The low seeds, Cinderellas, and just plain improbable runs through the NCAA Tournament that produced these shocking Final Four arrivals
1) Pennsylvania, 1979 (#9 seed)
The 1979 NCAA Tournament is amongst the all-time most renowned and cited, as it marked the ascension of the Magic vs. Bird rivalry. The National Finals match-up between Michigan State and Indiana State is still the highest-rated NCAA basketball telecast in history, but many overlook that the first Cinderella of the modern tournament era also played in that year's Final Four. It marked the first time that the tournament had seeded teams, and Penn finished a dream season by reaching the Final Four in Salt Lake City as a #9 seed. It was the culmination of a successful decade for the program, who had just missed reaching the Final Four previously in 1972 and 1973, but were lightly regarded heading into the '78-'79 season, as their longtime head coach Chuck Daly had departed for a job with the Philadelphia 76ers. Led by his top assistant, Bob Weinhauer, a Daly-recruited starting lineup stunned top seeded North Carolina in the tournament's second round in Greensboro (it marked the first time that UNC had ever lost a tournament game in their home state, and it wouldn't happen again until 2018). With tournament leading scorer Tony Price leading the way, Penn went on to upset #3 seed Syracuse and then squeaked past St. John's in an improbable Regional Finals matchup featuring the region's bottom two teams (there were only 10 teams per region in those days). Magic Johnson was awaiting in Salt Lake City, and his Spartans ran Penn off the floor in an easy 101-67 National Semifinal winner. But by then, Pennsylvania's legacy as the original Cinderella was secure. They became only the fourth Ivy League school to reach the Final Four and unless the NCAA system changes radically they will be the last. Every team on this list owes a debt to the '78-'79 Penn Quakers in some way.
2) LSU, 1986 (#11 seed)
There have been some legendary basketball eras at LSU, but for the first four months of the season the '85-'86 Tigers team displayed no indications that they would be joining those storied ranks. The program had gone stale since reaching the 1981 Final Four, and the early stages of the '85-'86 season featured three crucial players being lost for the year: star freshman Tito Horford (suspended for missing practice), starting center Nikita Wilson (declared academically ineligible), and backup center Zoran Jovanovich (injured his knee). Necessity became the mother of coach Dale Brown's ultimate invention, as he was forced to insert 6'7" swingman Ricky Blanton into the center position. Working around Blanton's strengths and weaknesses in the middle, Brown instituted what he dubbed the "freak" defense, a constantly shifting style tailored to each opponent and purportedly inspired by The Art of War. LSU struggled to implement it down the stretch, and limped into the NCAA Tournament as a #11 seed, but it started to pay off once the madness of March began. It also helped that the Tigers coincidentally got to play the first two rounds on their home court (a practice that the NCAA would ban a couple years later), and they upset #6 seed Purdue (in double overtime) and #3 seed Memphis in the first two rounds, before upending #2 seed Georgia Tech and top-seeded Kentucky in the regionals. LSU became the first double-digit seed to reach the Final Four, and the first, and still only, team to knock off the top three seeds in their region. But the grind of playing "freak" defense against several powerhouse squads caught up to the Tigers, and they lost to Louisville in the National Semifinals, 88-77. Brown spent 11 more years as the head coach in Baton Rouge, but despite recruiting stars like Shaquille O'Neal and Chris Jackson, could never make it back to the Final Four. Both Blanton and high-scoring senior guard Don Redden were named to the 1986 All-Region team, and 23 years later both were named to the LSU All-Century team.
