NCAAB

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.