Many basketball fans love the NCAA Tournament because it allows for the potential for small schools or lower-seeded teams to make a run at a title.
That may have fans thinking about which team was the lowest-seeded team ever to win a national title.
The Lowest-Seeded Title Winner
While college basketball has had many great runs from underdogs, the run from the lowest-seeded team ever to win a championship came in 1985 from the Villanova Wildcats.
Hall of Fame head coach Rollie Massimino guided his eighth-seeded team to glory after they didn’t even win the Big East.
In fact, they finished fourth in the Big East after posting an overall record of 25-10 and a conference record of 9-7.
Six players on this roster were drafted to the NBA, including Harold Pressley and Ed Pinckney.
Other Notable NCAA Title Runs
While plenty of runs did not end with a title, fans remember them.
Fans remember the likes of Shaka Smart and VCU going all the way to the Final Four in 2011. George Mason shocked the world by doing the same thing in 2006 under legendary head coach Jim Larranaga.
Of course, who could forget the Elite Eight run by the Davidson Wildcats in 2008 when a point guard by the name of Steph Curry went crazy from beyond the arc?
Even more recently, the relatively unknown Saint Peters Peacocks also went to the Elite Eight back in 2022.
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While plenty of sports fans love the Super Bowl, the World Cup, the NHL Playoffs, and plenty of other do-or-die events, there is nothing that compares to the spectacle that is the NCAA Tournament.
Whether it is the eighth-seeded Wildcats from four decades ago or some of the teams in more recent history, you never know what will happen, which is the beauty of it.
Plus, schools that do not get as much exposure may get all the exposure in the world because of a couple of shining moments.
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