3) George Mason, 2006 (#11 seed)
It would take two decades for another double-digit seed to reach the Final Four, and this time it seemed like an even more impossible dream. During the two decades between LSU and George Mason, several double-digit seeded mid-major teams had captured the public's imagination with improbable runs to the Regional Finals. But for Loyola Marymount in 1990, Temple in 1991, Gonzaga in 1999, and Kent State in 2002, the Cinderella run always ended there, typically in blowout fashion against a traditional power conference team. Heading into their Elite Eight matchup against top-seeded Connecticut in 2006, everyone expected that #11 seed George Mason would suffer a similar fate. It was already an impressive run for the Patriots, having shocked Michigan State and North Carolina in the first two rounds before taking out Wichita State in the Regional Semifinals. This was the culmination of years of work from coach Jim Larranaga, who had taken over from the legendary Paul Westhead in 1999 and basically rebuilt the program from scratch. After a semifinal loss to Hofstra in the 2006 CAA Tournament, George Mason was a controversial at-large inclusion in the NCAA Tournament, as many felt several bigger schools like Florida State were more deserving of the spot. The Patriots certainly proved their detractors wrong, no more so than in that Regional Final against Connecticut. The Huskies were about as talented a roster as Jim Calhoun had ever coached, but they were not without faults, having suffered mental lapses in near upsets earlier in the tournament against Albany, Kentucky, and Washington. An unlikely home team (the game was played in Washington, D.C., just 20 miles from Mason's Fairfax, VA campus), the Patriots trailed for most of the game but were buoyed by the partisan crowd and refused to go away. In a total team effort (all five starters scored in double figures), George Mason came from behind to force overtime, and held an 84-80 lead late in the extra period. Missed free throws seemed like they would doom Mason, as Connecticut got a chance to win or tie with one last possession at the end. Denham Brown put one last three-pointer at the buzzer to win it, the shot that always goes in for Goliath, lending to his defeat of David, but it bounced off the rim and out. For once, the clock did not strike midnight in the Regional Finals, and George Mason was the most improbable of Final Four teams for all of history.
4) North Carolina, 2000 (#8 seed)
5) Wisconsin, 2000 (#8 seed)
Though Dean Smith had been gone for only two seasons, his tenure already seemed like a distant memory at Chapel Hill by the '99-'00 season. His replacement, Bill Guthridge, had led a Smith-recruited roster to the 1998 Final Four, but in 1999 they were embarrassed as a #3 seed, upset in the first round by Weber State. With all traces of Smith's influences gone from the roster by 1999, the Tar Heels stumbled to 13 losses and a #8 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But the team, highlighted by veterans Brendan Haywood and Ed Cota, suddenly put it together in the tournament, shocking top seeded Stanford in the second round, then defeating Tennessee and Tulsa to reach the Final Four. At the same time, Wisconsin, coached by Dick Bennett and also a #8 seed, was making its own miraculous run, defeating top seeded Arizona, fourth-seeded LSU, and sixth-seeded Purdue to reach the Final Four. Eight seeds had made the Final Four previously (see entries for UCLA and Villanova below), as had other lower-seeded teams, but never before had two teams seeded so low both made the Final Four in the same season. In contrast to North Carolina, which was just adding to an already vast program legacy, Wisconsin was making its first Final Four appearance of the modern era. Both teams lost their National Semifinal matchup, with the Badgers falling to Michigan State, and North Carolina bowing out against Florida. It probably saved the jobs of both head coaches that had entered the season on the hot seat but neither lasted more than another year. Bennett stepped down during the '00-'01 season, citing exhaustion, and Guthridge retired shortly after to hand the reigns to Matt Doherty.
6) Providence, 1987 (#6 seed)
Led by inventive young coach Rick Pitino and star point guard Billy Donovan, the Friars finished in fourth place in the Big East in '86-'87 and were granted a #6 seed on Selection Sunday. But Pitino's mind was far from basketball on that day. After a Big East Tournament loss to Georgetown, Providence's team bus had been stopped so that Pitino and his wife could be informed that their six-month-old son Daniel had died after suffering a cardiac arrest. Choosing to coach through the melancholy, Pitinio joined his team in Birmingham for a first round matchup with UAB only one day after Daniel's funeral, and led them to victories over the Blazers and then Austin Peay in the second round. With Pitino understandably shunning press conferences and other attention-grabbing endeavors, his workmanlike team did all their talking on the floor. Shrewdly imploring his players to shoot as many three-pointers as possible to balance their lack of interior presence (it was the first season that the NCAA instituted the three-point line), Pitino led Providence to an upset of #2 seed Alabama in the Regional Semifinals to set up an Elite Eight battle against conference rival Georgetown. Betting on the fact that coach John Thompson would attempt to shut off their long range shooting, Pitino changed course and advised his players to take the ball inside. The strategy worked, and Providence easily won by 15 points to advance to the Final Four, where another conference rival, Syracuse, finally wore them down and eliminated the Friars in the National Semifinals. Later that spring Pitino spurned a head coaching offer from the New York Knicks to sign an extension with Providence, but eventually ditched his new contract to take over the Knicks job anyway, putting a bitter final stamp on an inspiring coaching run. He would eventually return to the college ranks, leading Kentucky and Louisville to national championships.
