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Stan Becton | NCAA.com | March 18, 2023

Here's how many brackets somehow picked Princeton to reach the Sweet 16

Missouri Tigers vs. Princeton Tigers: Game Highlights

The Princeton Tigers made it three straight years that a 15 seed has reached the Sweet 16, doing so after wins over No. 2 Arizona and No. 7 Missouri — and following the paths of Oral Roberts in 2021 and Saint Peter's in 2022.

It's also the second straight year that said 15 seed hailed from the state of New Jersey. But how many people foresaw Princeton making it this far? Let's find out.

How sweet are the odds?

Only 44,063 Men's Bracket Challenge Game brackets had No. 15 Tigers dancing to the Sweet 16.

That comes out to only 1.86 percent of complete brackets. That number drops to 1.3 percent of all brackets on Yahoo.

While they might not have predicted Princeton landing the largest margin of victory by a 15 seed in NCAA tournament history, the people's confidence in the Tigers was borderline genius. In fact, that 1.86 percent is a lower percentage than the 3.98 percent acceptance rate for Princeton's class of 2025.

UPSETS: Here's how many people actually picked Furman and Princeton in March Madness brackets

Three times as sweet

It's the third year in a row that a 15-seed Cinderella has advanced to the Sweet 16. How did the fans' belief in Princeton compare to recent Cinderellas Saint Peter's and Oral Roberts? It's strikingly similar.

PERFECT BRACKET TRACKER: How every bracket busted

In 2021, 1.66 percent of brackets picked Oral Roberts to advance to the Sweet 16. In 2022, 1.53 percent of brackets picked Saint Peter's to advance to the Sweet 16. When comparing those percentages to the 1.86 percent of fans who believed Princeton would make it that far you'll realize that just 0.33 percent separates the three teams.

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