When was the last time all #1 seeds made the Final Four? A look at the rare March Madness feat

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament East Regional-Arizona at Duke - Source: Imagn

March Madness is getting down to the top teams as the Sweet 16 round is half done on the morning of Friday, March 28. As things stand, all four number-one seeds are still in the tournament. Duke and Florida played and won their Sweet 16 matchups, whereas Houston and Auburn will play their games on Friday.

It is not surprising to see number one seeds go far, but it is not common for all of them to make deep runs. However, we are only a few wins away from a Final Four with all number-one seeds. If it happens again, it would be a rare event that has only occurred once before.

When was the last time all #1 seeds made the Final Four?

March Madness is a highly chaotic tournament. Upsets occur often because of the single-elimination style of the tournament. As a result, there has only been one time in history that all four number-one seeds made the Final Four.

It happened in 2008 with North Carolina, UCLA, Memphis, and Kansas all reaching the final. The Jayhawks beat the Tigers in overtime of the championship game to win the tournament.

The 2025 Elite Eight has seen No. 1 Duke and No. 1 Florida secure their Final Four spots with wins over Alabama and Texas Tech, respectively.

If the remaining two #1 seeds, namely Auburn (vs No. 2 Michigan State) and Houston (vs. No. 2 Tennessee), win their matchups, fans will witness all four No. 1 seeds qualify for the Final Four for the first time since 2008.

How often does a #1 seed win March Madness?

While it is incredibly rare for all four number-one seeds to reach the Final Four, it is common for one of those four teams to win the tournament. In the past 10 seasons, not counting the canceled 2020 tournament, a number one seed has won seven times. The most recent team other than a number one seed to win was No. 4 Connecticut in 2023.

The NCAA expanded to a 64-team format in 1985, meaning there have been 39 tournaments. 25 of those tournaments were won by a number one seed. Nine more were won by a two or three-seed. The tournament has only been won by a team seeded lower than third five times. The lowest seed to win was No. 8 Villanova in 1985, the first tournament in this format.

Has a #1 seed ever lost in the first round of March Madness?

Number-one seeds have a 158-2 record all-time against 16 seeds. However, there was a recent upset with No. 16 FDU defeating No. 1 Purdue 63-58 in the first round in 2023.

The first upset by a No. 16 seed came in 2018 when UMBC defeated No. 1 Virginia 74-54. What was more shocking than the upset was the margin of victory as UMBC dominated Virginia.

About the author

Alexander O'Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex's favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex's favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex's proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

Aside from sports, Alex likes to spend his time playing games. He is also very passionate about running and strives to improve at the half and full marathon distances.

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Edited by John Maxwell