7) UCLA, 1980 (#8 seed)
They were essentially the alpha and omega of college basketball in the '60s and '70s, winning 10 national championships under legendary coach John Wooden, and producing star players like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, but UCLA fans weren't expecting much by '79-'80. Led by new coach Larry Brown and featuring a roster of mostly underclassmen, the Bruins finished an uninspiring 22-10, and for the first time in 14 years failed to win at least a share of the Pac-10 title. But it was a different story come March, when UCLA, led by senior Kiki Vandeweghe, took out top seeded DePaul in a second round matchup, then upset Ohio State and Clemson to reach the Final Four. It was a Final Four with Wooden's fingerprints all over it, featuring his Bruins, his alma mater, Purdue, and his longtime protege, Denny Crum, now coaching at Louisville. UCLA defeated Purdue in the National Semifinals, but blew a lead to Louisville in the championship game and lost, 59-54. Brown was gone just one year later, and soon after the school was put on probation and forced to vacate their Final Four appearance due to recruiting violations. After reaching the Final Four 14 times in a 19-year span, UCLA would not return again until 1995, when they won their 11th national title.
8) Villanova, 1985 (#8 seed)
Rollie Massimino's team certainly didn't look like a Final Four contender late in the '84-'85 regular season. After several blowout losses down the stretch, including against St. John's in the Big East Tournament semifinals, Villanova had fallen from a team ranked #16 in an AP poll in February to a #8 seed in the NCAA Tournament. 1985 was the first tournament to be played with 64 teams, and the last to be staged without a shot clock, and that confluence of oddly-paired paradigms played right into Massimino's hands. He had built a team of defensive bulldogs in his own image, one that was easy to overlook amongst the heady field of 64, and after staving off Dayton in the first round (on Dayton's home court), Villanova knocked off top seeded Michigan, #5 seed Maryland (in a 46-43 slugfest) and #2 seed North Carolina. Adding in their National Semifinal victory over Memphis, Villanova had held their first five tournaments opponents to a downright anemic 47.2 points per game, but were still heavy underdogs in the championship game against their conference rival, Georgetown. It would take a perfectly executed game plan for Massimino's team to upend Ewing and the Hoyas, and that's exactly what happened. Villanova shot an incredible 78.6% from the field (90% in the first half) compared to an on-its-own impressive 54.7% for Georgetown. As opposed to popular belief, the Wildcats did not just hold the ball to win conservatively. They often pushed the pressure, which led to a surfeit of turnovers, but held on for a 66-64 victory that still stands as one of the most shocking upsets in tournament history in any round. To this day, Villanova are the lowest seeded team to ever win the title.
9) Loyola-Chicago, 2018 (#11 seed)
Though Loyola was making just its second NCAA Tournament appearance of the seeded era in 2018, it was once a powerhouse program that won the national championship in 1963. Coach Porter Moser returned the Ramblers to national prominence 55 years later, thanks to some incredible performances from his unheralded players, and possibly some divine influence. Loyola's unofficial mascot for the tournament was a 98-year-old nun named Sister Jean who served as the team's chaplain and attended every game. They soon exceeded even Sister Jean's own expectations (she supposedly had them only reaching the Sweet 16 in her personal bracket) with a trio of hail mary's in the first three rounds, defeating #6 seed Miami with a buzzer beater, #3 seed Tennessee with a late game-winning jumper, and #7 seed Nevada with a three-pointer in the waning moments. After holding off #9 seed Kansas State in the Regional Finals, Loyola opened up a 10-point second half lead against Michigan in the National Semifinal, before succumbing to a 23-6 Wolverines run that swung the game and put it away.
