In my estimation, the best seeds to make a Cinderella run would be from the 11 or 12 seed. If you think of seeds as rankings, the 1 seeds would be ranked 1-4, the 2 seeds 5-8, the 3 seeds as 9- 12 and so on until you get to the 16 seeds ranked 61-64. I think that the 12 seed has the easiest path to the sweet sixteen of all of the lower seeds. They would be a 45 -48 ranked team playing a 17-20 ranked team in the 1st round and then the highest seed they could face would be a 4 seed, 13-16 ranked team in the 2nd round. They would then have the possibility of playing the 1 seeds in their region in the sweet sixteen. On the other hand, the 11 seed may have the easiest path to the elite 8. They are not going to have to face the 1 seed in the region until at least the elite 8. Their first round will be against the 6 seed, 21-24 ranked team when they are a 41-44 ranked team. The 2nd round game can be no higher than a 3 seed, 9-12 ranked team and then would face no higher than the 2 seed, 5-8 rank in the sweet sixteen. Win there and you're in the elite 8. Granted, you're always playing teams higher ranked than you for the most part, but if you are a lower seed and want to make a deep run, I believe these are the ideal seeds to do just that. The 7, 8, 9 & 10 seeds all could face one of the top 2 teams in the region in the 2nd round, which is probably going to be our dilemma.
Last edited:
