When, at 12:37 a.m. EDT Monday, Arizona survived a ridiculous game to close out the second round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, complete chaos was narrowly avoided. Had TCU been able to pull off the upset, this tourney would have nearly matched the record for unpredictability—which was set way back in 2021.
The seed total for the remaining 16 teams in the Big Dance is 85. It could have been 93, which would have been surpassed only by the 94 of last year. As it is, the seed total ties for the third-highest in tourney history, along with ’00 and ’18.
Perhaps this is a two-year blip that does not signify anything larger. After all, it was 2019 that produced the chalkiest Sweet 16 since the field expanded to 64 in 1985. But the back-to-back busting of brackets to this extent does raise the question of whether a new level of unpredictability is upon us.
