Seeds of Doubt: #1-Seeded Teams Unable to Bear NCAA Tournament Fruit

When Baylor trailed North Carolina by 25 points midway through the second half, the Bears appeared they might elbow their way past UCLA to the top of list of most-lopsided losses in NCAA Tournament history for top-seeded squads. But after an elbow-aided comeback sending second-round contest into overtime before UNC prevailed, there remain other top seeds bowing by larger margins. Three #1 seeds from ACC in the previous decade were eliminated prior to the NCAA Final Four by more than 16 points. Five #1 seeds have been kayoed by at least 20 points before the national semifinals since seeding was introduced in 1979. Arizona won two of the following nine games when #1 seeds in this category lost by more than 15 points:

Margin	#1 Seed	Regional	Elimination Result Before F4
27	UCLA	1992 West Finals	#2 Indiana (106-79)
25	Arizona	1998 West Finals	#3 Utah (76-51)
20	Louisiana State	1980 Midwest Finals	#2 Louisville (86-66)
20	Missouri	1994 West Finals	#2 Arizona (92-72)
20	Virginia	2018 South First Round	#16 Maryland-Baltimore County (74-54)
17	Ohio State	1991 Midwest Semifinals	#4 St. John's (91-74)
17	North Carolina	2019 Midwest Semifinals	#5 Auburn (97-80)
16	Duke	2011 West Semifinals	#5 Arizona (93-77)
16	Oklahoma	2003 East Finals	#3 Syracuse (63-47)