10) Virginia, 1984 (#7 seed)
After reaching the Final Four in 1981 thanks to freshman sensation Ralph Sampson, Virginia suffered upsets as a top seed in the 1982 and 1983 tournaments. Expectations were low for '83-'84 after Sampson declared for the NBA Draft, and indeed Virginia lost more games in that regular season (11) than they had in the last three regular seasons combined. But led by senior guard Rick Carlisle and freshman center Olden Polynice, the Cavaliers had a magical run through the 1984 tournament. It started with a tough win over upset-minded Iona in the first round, capped by a game winning jumper by senior Othell Wilson. Then it was Carlisle's turn for heroics in the second round, hitting the game winner in an overtime upset of #2 seed Arkansas. After wins over #3 seed Syracuse and #4 seed Indiana, Virginia was on to Seattle for the Final Four, where their roster stuck out like a sore thumb compared to Patrick Ewing and Georgetown, Sam Bowie and Kentucky, and Hakeem Olajuwon and Houston. In a National Semifinal matchup against Houston, Polynice held his own against the mighty Olajuwon, and Virginia took the Cougars to overtime before falling 45-43. Coach Terry Holland almost repeated the magic for Virginia again in 1989, leading an undermanned #5 seed to an upset of top-seeded Oklahoma in the Regional Semifinals before falling to Michigan in the Elite Eight round. Returning this time as a top seed in 2019, Virginia is making its first Final Four appearance since 1984.
11) Syracuse, 2016 (#10 seed)
Deploying Jim Boeheim's patented 2-3 zone, Syracuse is traditionally a tough out come NCAA Tournament time as opposing teams scramble to decode a defense they've probably only seen before on tape. Never was that more on display than in 2010, when the Orange entered the tournament as an overlooked 10 seed and finished it playing powerhouse conference foe North Carolina in the Final Four. After a self-imposed postseason ban in 2015, the Orange had a middling '15-'16 regular season, finishing ninth in the ACC and losing their opening game in the conference tournament, and many were surprised by their inclusion in the NCAA Tournament. Once in, Syracuse was nearly unstoppable, but also benefitted from some big upsets in their region. After blowing out #7 seed Dayton in the first round, the Orange got a second round win over #15 seed Middle Tennessee and then advanced past #11 seed Gonzaga in the Regional Semifinals. Awaiting in the Regional Final was ACC rival and top seed Virginia, but freshman Malachi Richardson scored a game-high 23 points as the Orange defeated the Cavaliers 68-62. Though they were blown out by North Carolina in the National Semifinals, it was the fifth Final Four appearance in Boeheim's era at Syracuse, all of which happened as lower than a #1 seed.
12) Butler, 2010 (#5 seed)
Though they were no stranger to tournament success at that point, having previously reached the Sweet 16 as a #12 seed in 2003 and as a #5 seed in 2007, Butler was nobody's idea of a Final Four contender in 2010. Despite finishing the '09-'10 season with a 20-game win streak and a #11 ranking in the AP poll, Brad Stevens' squad, then a member of the Horizon Conference, was saddled with a #5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Led by star forward Gordon Hayward, the Bulldogs stunned top seed Syracuse in the Regional Semifinals, thanks to an 11-0 run to finish the game, then held off #2 seed Kansas State in the Regional Final. As a small program that plays its home games at the legendary Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler reaching the Final Four in Indianapolis seemed almost too much like a Hoosiers sequel to be real. They added even further to the legend by grinding out a victory over Michigan State in the National Semifinal, then having their National Final game against Duke come down to the waning moments, when a Hayward buzzer beater sailed awry.
