LAS VEGAS (AP) — March has gone from madness to unprecedented.
With Miami’s win over Houston and San Diego State’s takedown of Alabama on Friday night, the NCAA Tournament will not have a No. 1 seed in the Elite Eight for the first time since seeding began in 1979.
Purdue, Kansas, Houston and Alabama are all gone, ensuring the Final Four will not have a No. 1 team for the first time since 2011 and the third overall. The four teams deemed by the NCAA to be the best in the country combined to win five tournament games this year, the fewest by three among No. 1 seeds since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
Three No. 2 seeds were gone already, with lone survivor Texas playing Xavier on Friday night. The fewest combined No. 1-2 seeds in the Elite Eight before this year was two (three times).
How crazy has it been? The national title game is guaranteed to have at least one of these teams: San Diego State, Princeton, Creighton, Florida Atlantic or Kansas State.
The madness started in the opening round of the East Region, when fairytale Fairleigh Dickinson wrecked brackets around the world by becoming the second No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1.
Goodbye, Purdue.
Arkansas was the next giant killer, taking down reigning national champion and West Region No. 1 seed Kansas in the second round.
The Sweet 16 turned sour on Friday for Alabama, the bracket’s No. 1 overall seed. The Crimson Tide were no match for Brian Dutcher’s ball-and-body-hawking San Diego State Aztecs in a 71-64 South Region loss in Louisville, Kentucky.
Miami capped the No. 1 carnage in the Midwest Region by taking apart one of the nation’s stingiest defenses in a 89-75 win over Houston in Kansas City, Missouri.
On to an Elite Eight unlike any other.
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AP Sports Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this report.