March Madness Cinderellas: Who’s the lowest seed to win an NCAA tournament title?

Take coronary heart, Boise State and Seton Corridor. Dream massive, San Diego State and North Carolina.

The chances don’t favor you previous this weekend, however historical past gives you a North Star, a small glimmer of hope that something is feasible. On April Fools’ Day, 1985*, eighth-seeded Villanova turned — and stays — the bottom seed to win the NCAA males’s basketball championship, when it defeated top-seeded Georgetown 66-64.

The Wildcats reached the ultimate with out reaching 60 factors in any of its earlier 5 match video games, which included defeats of a No. 1 seed (Michigan), two No. 2’s (North Carolina and Memphis) and a No. 5 (Maryland). Its closest name, it turned out, was a two-point victory over ninth-seeded Dayton within the opening spherical.

The victory over a then-dominant Hoyas squad led by Patrick Ewing has been described as the proper recreation, although, it must be famous, Villanova turned the ball over 17 instances. Benefiting from faculty basketball’s last 12 months with no shot clock, the Wildcats tried a mere 28 area targets, flattening 22 of them. Cinderella didn’t originate with the Wildcats, however no program has impressed extra overworked references to the time period.

Within the 36-season historical past of the 64-team males’s match, 23 prime seeds have received the title, adopted by 5 No. 2 seeds and 4 No. 3 seeds. Along with the Wildcats’ championship, the remaining tournaments have been captured by a No. 4 (Arizona in 1997), a No. 6 (Kansas, 1988) and a No. 7 (Connecticut, 2014). No 5 seed has received all of it.

The bottom seed to succeed in the NCAA males’s last within the 64-team match period? Three No. 8 seeds: the Wildcats in ’85, Butler in 2011 and Kentucky in 2014.

* April Fools’ Day, 1985 additionally occurred to be the date of the best April Fools prank in historical past.