Guess the big boys showed us, eh? Forgot that charming George Mason story from 2006 - we need predictability! And thus we have a first: Four number one seeds in the Final Four.
Congrats hombres. Still, while it’s new, we’ve been darn close before.
Three times previous - 1999, 97, and 93 - a trio of one seeds made the Final Four (although in 1997 the only non-one, 4th-seeded Arizona, took the crown). And if you look at the seed averages from every Final Four since the field expanded in 1985 to at least 64 teams, many years are close to 2008, and you’ll see a lot of the most predictable Final Fours in the last decade:
| Year | Seed Average | Seeds | Final Four Teams |
| 2008 | 1.00 | 1,1,1,1 | Memphis, UCLA, UNC, Kansas |
| 1993 | 1.25 | 1,1,1,2 | Michigan, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas |
| 2007 | 1.50 | 1,1,2,2 | Florida, Ohio State, UCLA, Georgetown |
| 2001 | 1.75 | 1,1,2,3 | Duke, Michigan State, Arizona, Maryland |
| 1997 | 1.75 | 1,1,1,4 | UNC, Kentucky, Minnesota, Arizona |
| 1999 | 1.75 | 1,1,1,4 | Connecticut, Duke, Michigan State, Ohio State |
| 1991 | 1.75 | 1,1,2,3 | UNLV, UNC, Duke, Kansas |
The most common scenario? Two number-one seeds have made the Final Four ten times since ‘85, and only one top seed has made it nine times.
The only time no top seeds have made the Final Four since the expansion to 64 teams? The George Mason year of 2006, which somewhat surprisingly doesn’t have the highest seed average:
| Year | Seed Average | Seeds | Final Four Teams |
| 2000 | 5.40 | 1,5,8,8 | Michigan State, Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina |
| 2006 | 5.00 | 2,3,4,11 | UCLA, Florida, LSU, George Mason |
| 1986 | 3.75 | 1,1,2,11 | Duke, Kansas, Louisville, LSU |
| 1992 | 3.25 | 1,2,4,6 | Duke, Indiana, Cincinnati, Michigan |
| 1990 | 3.00 | 1,3,4,4 | UNLV, Duke, Georgia Tech, Arkansas |
| 1985 | 3.00 | 1,1,2,8 | St. John’s, Georgetown, Memphis, Villanova |
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