2024 NCAA Tournament: How every Sweet 16 underdog can pull off an upset, reach Elite Eight

Even with the top seeds looking strong through two games, there's plenty of time for madness

By Zachary Pereles Mar 27, 2024 at 10:06 pm ET• 8 min read

The 2024 NCAA Tournament hasn't featured nearly the madness of last season's. This year, all four No. 1 seedsandall four No. 2 seeds are into the Sweet 16. At this point last year, just two No. 1 seeds were alive, and just two No. 2 seeds joined them in the Sweet 16. This year, the sum of the seeds of the teams still competing for the title is 52. Last year, it was 78.

But madness lurks, always. The last time all four No. 1 seeds made the Elite Eight is 2016. The last time all four No. 2 seeds made the Elite Eight is 1996. And the last time all eight combined made the Elite Eight is ... never. In fact, we've only gotten seventop-two seeds in the Elite Eight once: in 2007.

So, for as good as the favorites have looked, history says at least one is going down in the Sweet 16. Here's how each underdog can pull it off.

All per-possession and specific play-type stats are via Synergy. All times ET and lines from SportsLine consensus.