13) Mississippi State, 1996 (#5 seed)
Kentucky and UMass seemed destined to reach the 1996 Final Four. The two teams dominated the regular season, consistently ranked #1 and #2 in the AP poll, and losing a combined three games. It seemed like a mere formality that two other teams even had to join them in the Final Four, but no one expected Mississippi State to be one of them. Despite entering the tournament as the fifth seed in the Southeast region the Bulldogs were getting little notice. When Richard Williams had taken over as coach in 1986, the basketball program was in disarray and had just one tournament appearance in school history. It took a while for Williams to build things up, but in the '95-'96 season he finally hit pay dirt with the combination of sophomore center Erick Dampier, a local high school legend, junior guard Darryl Wilson, a high-scoring former Mr. Alabama, and junior college transfer Dontae Jones. They won their first SEC Tournament in school history and nabbed a #5 seed in the Big Dance. After wins over VCU and Princeton in the first two rounds, Mississippi State shocked Connecticut and Ray Allen (whom Wilson individually outplayed) in the Regional Semifinals and then Cincinnati in the Regional Finals. It was obvious that the NCAA didn't expect the Bulldogs to make it as far as they did, as their celebratory Regional Champions hats accidentally read the name of their cross-state rivals, Mississippi. In a twist of fate, Kentucky and Massachussetts, the consensus co-favorites, wound up facing off in one semifinal, while Mississippi State took on fellow surprise Final Four participant Syracuse in the other. But the Bulldogs couldn't take advantage, and fell to the Orangemen, 77-69. Dampier and Jones both immediately declared for the NBA Draft, while Wilson went on to a pro career in Europe. After the team slipped back into mediocrity, Williams was fired two years later, and Mississippi State has just seven tournament appearances in the 23 years since, none of which ended with even a Sweet 16 finish.
14) Kentucky, 2014 (#8 seed)
15) Connecticut, 2014 (#7 seed)
After taking over the head coaching job in 2009, John Calipari's first three years with Kentucky were a whirlwind of success. With high-profile, one-and-done recruits like John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Anthony Davis, the Wildcats reached at least the Elite Eight in each of those seasons, the Final Four twice, and won the 2012 National Championship. But that high-risk, high-reward strategy of recruiting caught up to Calipari and Kentucky the next two seasons, as they missed the NCAA Tournament altogether in 2013, then limped into the 2014 edition as a #8 seed despite starting the season ranked #1 overall in the AP poll. After a relatively easy first round win over Kansas State, Kentucky embarked on one of the most impressive tournament runs in history, eventually defeating three teams that had reached the Final Four one year ago. It started against top seed Wichita State, which entered the game with 35-0 record, but couldn't overcome the Wildcats, losing 78-76 when a last second shot rimmed out. Up next was #4 seed Louisville, whom many considered a tournament favorite despite their seeding, but Kentucky overcame the Cardinals thanks to a last-second three-pointer by Aaron Harrison. In the Regional Finals, Harrison was the hero again, nailing a game-winning three to defeat #3 seed Michigan and send the Wildcats back to the Final Four. They knocked off Wisconsin in the National Semifinals before losing to fellow Cinderella Connecticut in the championship game. Led by new coach Kevin Ollie and star senior Shabazz Napier, the Huskies were just three years removed from their last national championship, but expectations were low for them as a #7 seed in the East Region. Behind some great performances from Napier, who eventually won the Most Outstanding Player award for both the region and the tournament, Connecticut rolled past #2 seed Villanova, #3 seed Iowa State, #4 seed Michigan State, and top seed Florida before taking out Kentucky in the National Final. While Kentucky was back in the Final Four again in 2015, this time as a top seed (thanks to freshman sensation Karl-Anthony Towns), Connecticut has just one NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014, and it ended in a second round exit.
