There has been nothing unlucky about the number 13 when it comes to NCAA Tournament seeding.
Check out any list of tournament upsets, and featured prominently are games that emerged from the 13 verses 4 pairing.
Remember Princeton’s backdoor basket to beat UCLA in 1996, or Bryce Drew’s buzzer beater that gave Valparaiso a victory over Mississippi two years later?
Vermont over Syracuse in 2005, Morehead State over Louisville in 2011…all No. 13 seeds.
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The 13-16 seeds were added when the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985, and historically the 13th seed’s success in the opener against a fourth seeded team has fallen into place.