NCAA Tournament conference standings: Loyola-Chicago makes Final Four look historic

The Big Ten and Big 12 are fighting for second-best conference record in this tournament

By Jerry Palm

Mar 26, 2018 at 2:30 pm ET • 2 min read

BOSTON -- Some notes about this Final Four field, which features Loyola-Chicago, Michigan, Villanova and Kansas:

* Loyola is the fourth 11-seed to make the Final Four. The last team to make that run was VCU, which went from the First Four to the Final Four in 2011, the first season of the First Four. The other 11-seeds to make the Final Four were George Mason in 2006 and LSU in 1986.

* Loyola's path to the Final Four was the easiest of the 11-seeds to get this far. The Ramblers are the first 11-seed that did not have to beat the region's No. 1 seed to make the Final Four. Loyola played the 9-seed instead. VCU is the only 11-seed to play a team seeded lower than 9. The Rams played 10-seed Florida State in the Sweet 16 and another 11-seed in the play-in game in Dayton.

* Loyola's presence in this group makes it the seventh highest in terms of the sum of the seeds of the four teams. 2011 set the standard for bracket craziness with seeds of 3, 4 8 and 11 in the Final Four.

* The South region had the third highest sum of seeds of any region since seeding began. The four teams left added up to 32. VCU's region in 2011 also had a 10, 12 and 1, which added up to 34. In 1986, when LSU went to the Final Four as an 11-seed, a different region had seeds 14, 12, 7 and 1, which also added up to 34.

* The only year that we had an 11-seed in the Final Four without also having a three-seed was 1986.

* This is the sixth time that the only two No. 1 seeds in the Final Four will meet in the semifinal, but the first time since 1996. It also happened the first four years of the 64-team field, from 1985-88.

* As you might expect, a three-seed in the Final Four is not that uncommon, but before Oregon broke through in 2017, we had not had one since 2011.

As far as conference standings, Loyola's run as the only Missouri Valley Conference team locks the Valley into the best record of any conference in the tournament. The Big Ten and Big 12 are fighting for second below it.