Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports via Imagn Images

Most Upsets in One March Madness

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Eric W. Bolin | Last updated Mar 10, 2026 4:38 PM ET

The trick with winning your March Madness pool is to get your upset picks correct. It’s just that choosing which games to roll with as your upsets is a flip-on-the-coin task among even the most knowledgeable of college basketball fans.

Do you pick the classic 11-seed over 6-seed game? Maybe you’re feeling saucy and go with a 12- and 5-seed upset. Surely you won’t pick the 16-seed over the 1-seed, right?

It’s almost a guarantee that the upsets will happen, even if they’re, say a 5-seed over a 4-seed in the second round. In fact, the four 1-seeded teams have made the Final Four just twice in history, though once was, in fact last year, 2025. It was a notoriously few-upset season.

But chalk is boring. Let’s take a look at the years with the most upsets in the NCAA Tournament.

Note: For the purposes of this list, we’ll go with the NCAA’s definition of an upset. That is, an upset occurs when a team five seeds or more below its opponent wins the matchup.

Most Upsets in a Single NCAA Tournament

Something was in the water coming out of the COVID pandemic. Twice has March Madness seen 14 upsets: 2021 and 2022.

In 2021, four teams seeded 12th or lower won their first round games:

No. 13 Ohio beat No. 4 Virginia as the only game in the West Region where the lower seed won the first-round game. It was the only region not to fall extreme victim.
In the East, three lower seeds won, including two that qualified as first-round upsets as No. 11 UCLA beat No. 6 Brigham Young and No. 14 Abilene Christian beat No. 3 Texas.
In the South, there were two more: No. 13 North Texas beat No. 4 Purdue and No. 15 Oral Roberts beat No. 2 Ohio State.
In the Midwest, two more still when No. 11 Syracuse beat No. 6 San Diego State and No. 12 Oregon State beat No. 5 Tennessee.

Ohio State Buckeyes guard Duane Washington Jr. (4) reacts after an overtime loss as Oral Roberts Golden Eagles players celebrate in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.Joshua Bickel-USA TODAY Sports via Imagn Images

By the time the Elite Eight rolled around, the Bruins and Beavers remained. UCLA ultimately made the Final Four, falling in overtime to the West’s No. 1-seed Gonzaga.

The next year went about the same way:

No. 15 Saint Peter’s beat No. 2 Kentucky in the first round and then made the Sweet Sixteen from the 15th spot, the same way ORU did the year before. Except the Peacocks made the Elite Eight, even, falling to No. 8 North Carolina, which had beaten No. 1, and defending champion, Baylor in the second round.
In the West, No. 11 Notre Dame beat No. 6 Alabama and No. 12 New Mexico State knocked off No. 5 Connecticut.
In the South, No. 11 Michigan ruined brackets by beating No. 6 Colorado State in the first round and No. 3 Tennessee in the second.
In the Midwest, No. 11 Iowa State did the same, beating No. 6 LSU and No. 3 Wisconsin, while No. 10 Miami (FL) beat No. 2 Auburn in the second round and made the Elite Eight.

Most First-Round Upsets in NCAA Tournament

Baylor Bears guard Lester Medford (11) walks of the court as the Yale Bulldogs celebrate their victory during a first round game of the 2016 NCAA Tournament.Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports via Imagn Images

The craziest first round in NCAA Tournament history came just five years before the craziest tournament in history. In 2016, round of 64 saw eight teams pull major upsets.

No. 13 Hawaii beat No. 4 California in the South
No. 11 Wichita State beat No. 6 Arizona in the South
No. 12 Yale beat No. 5 Baylor in the West
No. 11 Northern Iowa beat No. 6 Texas in the West
No. 14 Stephen F. Austin beat No. 3 West Virginia in the East
No. 15 Middle Tennessee beat No. 2 Michigan State in the Midwest
No. 12 Little Rock beat No. 5 Purdue in the Midwest
No. 11 Gonzaga beat No. 6 Seton Hall in the Midwest

Biggest Upsets in NCAA Tournament

It’s only happened twice, but those from another generation thought maybe that would never happen. But in 2018 and 2023, No. 16 Maryland Baltimore County beat No. 1 Virginia (by 20 points, no less) in ‘18 and No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson beat No. 1 Purdue, a team that’s appearing here on the wrong end often.

Go just one seed lower, or higher, depending on your perspective, and a 15-seed has beaten a 2-seed on 11 different occasions. Most recently, No. 15 Princeton beat No. 2 Arizona in 2023 and the first came in 1991 when No. 15 Richmond beat No. 2 Syracuse.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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