One-in-Five Chance: Notre Dame 12th Team to Win First Four & First Round
Only 19% of Preliminary Round/First Four winners went on to post another victory in their next assignment (12-of-63 from 1983 through 2022; no round of such competition from 1985 through 2000). Ten of the last 11 NCAA tourneys had a First Four winner seeded from #11 to #13 go on to prevail in a first-round contest after Notre Dame continued this trend by kayoing Alabama. Cormac Ryan's career-high 29 points, fueled by seven three-pointers, was the highest first-round output ever for a team coming off a Preliminary Round/First Four success. Following is a chronological list of Preliminary Round/First Four participants going on to win a first-round game in regular 64-team bracket:
| Year | Regional | NCAA First-Round Victory for Preliminary Round/First Four Winner |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | West | #12 Princeton 56 (Robinson/Simkus game-high 20 points), #5 Oklahoma State 53 (Clark 15) |
| 1984 | East | #12 Richmond 72 (Newman 26), #5 Auburn 71 (Barkley 23) |
| 2011 | South | #11 Virginia Commonwealth 74 (Rozzell 26), #6 Georgetown 56 (Thompson 24) |
| 2012 | Midwest | #12 South Florida 58 (Collins/Rudd Jr. 17), #5 Temple 44 (Wyatt 19) |
| 2013 | West | #13 La Salle 63 (Wright 21), #4 Kansas State 61 (Henrique/Southwell 17) |
| 2014 | Midwest | #11 Tennessee 86 (Stokes 26), #6 Massachusetts 67 (Esho/Williams 12) |
| 2015 | East | #11 Dayton 66 (Pierre 20), #6 Providence 53 (Henton 18) |
| 2016 | South | #11 Wichita State 65 (VanVleet 16), #6 Arizona 55 (Allen 11) |
| 2017 | East | #11 Southern California 66 (Stewart 22), #6 Southern Methodist 65 (Ojeleye 24) |
| 2018 | Midwest | #11 Syracuse 57 (Dolezaj 17), #6 Texas Christian 52 (Williams 14) |
| 2021 | East | #11 UCLA 73 (Juzang 27), #6 Brigham Young 62 (Barcello 20) |
| 2022 | West | #11 Notre Dame 78 (Ryan 29), #6 Alabama 64 (Ellis 16) |
NOTE: VCU '11 and UCLA '21 advanced to Final Four. La Salle '13, Tennessee '14 and Syracuse '18 reached Sweet 16.