March Madness: Top Ranked Teams Don’t Always Win NCAA Tournament
Picking the No. 1 team from the final AP Top 25 Poll might seem like a guaranteed path to success in the NCAA tournament, but history suggests otherwise. Since 1985, only five teams ranked No. 1 in the final AP poll have gone on to win the championship. Data from millions of brackets over the past 14 NCAA tournaments reveals that while the top-ranked team is often chosen to win, their actual success rate is considerably lower.