most devoted basketball fans don’t know much about Saint Peter’s, but that changed last Thursday when the No.15-seed Peacocks upset No.2-seed Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis, shocking the Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd filled with stunned and sullen UK fans.
- With the 85-79 victory, Saint Peter’s became just the tenth No.15 seed in the 37 years since the field expanded to 64 teams to defeat a No.2.
- It occurs fewer than seven percent of the time.
- Saint Peter’s then defeated Murray State, a 31-win team, in the second round, advancing to the East Regional semifinals in Philadelphia, where No.3-seed Purdue awaits on Friday night.
(Game begins at 7:09 p.m. ET on CBS) Saint Peter’s, who finished second in their league to Rick Pitino’s Iona squad before winning the Metro Atlantic conference championship, is only the third No.15 seed to go to the second week. The other two survivors fell in the regional semifinals, so this is often where the Cinderella story ends.
- The crazy does occur.
- Matt Painter is so focused on his own squad during the opening week of the tournament that it is hard for him to get caught up in all the upsets throughout the country.
- You’re going to have certain regions that have never been that way before, and then you’re going to have some regions where the top seeds always win,” Painter said.
Statistically, the top seeds are more likely to win than the other teams, but that is precisely what makes this event so unpredictable. When you are not in the tournament, we view it as you do, but when you are in the tournament, we do not view it in the same way.
- People want to speak with you about all that’s happening, but you’re preoccupied with your next game.
- You see highlights, you see stuff, and individuals comment.
- What are your thoughts on this?” Then, when you have nothing to say, people stare at you as if you’re insane.
- Well, I don’t follow everything, but I was concerned about Yale and Texas this weekend.
Since 1985, when the tournament field was expanded to 64 teams, the No.15 seeds are 10-138 versus the No.2 seeds. That is a winning percentage of 0.69%. Here are some of the most shocking upsets by No.15 seeds over No.2 seeds over the years: Richmond defeated Syracuse 73-69 in 1991.
— Santa Clara defeated Arizona by a score of 64-601997 — Coppin State defeated South Carolina by a score of 78-652001 — Hampton defeated Iowa State by a score of 58-572012 — Lehigh defeated Duke by a score of 75-702012* — Norfolk State defeated Missouri by a score of 86-84 in 2013 — Florida Gulf Coast defeated Georgetown by a score of 78-68 in 2016 — Middle Tennessee defeated Michigan State by a score of 90-8120 in 21** — Oral Roberts vs.
Ohio State, 75-722022 — Saint Peter’s def. Kentucky, 85-79 * Only in 2012 did two No.15 players win the same tournament. * Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the 2021 tournament was played in a bubble solely in Indiana.
How frequently do No.16 seeds in the NCAA Tournament defeat No.1 seeds? It is the greatest of all upsets, and it has only occurred once. University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s 2018 first-round victory over No.1 Virginia as a No.16 seed was one of the most unexpected upsets in NCAA Tournament history.
Has a 16th-seeded team ever won an NCAA tournament game?
Guard Joe Bryant Jr. (4) and big Dana Tata (21) celebrate during a game for Norfolk State. (Mike Caudill / Agence France-Presse) Published on 13 March 2022 17 March 2022, 7:00 PM PDT Wednesday, March 16 commemorates the fourth anniversary of the lone victory in a non-play-in NCAA tournament game by a men’s 16 seed.
- College of Maryland Not only did Baltimore County defeat top-seeded Virginia, but it did so in a manner in which the majority of the previous 132 top seeds had ousted 16 seeds.
- At halftime, the score was level 21-21, but UMBC, led by Jairus Lyles’ 23 second-half points, dominated the remaining 20 minutes of a 74-54 thrashing, Virginia’s most lopsided loss of the season.
Lyles’ three-pointer in the final second of the America East championship game allowed the Retrievers to overcome Vermont and go to the tournament. Kansas State would defeat UMBC 50-43 in the second round of the tournament. The Retrievers are the only 16 seed to win a tournament game outside of the play-in round.
There have been a couple of near-upsets of high seeds in the initial round, most notably in 1989 when both Princeton and East Tennessee State fell to Georgetown and Oklahoma by a single point in the opening round. Murray State pushed Michigan State to overtime a year later, but ultimately lost 75-71 in extra time.
Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, the 15 seed has had significantly better luck in the initial round, winning nine times, most recently in 2017 when Oral Roberts upset Ohio State 75-72 in overtime. UMBC was not the first 16 seed to win a game in the NCAA tournament. 
