What is the farthest a 16 seed has gone in the NCAA tournament? Exploring the rarest upsets in March Madness history

It could be safe to say that a 16-seeded team in the NCAA tournament basically has the world against them. But that also means that they're teams with absolutely nothing to lose. And a team with nothing to lose can indeed become quite dangerous.

In a league that's chock full of upsets and is always ripe for a new one every season, any 16-seed team could always pull off a surprise--and sometimes go as deep as no one ever expects.

What is the farthest a 16 seed has gone in the NCAA tournament?

16-seeds have only gone as far as the second round in the NCAA tournament, and there are only two teams to have ever done it: the UMBC Retrievers in 2018, and the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights just last year in 2023.

These were also the only two teams in men's hoops history to ever knock out a 1-seed in the postseason.

2018 - UMBC loses to Kansas State, 50-43

UMBC beat the top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers in the first round to be the first team to ever knock a 1-seed out in tournament history. This earned them a berth in the second round against the 9-seed Kansas State Wildcats, and things seemed to be on the way to another upset with how close the game was.

The Retrievers still kept things close despite shooting an atrocious 29.8% from the field. Their three-point shooting and defense (forcing 18 turnovers) also kept them in the game, alongside the Wildcats' unbelievable struggles from downtown.

But when winning time came, UMBC just ran out of gas--scoring only two field goals in the last six minutes.

Either way, the game ended with cheers and smiles for the underdogs, who had already made history on their own terms.

2023 - Fairleigh Dickinson loses to Florida Atlantic, 78-70

After being the second team ever to knock out a 1-seed in the mighty Purdue Boilermakers (who had the dominant Zach Edey), they met the 9-seed Florida Atlantic Owls next.

Another close game, FDU and Florida Atlantic had the Owls lead by seven at halftime, 32-25. But the Knights gave it everything they got, keeping the second half as close as they could until, like the UMBC Retrievers before them, they just ran out of steam in the final moments.

All they needed was their patented 6-0 run down the stretch to potentially tie the game, with the score at 76-70 down to the final minutes. But that wouldn't come to be, with 5-foot-8 dynamo Demetree Roberts missing a crucial layup that could've cut the lead to four. And thus ended another Cinderella run that was one for the record books once more.