How many times has a 16-seed beat a 1-seed in March Madness?

David Schneidman Updated: Mar 14 2025 15:50

In a tournament known for underdog stories, upsets and “Cinderella” runs, a 16-seed eliminating a 1-seed in the first round is the epitome of what March Madness is all about.

Since the men’s tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 and the women’s tournament in 1994, 16-seeds have seldom had a chance at advancing beyond the first round.

In both the men’s and women’s tournament combined, 16-seeds have a 3-274 record when going up against a 1-seed.

Here, we revisit those three mega-upsets that shook up the college basketball world.

1998 Women’s Tournament: No. 16 Harvard def. No. 1 Stanford, 71-67

The first-ever 16-over-1 upset came in the 1998 women’s tournament just five years after the tournament expanded from 48 to 64 teams.

The game featured the tournament’s top overall seed, Stanford, against Harvard, who earned a bid to the tournament by winning the Ivy League conference tournament.

Under legendary head coach Tara VanDerveer, Stanford won the 1990 and 1992 national championships and reached the Final Four in five or her first 11 seasons in charge. Entering the 1998 tournament, not only were the Cardinal considered a dominant team, but one of the best women’s programs of the past decade with March success to show for it.

Harvard earned a 16-seed for the third straight tournament in 1998, despite going 22-4 in the regular season, led by the nation’s leading scorer Allison Feaster (28.5 PPG).

The game took place on Saturday, March 14, 1998 at Maples Pavilion, Stanford’s home gym.

Instantly, Harvard showed they were not your typical 16-seed, storming out to a 22-9 lead midway through the first half. The Crimson held an eight-point lead going into halftime, holding Stanford to 31% FG in the opening period.

As expected, Stanford came out from the locker room with a point to prove. VanDerveer’s team took the lead with 12 minutes remaining in the game, and the two teams traded baskets right down to the wire.

Harvard’s Suzie Miller hit a jumper to take the lead with less than two minutes remaining, then Harvard got a defensive stop, followed by a 3-pointer from Miller to extend the Crimson lead to four, which was enough to seal the game and a 71-67 final.

While Miller provided the clutch plays down the stretch, Feaster was the game MVP with 35 points and 13 rebounds. Harvard would go on to lose in the round of 32 to No. 9 Arkansas, 82-64.

2018 Men’s Tournament: No. 16 UMBC def. No. 1 Virginia, 74-54

Many thought a 16-over-1 upset in the men’s tournament would never happen.

And for good reason: for 33 years from 1985 to 2018, men’s 1-seeds were invincible in March. Until they weren’t.

The first ever 16-over-1 upset in the men’s tourney was no miracle, it was an ousting of epic proportions.

No. 1 Virginia, the top seed in the entire field who went 31-2 in the regular season and ACC Tournament combined, was pit against No. 16 UMBC out of the America East Conference.

Tony Bennett’s Virginia teams were always known for their defensive prowess, which they put on display all throughout the 2017/18 season. The Cavaliers allowed the fewest points per game in the nation (54 PPG) and the third-lowest FG% (.380). No matter who they played, they found a way to stifle and outscore them.

UMBC earned a bid to the dance by winning the America East Conference tournament against Vermont via a last-second 3-pointer from guard Jarius Lyles. It was the Retrievers’ second-ever men’s tournament appearance having gone just once before in 2008.

Two days prior to the game, Virginia lost starting forward and future NBA lottery pick De’Andre Hunter to a season-ending wrist injury.

The game took place on Friday, March 16, 2018 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The first half was a close affair, and reflective of many Virginia games from the 2017/18 season – a low scoring, defensive battle. At halftime, the score was tied 21-21, with many expecting the Cavaliers to find more ease on the offensive end in the second half.

Instead, it was UMBC that opened the floodgates. Retrievers guard Joe Sherburne converted an and-1 and sunk a 3-pointer out of halftime to put UMBC up six, a lead they never relinquished. The 16-seed needed just over eight minutes to equal their first half point total and open up a double-digit lead on the tournament’s top seed.

