How No. 10 Seeds Have Performed In The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament
After a 19-12 regular season and a trip to the Big Ten Tournament Championship game, Penn State men’s basketball is dancing once again.
For the first time since 2011, the Nittany Lions will participate in March Madness. However, despite a deep run in the conference tournament, Penn State is seeded No. 10 in the Midwest Region, the same as its last trip to the big dance. Although Penn State men’s basketball hopes to avenge its first-round exit in 2011, history hasn’t been kind to the Nittany Lions and other No. 10 seeds.
Ever since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, No. 10 seeds have gone 52-75 in first-round games, which is good for just a 40.9 win percentage. The record for No. 10 seeds continues to decrease after the first round, with only 24 No. 10 seeds making it to the Sweet Sixteen in that timespan.
Last year, the No. 10 seeds went 1-3 in the first round, with Miami making it all the way to the Elite Eight before losing to Kansas by 26 points. In 2016, Syracuse made the deepest run of any No. 10 seed in the tournament, battling all the way to the Final Four before finally losing to North Carolina.
In their 10 tournament appearances, the Nittany Lions hold a combined record of 9-11, with their last win coming in 2001. The program’s highest-ever seeding was No. 5 in 1996, and the farthest Penn State has ever gone in the tournament is the Final Four, losing to La Salle in 1954. Penn State eventually defeated USC 70-61 in the third-place game, granting Penn State its highest tournament finish in school history.
The Nittany Lions are currently underdogs in their matchup against Texas A&M. Penn State’s first-round matchup will tip off at 9:55 p.m. ET tonight at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
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