The Lowest Seeds Ever to Win the NCAA Basketball Tournament

Its that time of year again. The madness is upon us. 68 teams will all compete to cut down the nets in Houston on April 4th. Most likely the team to do so will be one you are very familiar with. After all, the tournament is almost always won by a higher seed and a NCAA powerhouse teams. UNC, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky.. you get the idea.

It’s fun to root for the underdog. Some years, there is even a real “Cinderella” type team. These are teams which are low seeds and not known for their dominance of the sport. They pop up every once in a while and do some damage to the big boys. Perfect case and point were last year’s St. Peter’s Peacocks. This team made it to the Final Four before being knocked off by Duke.

Although a true Cinderella team has never won it all, there have been some lower seeded teams who have have. Here is a list of those teams:

8th Seed

An 8th seed has made it to the big game four times and has won it once. In 1985, Villanova was that 8th seed that ended up cutting down the championship nets.

7th Seed

In 2014, 7th seed UConn was able to secure the big win and go home with the trophy.

6th Seed

Three 6th Seeds have made it to the final game and two of them won. 1983 UNC and 1986 Kansas were those teams.

5th Seed

Three 5th seed teams have made it to the championship game but none have ever won.

Don’t forget, you can play for real money in a March Madness Real Money Contest