Badgers ‘Elite Eight’ history
For all you Badgers fans who can’t wait until 5:07pm tonight for the game against Arizona to start, here’s a few stats that you may find interesting…
* Wisconsin has won their first three games as a Number One seed in the tournament. In the years since the NCAA went to a seeded format for this tournament, the Badgers have been a #4, #5 and #6 seed most often, each three times since 1979. Here’s a quick look at the team’s win-loss record as each seed since 1979:
Number 1 Seed: 3-0 (through games of March 26, 2015)
Number 2 Seed: 5-2
Number 3 Seed: 2-1
Number 4 Seed: 5-3
Number 5 Seed: 2-3
Number 6 Seed: 3-3
Number 7 Seed: 0-1
Number 8 Seed: 5-2
Number 9 Seed: 1-2
Number 12 Seed: 1-1
* The Badgers have made the Final Four three times, 1941, 2000 and 2014. They won two of those Elite Eight games by one point (1941 and 2014) and the other by a four-point margin (2000).
* This is the first time the Badgers have faced a #2 Seed (Arizona) in their regional.
* This will be the fourth time the Badgers have faced Arizona in the tournament. In 2000, they defeated Arizona, then a #1 seed, in the second round. In 2006 Wisconsin, the #9 seed, lost to Arizona, the #8 seed, in the first round of the tourney. Last season these two teams faced off in the elite 8 game with the Badgers (the #2 seed) defeating Arizona (the #1 seed) 64-63 in overtime.
* The Badgers have played in five Elite Eight games, winning three and losing two. The two losses occurred in 1947 and 2005. In the three games they won to go to the Final Four, the Badgers held their opponents under 64 points.
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Greatest upsets in the last two weeks of the NCAA basketball tournament
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Now that we’re down to the last two weeks of the college basketball season, let’s take a look at the upsets that have shaped the final rounds of the tourney. The criteria I’m using is to look at the seeds of each team and the biggest difference in those seed numbers by teams that were ranked lower than the team they defeated. There are three Sweet Sixteen match-ups on Thursday and Friday that could join the upsets listed below if the lower seeds can win: Xavier (#10 seed) vs. Baylor (#3), North Carolina (#1) vs. Ohio (#13), and Kansas (#1) vs. North Carolina State (#11).
Here are the greatest upsets in the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four and Championship Game in the NCAA tournament since 1979 when all teams were seeded in the brackets. (To qualify for the list the team that won had to have been seeded five spots or more lower than the team they defeated.)
SWEET SIXTEEN, seed difference, year, teams
9 1986: LSU (#11 seed) defeated Georgia Tech (#2 seed)
7 1987: LSU (#10 seed) defeated DePaul (#3 seed)
7 1991 Temple (#10 seed) defeated Oklahoma (#3 seed)
7 2002: Kent State (#10 seed) defeated Pittsburgh (#3 seed)
7 2008: Davidson (#10 seed) over Wisconsin (#3 seed)
5 1979: Penn (#9 seed) over Syracuse (#4 seed)
ELITE EIGHT, seed difference, year, teams
10 1986: LSU (#11 seed) defeated Kentucky (#1 seed)
10 2006: George Mason (#11 seed) defeated Connecticut (#1 seed)
10 2011: VCU (#11 seed) defeated Kansas (#1 seed)
6 1985: Villanova (#8 seed) defeated North Carolina (#2 seed)
6 2011: Butler (#8 seed) defeated Florida (#2 seed)
5 1983: North Carolina State (#6 seed) defeated Virginia (#1 seed)
5 1987: Providence (#6 seed) defeated Georgetown (#1 seed)
5 1992: Michigan (#6 seed) defeated Ohio State (#1 seed)
FINAL FOUR, seed difference, year, teams
6 1985: Villanova (#8 seed) defeated Memphis State (#2 seed)
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME, seed difference, year, teams
7 1985: Villanova (#8 seed) defeated Georgetown (#1 seed)
5 1983: North Carolina State (#6 seed) defeated Houston (#1 seed)
5 1988: Kansas (#6 seed) defeated Oklahoma (#1 seed)
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