The Road to the Final Four, or, Are NCAA Committee Seedings Informationally Efficent?
by William M. Bassin and Amy D. Spencer, Shippensburg University Since the 1984-85 season, the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament has had four regions with 16 teams each. In the first round, the team seeded first in a given region plays the 16th seed, the team seeded second plays the 15th seed, and so on, and the team seeded eighth plays the ninth seed. There are thus eight first-round games in each region, and the match-ups are arranged so as to maximize the difference in seeding for each game. In the second round there are four games in each region. If the first round has gone according to form, the team seeded first in the region plays the eighth seed, the team seeded second plays the seventh seed, and so on. However, for example, if in the first round the team seeded second has lost to the 15th seed, and the seventh seed has won its game, then the seventh seed plays the 15th seed in round two. In other words, the teams are not “reseeded.” In the third round there are two g
