What is the lowest-seed to win an NCAA males’s basketball title?

Take coronary heart, potential Cinderella tales and bracket busters.

The chances don’t favor you previous the primary weekend, however historical past presents 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 sport, although, it ought to be famous, Villanova turned the ball over 17 occasions. Benefiting from faculty basketball’s closing yr with out a shot clock, the Wildcats tried a mere 28 discipline objectives, 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 high seeds have gained 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 gained all of it.

The bottom seed to achieve the NCAA males’s closing within the 64-team match period? 4 No. 8 seeds: the Wildcats in ‘85, Butler in 2011, Kentucky in 2014 and North Carolina in 2022.