Parity has arrived in NCAA men’s basketball and the proof is in this year’s March Madness action.
On Friday, top-seeded Alabama and Houston squads lost in the Sweet 16, ensuring the first Elite Eight in NCAA Tournament history without a No. 1 seed.
Two No. 1 seeds had already seen their seasons come to an end ahead of Friday’s action, with Purdue fing to No. 16 Farleigh Dickinson in the opening round and Kansas losing to No. 8 Arkansas in the Round of 32. That set the stage for an historic Friday.
The first upset of the night came courtesy of fifth-seeded San Diego State, which stunned the No. 1 overall seed, Alabama, by a 71-64 final score. With the huge upset, the Aztecs punched their ticket to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history, additionally becoming the first Moutain West Conference team to play for a spot in the Final Four.
Another fifth seed, the Miami Hurricanes, would proceed to cap off the carnage, cementing this uniquely historic Elite Eight with a fitting 14-point blowout of Houston.
Per CBS Sports, with Miami’s win, Hurricanes head coach Jim Larranaga became only the third head coach to make three Elite Eight appearances leading a five-seed or lower, joining legends Tom Izzo and John Chaney.
The men’s win comes on the same day Miami’s women’s team earned its first trip to the Elite Eight in program history. After knocking off No. 1 Indiana earlier in the week, Miami defeated No. 4 Villanova on Friday, coming away with the win by a 70-65 final score.
The NCAA Tournament is always hard to predict, but it would have been essentially blind luck to predict this particular Elite Eight — the lack of any No. 1 seed at this stage, again, had never happened prior. Still 11 games left in the tournament.
