Monday, March 21, 2016

NCAA basketball seed records

For some reason this weekend I got to thinking about which seed numbers have faced each other in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. We know that no 16 seed has ever beaten a 1 seed so other than the 16v16 play-in games - no other seed has faced a 16. But which other match-ups have never occurred?

The tournament committee started seeding teams in 1979 and the tournament went to 64 (and beyond) starting in 1985.

I found this "betting guide" article that referenced the first two rounds prior to this years tournament. I combined this with a quick (probably multiple errors) scan of wikipedia to pull together a table of which seed numbers have faced off and what their record is.

Here's what I came up with in tabular form - read across for wins and down for losses. This also includes the old third place games played with seeds from 1979-1981.

Seed12345678910111213141516total
1223720364010567675318400128462
232344126664233131001200309
31323152469229350010710255
4225315022322026102000220
586240110311010012000175
65839410400696001400177
7126540301092000120135
8174052310800101000114
97101200720100100085
1002240046000000015096
1131140052300110050080
1200012490010000800070
130002530000003000031
140021002000000000023
1508000010000000009
1600000000000000000
Total101143143137151149151153154150149148128128128128

So the missing match-ups are:
  • 1 vs 14, 15
  • 2 vs 13, 14, 16
  • 3 vs 12, 13, 16
  • 4 vs 11, 14, 15, 16
  • 5 vs 7, 11, 14, 15, 16
  • 6 vs 6, 9, 12, 13, 15, 16
  • 7 vs 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16
  • 8 vs 8, 10, 14, 15, 16
  • 9 vs 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16
  • 10 vs 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16
  • 11 vs 4, 5, 12, 13, 15, 16
  • 12 vs 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16
  • 13 vs 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16
  • 14 vs 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
  • 15 vs 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 
Are there any of the missing combos that could still happen this year?

If Gonzaga and Iowa St. win in the Midwest it would yield the first 4 vs. 11 match-up. A Gonzaga trip to the final four facing Indiana or Finals against Maryland would be the first 5 vs. 11 match-ups as well. But beyond that we've seen all these seeds face off before.

Michigan has been involved in at least 2 of the "only happened once combinations. The 1989 final vs. Seton Hall was the only contest between 3 seeds. The 2013 semifinal vs. Syracuse is the only time 2 #4 seeds have faced off.