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If you find yourself saying “wow, this NCAA Tournament has been chaotic”, then your intuition is correct.
The seed numbers of every team participating in the Sweet 16 adds up to 85, tying the years 2000 and 2018 for the fifth-highest amount since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 per the Associated Press. Last year’s tournament in Indianapolis registered as the most chaotic at 94, followed by 1986 (89), 1999 (88), and 1990 (88).
Just take one glance at this year’s Sweet 16 field and you’ll see how this came to fruition. Three double-digit sees were able to make it the second weekend in No. 10 Miami, No. 11 Iowa State, and No. 15 Saint Peter’s. The Hurricanes and Cyclones will actually play each other in one of the Midwest regional semifinals, so it’s guaranteed that a double-digit seed will make the Elite Eight.
Meanwhile, the Peacocks have been the Cinderella story of this year’s tournament and became just the third 15-seed in tournament history to make it past the second round.