16) N.C. State, 1983 (#6 seed)
Volumes have been written about N.C. State's incredible run through the 1983 tournament that culminated with Lorenzo Charles fortuitously rebounding a Dereck Whittenburg air ball, and slamming it through the rim as time expired, and for good reason. Jim Valvano's squad had bowed out meekly from the 1982 tournament in the first round, and struggled for large stretches of the '82-'83 season. Everything seemed to snap into place in early March, as the Wolfpack tore off a series of nail-biting wins to take the ACC Tournament, including an overtime victory over Michael Jordan's North Carolina team and a three-point clincher over Ralph Sampson and Virginia. The tight finishes continued throughout the NCAA Tournament as a #6 seed, starting with an overtime win over Pepperdine in the first round, a two-point upset of UNLV in the second round and then finally a reprieve in the Regional Semifinals, a 19-point breeze over Utah. Standing between N.C. State and the Final Four was Sampson and Virginia, setting up their fourth meeting of the season. The Cavaliers took the first two, but the Wolfpack won the two that counted, taking home the ACC title that they arguably needed even to reach the NCAA Tournament, then the incredible Regional Finals game, 63-62. It's hard to deny that this N.C. State team was touched by fate. Between the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, they won all nine postseason games they played and trailed in the last minute in seven of them. This includes a six-point deficit with 24 seconds left against Pepperdine that was somehow overcome to send the game to overtime. The continuing stories of Valvano and Charles are well known, but it's perhaps Whittenburg, the man who launched the air ball, that has taken the lessons of the '82-'83 champions most to heart. He was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 1983 but never made an NBA roster and instead turned his attention to coaching. Whittenburg got his clipboard-carrying start as an assistant under Valvano at N.C. State in '85-'86, and after assistant and head coaching gigs at seven different schools in the 27 years since, he returned to N.C. State in 2013 to coach, and later become an athletic director.
17) Butler, 2011 (#8 seed)
18) VCU, 2011 (#11 seed)
19) Wichita State, 2013 (#9 seed)
Though George Mason's surprise Final Four appearance in 2006 didn't immediately inspire a rash of mid-major teams making their own improbable runs, that wave did eventually happen a few years later. The once seemingly impossible scenario of schools outside major conferences reaching the Final Four became not just a possibility but a regular occurrence, almost to the point of mundanity. It started with Butler in 2010 (see #12 above) and then the floodgates opened in 2011. After Gordon Hayward departed for the NBA, Butler's 2011 tournament performance was even more shocking. Reaching the Final Four as a #9 seed thanks to Regional Round upsets of top seed Pittsburgh and #2 seed Florida, Butler headed into a National Semifinal matchup against a fellow mid-major and even more unlikely participant. Granted an at-large bid after losing in the CAA Tournament championship game, VCU headed to Dayton to participate in the inaugural First Four games, as the NCAA had just expanded the tournament to 68 teams. With a frenetic, swooping defensive style that harkened memories of the Nolan Richardson "40 minutes of hell," the Rams tore through their region as if they were a top seed, not #11. After blowing out USC in the opener, they defeated Georgetown and Purdue easily, followed by a 10-point win over top seeded Kansas in the Regional Final. It was only the second time in the modern era that two mid-major teams reached the Final Four, the first since Indiana State and Penn in 1979. After the Bulldogs pulled away for a 70-62 win over VCU in that National Semifinal, they lost again in the championship game, this time in an ugly blowout against Connecticut. Many considered the Final Four appearances for Butler and VCU to therefore be a fluke, facilitated by a weak overall field. But their accolades seemed to be validated two years when Wichita State, then from the Missouri Valley Conference, reached the Final Four in 2013 as a #9 seed. The Shockers did benefit from some upsets in their region, but there's no denying the impressiveness of their victories over top seed Gonzaga in the second round and #2 seed Ohio State in the Regional Finals. They also gave eventual national champion Louisville their toughest test of the entire tournament, forcing the Cardinals to rally from a 12-point second half deficit in the National Semifinals. After an 18-year stretch from 1992 to 2009 where just one mid-major (George Mason in 2006) reached the Final Four, this marked an explosion, with four mid-major teams arriving on the ultimate college basketball stage in a four year stretch. But the likelihood of that streak continuing was irreparably damaged when all three of these teams soon upgraded to bigger conferences: VCU to the Atlantic-10, Butler to the Big East, and Wichita State to the American.