*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.
The Huskies joined the list of No. 7 seed teams that avoided an upset in the opening round. There has been only one tournament in the past 35 years where no No. 7 has made it to the next round (1999). The current streak could've ended last season, 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.
Teams seeded seventh have lost 55 opening-round games to the No. 10 seed, which is the second-highest number of 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 tournament expanded, 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 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 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 South Carolina made it all the way to the Final Four, with upsets over No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Baylor, and No. 4 Florida along the way.
In 2018, No. 7's 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 last season, when No. 10 seeds Minnesota, Florida and Iowa helped No. 10 seeds go 3-1 in the first round.
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 |
Brackets: Andy Katz's first 2021 March Madness projections
