Sweet 16 Teams: The Usual Suspects with a Dose of Cinderella

Jerry TappMar 25, 2013

The first week of the 2013 NCAA men’s Div. I basketball tournament is in the books and we have our Sweet 16 contingent. Three of the four No. 1 seeds advanced, as did a trio of No. 2 seeds, three No. 3 seeds and a pair of No. 4 seeds.

Three double-digit seeds remain in the tourney as No. 12 Oregon, No. 13 LaSalle and No. 15 Florida Gulf Coast won two games to reach the Sweet Sixteen. Three double-digit teams in the Sweet 16 matches the three that made the round of 16 last year.

Back in 1985, the NCAA went to a 64-team field for this tournament. Since that year, 61.9 percent of the teams making it to the Sweet Sixteen were teams that started the tourney as a No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 or No. 4 seed.

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Another way of looking at this stat is that in the past 29 years of the tournament, 177 teams that were a No. 5 seed or lower made it to the Sweet 16, an average of just over six teams per tournament (this year there are five teams seeded lower than a No. 4 seed still in the tourney).

Here’s a look at how many of each seed made it to the round of 16 in the tournament since 1985 (number of each seeds since 2010 is listed in parenthesis – total of 64 teams)

#1 seed…98 teams (13)
#2 seed…72 teams (11)
#3 seed…57 teams (8)
#4 seed…49 teams (8)
#5 seed…39 teams (3)
#6 seed…38 teams (4)
#7 seed…19 teams (1)
#8 seed…10 teams (1)
#9 seed…4 teams (2)
#10 seed…21 teams (3)
#11 seed…15 teams (4)
#12 seed…19 teams (3)
#13 seed…5 teams (2)
#14 seed…2 teams (0)
#15 seed…0 teams (1)
#16 seed…0 teams (0)

Here’s a few interesting notes about the seeds of the Sweet 16 teams from 1985 through 2013.

* No. 1 seeds: At least three of the No. 1 seeds have made it to the round of 16 every year since 2005. At least three No. 1 seeds have made the Sweet 16 in 27 of the 29 tournaments and at least two No. 1 seeds has made the Sweet 16 every year.

* No. 2 seeds: At least two #2 seeds have made the Sweet Sixteen every year since 2001.

* No. 3 seeds: The only year that there was not a single No. 3 seed in the Sweet 16 was 1997.

* No. 4 seeds: Three No. 4 seeds in the Sweet 16 last year was the most since 2000 when three No. 4 seeds made it to the round of 16.

* No. 5 seeds: No five seed made the Sweet 16 last year, breaking a streak of 19 straight tournaments that a No. 5 seed has been in the final 16.

* No. 6 seeds: This is only the third year in the past six that a No. 6 seed has made it to the round of 16.

* No. 7 seeds: No. 7 Florida last year was the first No. 7 in the Sweet 16 since 2008.

* No. 8 seeds: Only two No. 8 seeds have made it to the Sweet 16 in the last 11 years.

* No. 9 seeds: Wichita State, a No. 9 seed this year, is only the third No. 9 seed to make the Sweet 16 in the last 19 years.

* No. 10 seeds: Three No. 10 seeds made the final 16 in 1999.

* No. 11 seeds: A No. 11 seed has made the Sweet 16 in three of the last four years.

* No. 12 seeds: At least one No. 12 seed has made the Sweet 16 in nine of the last 13 tournaments.

* No. 13 seeds: No. 13 Ohio last year is the first No. 13 seed in the Sweet 16 since 2007.