Baby, Baby . . . Where Did Our Ones Go?
One of the huge questions during Championship Week for us has always been exactly how motivated are the No. 1 seeds in the Power Conferences. They have their NCAA bid locked up and in some cases are locked into a specific seed, especially if you adhere to the “full body of work” doctrine, which you should.
So, we went back and looked at the six major conferences (and the Atlantic 10, because, well, it’s Philly-centric) and in which round (and to which seed) the No. 1 seeds lost and/or won the title.
(Time-Frame Caveats: We went back to only 1970 for the ACC, which is one of the older tournaments going and dates to 1954 . . . We went back to 1997 for the Big 12, which is when it became the Big 12, which sorta, kinda was the Big 8 before that. If the league is not going to acknowledge the Big 8 in its Record Book, neither will we . . . We skipped the Pac-12’s (Pac-10 at the time) four-season experiement with a tournament from 1987-90 and just went with its continuous run since 2002.)
Below are the totals for each of those leagues for those time periods and below that the full chart.
ATLANTIC 10
(1977-2018: 42 Seasons)
15 . . . Won Titles
4 . . . . Lost in Finals
12 . . . Lost in Semifinals
11 . . . Lost in Quarterfinals
BIG EAST
(1980-18: 39 Seasons)
13 . . . Won Titles
11 . . . Lost in Finals
8 . . . . Lost in Semifinals
7 . . . . Lost in Quarterfinals
ACC
(1970-18: 49 Seasons)
20 . . . Won Titles
14 . . . Lost in Finals
13 . . . Lost in Semifinals
2 . . . . Lost in Quarterfinals
BIG 12
(1997-18: 22 Seasons)
10 . . . Won Titles
4 . . . . Lost in Finals
5 . . . . Lost in Semifinals
3 . . . . Lost in Quarterfinals
BIG TEN
(1998-18: 21 Seasons)
8 . . . Won Titles
3 . . . Lost in Finals
4 . . . Lost in Semifinals
6 . . . Lost in Quarterfinals
PAC-12
(2002-18: 17 Seasons)
6 . . . Won Titles
6 . . . Lost in Finals
2 . . . Lost in Semifinals
3 . . . Lost in Quarterfinals
SEC
(1979-18: 40 Seasons)
13 . . . Won Titles
10 . . . Lost in Finals
10 . . . Lost in Semifinals
7 . . . . Lost in Quarterfinals
MAJOR CONFERENCE TOTALS (No A-10)
(Various Years: 188 Seasons)
70 . . . Won Titles
48 . . . Lost in Finals
42 . . . Lost in Semifinals
28 . . . . Lost in Quarterfinals
Here are how the Conference No. 1 seeds have fared, either by winning the Title or in which round they lost (and to which seed):