NCAA 2008 Final Four To Feature First Ever Four #1 Seeds

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The 2008 Final Four Tournament has been an exciting series of buzzer-beaters, small-town "Cinderella" teams, and numerous upsets in the first and second rounds. However, the most suprising statistic of all is that the last four teams were the top ranked teams in their respective divisions. Never in the history of the NCAA tournament have all #1 ranked teams advanced to the Final Four. Ever. University of North Carolina, Kansas, UCLA and Memphis were also the top four teams ranked in the pre-season.

The closest it ever came was in 1997 when Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina and Arizona all advanced to the finals. Each was ranked #1, #1, #1 and # 4 respectively. Guess who won? #4 Arizona.

A special selected committee ranks the Division 1 Men's Basketball teams from 1 to 65 and divides them into four different divisions, ranking each division from one to 16 with one play-in game between two teams. From there each division plays a single elimination tournament with the highest-ranking (#1) team playing the lowest ranking (#16) in the first round, the #2 playing the #15, and so forth and so on. Each winner advances to the next round.

In 2006 there was a wide spread among rankings with the 2 (UCLA), 3 (Florida), 4 (LSU), and 11 (George Mason) teams advancing, with Florida being the eventual winner. They also matched a rare back-to-back championship by winning in 2007 as well.

1980 featured a 2 (Louisville), 5 (Iowa), 6 (Purdue) and 8 (UCLA) spread for the Final Four, with Louisville winning the championship.

The lowest seed to ever win the tournament was the 1985 Championship team of Villanova, who were ranked #8. They beat #1 Georgetown in a colossal upset.

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