NCAA Tournament 2019: Win Your Bracket by Picking the Final Four First
While upsets are plentiful early in the tournament, it’s uncommon that higher seeds advance past the Final Four.
Since 1985 (when the tournament went to 64 teams), 17% of the time did a team with higher than #4 seed make it to The Final Four; 13% did a team reach the Final Game and only 9% of the time did a seed higher than four seed win the Championship.
A wise “bracket-man” once said, “Select your Final Four first. Next, pick your Final Game and Champion. And only then, start picking teams in the first Round games on Thursday and Friday.”
NCAA Tournament 2019: Number of Times Each Seed Made the Final Four
| Seed |
Final 4 |
Final Game |
Title |
| 1 |
56 |
33 |
21 |
| 2 |
28 |
12 |
5 |
| 3 |
16 |
11 |
4 |
| 4 |
13 |
3 |
1 |
| 5 |
6 |
3 |
0 |
| 6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
| 7 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
| 8 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
| 9 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| 10 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| 11 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
| 12 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 13 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 14 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 15 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 16 |
0 |
0 |
0 |