Last year's men's tournament produced only 13 outright underdog wins -- tied for the fewest since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The Elite Eight comprised only top-3 seeds, tying it with 2007 as the chalkiest quarterfinal round in tournament history. Additionally, for the first time in modern tournament history, we have witnessed three straight tournaments without multiple double-digit seeds reaching the Sweet 16.
For a few hours on Saturday, there was a legitimate debate. Florida was comfortably headed toward the final 1-seed entering Champ Week. The Gators won 11 straight games to end the regular season, while UConn lost at a sub-.500 Marquette in the regular-season finale and Houston lost three in a row late in February.
