I went all the way back to 1985 (first year for field of 64) and charted the path to the championship. Two of the 5 easiest paths to the championship were traveled by our neighbor to the east. As noted below the only two easier paths were traveled by UNLV in '90 and Louisville in '13. If you travel to the bottom of the chart the hardest path was, of course, the 8th seeded Villanova Wildcats in 1985. They basically averaged beating a #3 seed every game.
The two teams that had the hardest paths to the championship were UNC in '93 and Villanova in '16. The only teams they faced in their tournament runs who were "upset" teams were when they faced #2 seeds in the Final 4.
UNC-16, 8, 4, 2, 2, 1
Nova-15, 7, 3, 1, 2, 1
The two teams that had the hardest paths to the championship were UNC in '93 and Villanova in '16. The only teams they faced in their tournament runs who were "upset" teams were when they faced #2 seeds in the Final 4.
UNC-16, 8, 4, 2, 2, 1
Nova-15, 7, 3, 1, 2, 1
| Easiest Path to Championship | |||||||||
| School | Champ | Seed | Rd/64 | Rd/32 | Sw 16 | E8 | F4 | CH | Average Seed |
| Year | 64 | 32 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 2 | Played | ||
| UNLV | 1990 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 12 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 9 |
| Louisville | 2013 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 8.5 |
| Kansas | 2022 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 8.166666667 |
| Kansas | 2008 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Virginia | 2019 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| Florida | 2006 | 3 | 14 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 7.666667 |
| Louisville | 1986 | 2 | 15 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 1 | 7.5 |
| UCONN | 1999 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 7.5 |
| Arkansas | 1994 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7.333333 |
| Michigan State | 2000 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 7.166667 |
| Indiana | 1987 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| North Carolina | 2005 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| Duke | 1991 | 2 | 15 | 7 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6.833333 |
| Duke | 2001 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 6.666667 |
| UCONN | 2004 | 2 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 6.666667 |
| Kansas | 1988 | 6 | 11 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 6.5 |
| Duke | 1992 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6.5 |
| UCONN | 2011 | 3 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 6.5 |
| Duke | 2015 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 6.5 |
| Arizona | 1997 | 4 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 6.333333 |
| Kentucky | 1998 | 2 | 15 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6.333333 |
| Duke | 2010 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6.333333 |
| UCLA | 1995 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6.166667 |
| Kentucky | 2012 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 6.166667 |
| Villanova | 2018 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6.166666667 |
| Michigan | 1989 | 3 | 14 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Kentucky | 1996 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Maryland | 2002 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Florida | 2007 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Baylor | 2021 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| North Carolina | 2009 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5.833333 |
| Syracuse | 2003 | 3 | 14 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5.666667 |
| North Carolina | 2017 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5.666666667 |
| North Carolina | 1993 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5.5 |
| Villanova | 2016 | 2 | 15 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4.833333 |
| UCONN | 2014 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 4.666667 |
| Villanova | 1985 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3.33 |
