The Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament is becoming larger by the year. In the past 10 NCAA tourneys for women, the No. 1 seed has won its region 25 out of 40 times, and No. 2 seeds have reached the Final Four nine times in that span.
But upsets still abound in the earlier rounds, and that’s our focus here. Since 2000, 22 teams seeded No. 10 or lower have reached the Sweet 16 in the Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament. That includes two No. 13 seeds and three teams emerging from the No. 12 seed line.
Here is a look at those teams. The most recent teams to emerge as Sweet 16 Cinderellas were two No. 10 seeds, Creighton and South Dakota, in 2022.
Double-Digit Sweet 16 Seeds Since 2000
| Seed, School | Year | State |
|---|---|---|
| 11 UAB | 2000 | Alabama |
| 10 Missouri | 2001 | Missouri |
| 11 BYU | 2002 | Utah |
| 11 Notre Dame | 2003 | Indiana |
| 11 Cal Santa Barbara | 2004 | California |
| 13 Liberty | 2005 | Virginia |
| 13 Marist | 2007 | New York |
| 10 Florida State | 2007 | Florida |
| 11 San Diego State | 2010 | California |
| 11 Gonzaga | 2011 | Washington |
| 11 Kansas | 2012 | Kansas |
| 11 Gonzaga | 2012 | Washington |
| 12 Kansas | 2013 | Kansas |
| 12 BYU | 2014 | Utah |
| 11 Gonzaga | 2015 | Washington |
| 10 Oregon | 2017 | Oregon |
| 12 Quinnipiac | 2017 | Connecticut |
| 11 Buffalo | 2018 | New York |
| 11 Central Michigan | 2018 | Michigan |
| 11 Missouri State | 2019 | Missouri |
| 10 Creighton | 2022 | Nebraska |
| 10 South Dakota | 2022 | South Dakota |
Which State Produces Most Cinderellas?
The state of Washington gave us the most thrilling women’s upsets in the past two-plus decades, with three – all of them by the same school. We’ll leave it up to you to decide if US sports betting apps users can pick out any trends for their wagers in 2024.
As it was just starting to emerge as a perennial top-25 women’s program in the 2010s, Gonzaga kept surprising people during March Madness. In 2011, Gonzaga was a No. 11 seed and defeated sixth-seeded Iowa, No. 3 UCLA, and No. 7 Louisville to reach the Elite Eight, where the Zags fell to top seed Stanford in the region final.
Gonzaga was seeded 11th again the following year and repeated its upset feat, knocking off No. 6 seed Rutgers and No. 3 Miami (Florida) before losing to No. 2 Kentucky in the Sweet 16. The magic seeding number returned for the Bulldogs in 2015, when they knocked out No. 6 seed George Washington and No. 3 Oregon State before losing to No. 2 Tennessee in the region semifinals.
States With Most Sweet 16 Double-Digit Seeds
| State | Double-Digit Seeds In Sweet 16 |
| Washington | 3 |
| California | 2 |
| Kansas | 2 |
| Missouri | 2 |
| New York | 2 |
| Utah | 2 |
California, Utah, Kansas, New York, and Missouri have each provided two double-digit seeds in the Sweet 16 since 2000. Like Gonzaga, the Kansas Jayhawks pulled off the feat in consecutive years, winning two NCAA Tournament games in 2012 as a No. 11 seed, then reaching the same stage in 2013 as a 12th seed.
