1980: For the first time in the history of the NCAA tournament, none of the No. 1 seeds made it to the Final Four. Instead, March Madness welcomed Louisville (No. 2), Iowa (No. 5), Purdue (No. 6), and UCLA (No. 8).
2006: History repeated itself, as UCLA (No. 2), Florida (No. 3), LSU (No. 4), and George Mason (No. 11) competed for the top spot.
2011: Third time's a charm. Welcome Butler (No. 8), VCU (No. 11), Connecticut (No. 3), and Kentucky (No. 4)/North Carolina (No. 2).
In one of the most exciting years in college basketball, all four top seeds are headed back home. The question is, what went wrong?
One word: Parity.
In a world of “one-and-done,” college basketball teams are becoming more equal. Seeding just does not mean as much as it used to; rather, it’s the matchup that counts.
Kansas head coach Bill Self agreed. “The No. 1 seeds that have exited the tournament so far is more of a statement to what can happen in college basketball than anything else. Those aren't major upsets in my opinion. When you have this many good teams and good players, things like that do happen,” Coach Self said at Saturday’s media conference.
He has a good point. After all, many people were not entirely shocked when Butler beat Pittsburgh. Butler’s No. 8 seed is not at all indicative of its championship game performance against Duke last year.
Regarding Ohio State’s loss, many experts predicted that Kentucky would advance to the next level. Kentucky’s stout defense was no match for the Buckeyes—especially since Ohio State’s shooting was erratic and ineffective.
Even when Arizona beat Duke, some were not surprised.
“The name Arizona has always been a big part of this tournament, and now for this year they're in the Elite Eight with a chance of going to the Final Four. So they're in great hands; and, again, I want to congratulate 'em. We lost to an outstanding team and outstanding coach and really a good program,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said at the post-game conference.
Perhaps the only questionable win was VCU’s victory over Kansas on Sunday.
But was the win a surprise because of the seed or because of the matchup?
“I think coach says that a lot to us. And it's only eight teams left in college basketball right now. Seeds don't really matter at this point, it's just basically how you match up and how you prepare for the team,” Jayhawk Tyshawn Taylor said before the game.
What do you think? Does the coveted No. 1 seed mean as much as it used to?
Cinthia Moura Monica Potter Brittany Snow Lauren German Cindy Crawford
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