Interesting Tourney Stats...

[chapman]

Stats to note:
If you couldn't already tell, the analysts have been pretty gutless with their picks.  The lowest I've seen from ESPN was picking 2 1's and 2 2's in the Final Four.  A few even had 3 1 seeds and a 2 making it.  However, history shows that rarely do 3 1's make it, and the Final Four has only been 1's and 2's once, in 1993.  Let's see if any analysts can grow a pair and predict a lower seed to advance.

Four 8 seeds have made it to the Final Four.  Villanova won it all as an 8 in 1986.  Both UNC and UW were 8 seeds in 2000.

#8 seeds actually lose more often in the first round.  They are 41-47 all time against #9 seeds.  I guess the only difference between being an 8 and a 9 is the color of jersey you wear in the first game...

The last #8 seed to beat a #1 was Alabama, who defeated Stanford in 2004.  8 seeds are 9-32 (22%) against 1 seeds all-time.

http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/mayhem/history/finalfourseeds