Daniel Wilco | NCAA.com | March 5, 2021 How No. 7 seeds do in March Madness Shabazz Napier's top NCAA tournament highlights Share *Note: All data is from the 1985 tournament to the present. In 2014, the Connecticut Huskies became the first and only No. 7 seed to capture a national championship, but the team's historic run came close to ending early in the tournament. It took overtime for the Huskies to get past No. 10 Saint Joseph's in an 89-81 opening-round win. Second Round: UConn beats Saint Joe's in OT The Huskies joined the list of No. 7 seed teams that avoided an upset in the opening round. There has been only one NCAA tournament in the past 35 years where no No. 7 seed has made it to the next round (1999). The current streak could've ended in 2019, when No. 7 seed Wofford was the only No. 7 seed to advance to the second round, and also in 2010 but Brigham Young survived as the last seventh-seed, beating 10th-seeded Florida by six points. The history of every NCAA seed No. 1 No. 9 No. 2 No. 10 No. 3 No. 11 No. 4 No. 12 No. 5 No. 13 No. 6 No. 14 No. 7 No. 15 No. 8 No. 16 Teams seeded seventh have lost 55 opening-round games to the No. 10 seed, which is the second-highest number of seed-line upsets behind the eighth seed. Furthermore, the average margin of victory for No. 7 seeds is just about three points. In the first year the NCAA tournament expanded in 1985, all four games were decided by single digits in favor of the teams seeded seventh. Since then, a sweep in the first round has happened only two more times: in 1993 and more recently 2007. During 2015’s NCAA tournament, the No. 7 seeds captured three wins, two by single digits and the third in a 31-point blowout by Iowa. In 2016, the No. 7 seeds lost two of their opening-round matchups, losing by an average of just over five points. 2017's NCAA tournament almost saw a seven-seed sweep until Wichita State pulled off the 64-58 win over Dayton. On the other side of the bracket, No. 7 seed South Carolina made it all the way to the Final Four, with upsets over No. 2 seed Duke, No. 3 seed Baylor, and No. 4 seed Florida along the way. In 2018, No. 7 seeds went 3-1 in the first round, but each win was by five points or less. The lone loss was Arkansas falling by 17 points to Butler. Seven-seeds Nevada and Texas A&M advanced to the Sweet 16. The tables turned in 2019, when No. 10 seeds Minnesota, Florida and Iowa helped No. 10 seeds go 3-1 in the first round. Second Round: South Carolina defeats Duke West Virginia has held the No. 7 seed spot more than any other program, with a 3-1 record in the opening round since the tournament expanded in 1985. In its first appearance as a No. 7 seed, the Mountaineers fell to a 10th-seeded Western Kentucky in 1987. Year Winner Loser Score 1987 Western Kentucky West Virginia 64-62 1989 West Virginia Tennessee 84-68 2005 West Virginia Creighton 63-61 2008 West Virginia Arizona 75-65 MARCH MADNESS Big Dance: Baylor wins its first-ever title | Watch 'One Shining Moment' | View the final bracket | Re-live every upset Don't miss: Check your bracket | Season milestones | All DI men's basketball news Perfect bracket tracker: Timeline of busted brackets Store: Shop official Baylor championship gear | Latest college basketball gear Listen: March Madness 365 podcast | Exclusive interviews & latest analysis College basketball rankings: Even unranked teams find success in the NCAA tournament Since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 — its modern format — only four of 35 national champions were unranked to start the season. That’s about one in every nine years. READ MORE Only .025 percent predicted the 2021 Final Four teams in the Bracket Challenge Game UCLA's upset of No. 1 Michigan in the Elite Eight turned what could have been a record-high number of perfect picks into a tiny number that went 4-for-4. READ MORE A huge majority of NCAA brackets have a No. 1 seed winning the 2021 championship Here is how many brackets predicted each seed to win the national championship, from Gonzaga and the No. 1 seeds through Drexel and the rest of the No. 16 seeds. READ MORE