UMBC reached 54 points, the Cavaliers’ average number allowed during the season, with 6:53 to go. But UVA was still in striking distance down 14.

Form there, the game turned into beautiful chaos for anyone rooting for the underdogs, and painful and painful gets for Virginia fans.

UMBC played near flawless basketball down the stretch, opening up a 20-point lead and scoring 53 points in the second half alone – one point shy of the average number allowed in a full game by Virginia’s top-ranked defense. Lyles was particularly special, dropping 28 points on 9-for-11 shooting. UVA shot 41.4% as a team, including 4-for-22 (18.2%) from 3-point range.

UMBC went on to lose in the round of 32 to No. 9 Kansas State, 50-43, while Virginia watched from home.

But the Cavaliers’ March misery was not for long – Bennett led his team to the school’s first national championship victory the following season, with many of the same players that played vs. UMBC – including Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome – key on the title run.

2023 Men’s Tournament: No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson def. No. 1 Purdue, 63-58

Five years on from the first ever men’s 16-over-1 upset, it happened again.

This time, it was the top-seeded Purdue Boilermakers playing victim and the No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson Knights playing “Cinderella.”

Led by 7-foot-4 All-American selection Zach Edey and accompanied by a lineup of 3-point shooters, Purdue found the formula to dominate teams all throughout the 2022/23 season. Matt Painter’s team won the Big Ten regular season and conference tournament titles on their way to earning a 1-seed in the tournament.

FDU, out of the Northeast Conference, was known for its lack of size – Tobin Anderson’s team was on average the smallest team in Division I in 2022/23 and featured a backcourt with two guards shorter than 5-foot-10.

The Knights didn’t even win the NEC conference tournament – they lost to Merrimack in the championship, but the team was ineligible due to transition rules from Division II to Division I that prohibited them from playing in March Madness.

Therefore, as runners-up, FDU earned an auto-bid to the dance and were placed in the First Four against Texas Southern, who they beat 84-61.

Cue the clash of styles between the undersized FDU and Edey-led Purdue.

The game was played on St. Patrick’s Day on Friday, March 17, 2023 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

From early, it was clear that FDU’s game plan was not to eliminate the 7-foot-4 Edey, rather it was to negate the playmakers and scorers around him. The two teams traded the lead throughout the first half, with both holding leads of at least five points just six minutes apart. The 16-seed held a one-point advantage at halftime.

Again in the second half, the teams went blow for blow. Purdue went on an 11-0 run to give them a six-point lead before FDU went on an 8-0 run of its own. With 9:25 to go, the game was tied 49-49.

An Edey free throw to go up 50-49 with 8:32 remaining would mark the Boilermakers last lead of the game. The Knights’ defense played out of their minds over the final eight minutes and change, holding Purdue to eight total points during that span.

But FDU’s offense was just as stale as Purdue’s, and zero points were scored across a 4:19 span (from 7:09 remaining to 2:50), with FDU holding a one-point lead. FDU’s Sean Moore hit two free throws to break the scoreless run, then Edey mishandled an inbounds pass with 1:26 to go, which Moore took down the court for a layup to put the Knights up five.

Purdue’s Fletcher Loyer nailed a three to bring the score to 58-56, but Moore responded immediately with a deep ball of his own to re-extend the lead to five.

That was enough to stave off the Boilermakers, whose final-minute attempts proved fruitless as FDU’s Demetre Roberts hit two game-clinching free throws with seven seconds to go. Moore, a Columbus native, led the way for the Knights with 19 points.

Edey finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds, but FDU’s game plan to take out his accomplices was executed to perfection. Not including Edey, Purdue shot 12-for-42 (28.6 FG%) and 5-for-26 from 3-point range.

FDU went on to lose in the round of 32 to No. 9 Florida Atlantic, the eventual regional champions who lost to San Diego State on a buzzer beater in the Final Four.

For Purdue, their redemption story nearly mirrored that of Virginia in 2019, but the Boilermakers came up short in the 2024 championship game against UConn.