The summary below shows how far 1 thru 4 seeds have made it in the NCAA tournament since 1985:

Number 1 seed NCAA tournament trends:
Lost 0 times in the first round
Lost 12 times in the second round
Lost 15 times in the Sweet 16
Lost 27 times in the Elite 8
Lost 20 times in the Final Four
Lost 8 times in the championship game
Won the national championship 14 times

Number 2 seed NCAA tournament trends:
Lost 4 times in the first round
Lost 33 times in the second round
Lost 16 times in the Sweet 16
Lost 23 times in the Elite 8
Lost 10 times in the Final Four
Lost 7 times in the championship game
Won the national championship 4 times

Number 3 seed NCAA tournament trends:
Lost 15 times in the first round
Lost 32 times in the second round
Lost 26 times in the Sweet 16
Lost 11 times in the Elite 8
Lost 4 times in the Final Four
Lost 5 times in the championship game
Won the national championship 3 times

Number 4 seed NCAA tournament trends:
Lost 20 times in the first round
Lost 35 times in the second round
Lost 27 times in the Sweet 16
Lost 5 times in the Elite 8
Lost 7 times in the Final Four
Lost 1 time in the championship game
Won the national championship 1 time

NCAA tournament trends summary - 1 thru 4 seeds
Almost 82% of number 1 seeds have made it to at least the Elite 8. About 44% of number 1 seeds have made it to the Final Four. 84 of the 96 Final Four teams since 1985 have been 1 through 4 seeds.

When filling out your NCAA tournament bracket the first thing you can do is advance all number 1 and 2 seeds to the second round. Since 3 and 4 seeds win 82% of the time in the first round, it's a good bet to just go ahead and advance them to the second round as well. Chances are you'll end up somewhere between 16-0 and 14-2 on those games alone. Even if a 13 or 14 seed upsets a 3 or 4 seed they rarely go any farther than the second round.

COMPLETE BREAKDOWN (College-Basketball-Rankings.com)

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