NCAA Tournament: This Is the Chalkiest Sweet 16 in a Decade
If you picked the higher seeds to win in your march madness bracket, congratulations on not being fun. But, this year, you're probably feeling pretty good after the first couple of rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
So congratulations on winning, too.
It's been a chalky year. All of the 1, 2, and 3 seeds are still alive, and only one team remains -- Oregon -- with a seed worse than 5.
This usually doesn't happen. In fact, a Sweet 16 this chalky hasn't occurred since 2009.
Year | Sum of Sweet 16 Seeds |
---|---|
2019 | 49 |
2018 | 85 |
2017 | 65 |
2016 | 66 |
2015 | 70 |
2014 | 79 |
2013 | 81 |
2012 | 53 |
2011 | 80 |
2010 | 80 |
2009 | 49 |
2008 | 70 |
2007 | 51 |
2006 | 71 |
2005 | 72 |
2004 | 73 |
2003 | 67 |
2002 | 75 |
2001 | 73 |
2000 | 65 |
When you add up all of the seeds remaining in the Sweet 16, you get 49, a mark that hadn't been hit in a decade. Keep in mind, the lowest possible number is 40.
Why is this happening? Well, numberFire's Chief Analyst, Keith Goldner, nailed it on a pre-tournament episode of numberFire's Heat Check podcast when he said, "Because the selection committee did such a good job with the new analytic system, I think -- as extremely unsatisfying as it may be -- the main strategy this year is use chalk..."
The committee was more accurate this year, which means we were bound to see fewer upsets.