Kansas being last No. 1 seed is actually a good sign for Jayhawks’ Final Four chances
The moniker attached to the month of March prove Thursday to once again be an apt one.
No. 1 seed Gonzaga lost 74-68 to Arkansas in the men’s NCAA Tournament. Later on Thursday, Houston whipped No. 1 seed Arizona 72-60.
March Madness indeed.
Those losses left Kansas as the only No. 1 seeded team remaining in the field, and history suggests that’s a good sign for the Jayhawks’ chances of making the Final Four.
The Athletic’s Luke Weese noted it’s been more than a decade since there have been no top seeds in the Final Four.
One caveat ... Kansas was a No. 1 seed in 2011 and was stunned by VCU in the Elite Eight. Connecticut won the national championship as a No. 3 seed. The other teams in the Final Four that year: Kentucky (four seed), Butler (eight seed) and VCU (11 seed).
Prior to 2011, the last Final Four without a top seed was in 2006 when Florida (three seed), UCLA (two seed), LSU (four seed) and George Mason (11 seed) were the last teams standing. The Jayhawks were a No. 4 seed that season and lost to Bradley in their opening game.
Before that, the last time the Final Four didn’t have any No. 1-seeded schools was in 1980, when there was only a 48-team field. Second-seeded Louisville defeated eighth-seeded UCLA for the title that year. The top seeds were Syracuse, LSU, Kentucky and DePaul.
Another fact: the men’s NCAA Tournament has never been without a top seed in the Elite Eight since the seeding process started in 1979.
The bottom line: it’s rare for a Final Four to have no No. 1 seeds, and KU is the only top seed remaining this year, so it seems to be a good omen for the Jayhawks.
There is perhaps one other positive sign for KU. The last time only one No. 1 seed made the Final Four was in 2019, when top-seeded Virginia won the title.
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 9:32 AM.
