Out of more than 13 million brackets filled out for ESPN's "Tournament Challenge" in 2016, only 1,140 (0.009%) correctly picked all four Final Four teams, which included just one 1-seed (North Carolina) two 2-seeds (Oklahoma, Villanova), and a 10-seed (Syracuse). And a scan of those who did pick all four correctly showed that many of those brackets were filled out by Syracuse fans.
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Why it is getting harder to fill out an NCAA Tournament bracket
Top seeds are less likely than ever to reach the Final Four.
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The biggest reason that picking the Final Four correctly has become so hard is that there is more parity in college basketball than ever before. In 2008, all four No. 1 seeds made it to the Final Four for the first time. Since then, there is actually a greater chance of a team seeded No. 4 or lower (40.6% of all Final Four teams) to reach the Final Four than a 1-seed (31.3%).
The numbers are even crazier when we look at low seeds. From 1985 through 2008, 43.8% of all Final Four teams were 1-seeds and only 5.2% of Final Four teams were seeded No. 7 or lower. In the eight years since, only 31.3% of Final Four teams were top seeds and a whopping 21.9% of teams were not considered one of the top 24 teams (seeds 1-6) when the tournament started.
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