ehsan kassim, usa today network
·3 min read
The Madden cover curse. The Billy Goat curse. The No. 1 overall seed in the College World Series.
Real or imagined by sports fans, some unexplained trends related to sports gain a lot of traction and are sometimes attributed to a curse. One trend that No. 1 overall seed Tennessee baseball is seeking to buck in the NCAA Baseball Tournament is the top seed not winning the College World Series national championship.
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Since the NCAA started seeding the baseball tournament in 1999, only one national No. 1 overall seed has won the national championship. And that came in the very first season, with Miami defeating in-state rival Florida State 6-5 in the CWS final.
Since then, the NCAA added the championship series to the CWS, but only two teams ranked No. 1 ― the 2004 and 2009 Texas Longhorns ― have even reached the CWS championship series. Last season, Wake Forest ended a three-year drought of No. 1 seed, earning a berth in the World Series.
Including the 1999 Hurricanes, as many as No. 1 seeds have reached the CWS championship as teams have been knocked out in the first round of the double-elimination tournament. Here's what you need to know about the history of No. 1 overall seeds in the NCAA Baseball Tournament:
Who was the last No. 1 overall seed to win the CWS?
Miami is the lone No. 1 overall seed to win the CWS since national seeding has existed since 1999. The Hurricanes opened the postseason by sweeping through the Coral Gables regional and super regionals. Then they went 4-0 in the CWS, including a 6-5 victory over in-state rival Florida State to pick up its third-ever national championship.
Here's Miami's path to its third CWS title:
First round ― Beat No. 8 Rice 8-4
Second round ― Beat No. 5 Alabama 8-1
Semifinals ― Beat No. 5 Alabama 5-2
Championship ― Beat Florida State 6-5
How have No. 1 overall CWS seeds fared since 1999?
Only the 2004 and 2009 Longhorns have made the championship game/series since then. Texas was swept by Cal State Fullerton in the championship series in 2004 and lost to LSU in three games in 2009. Since the national seedings have been added, as many teams ― Vanderbilt (2007), Oregon State (2014) and UCLA (2015) ― have lost in the first round as have made it to the championship.
Here's a look at how every No. 1 seed has fared in the CWS since 1999:
1999 ― Miami | Won championship
2000 ― South Carolina | Lost in Super Regional
2001 ― Cal State Fullerton | Lost in CWS semifinals
2002 ― Florida State | Lost in Super Regional
2003 ― Florida State | Lost in Super Regional
2004 ― Texas | Lost in CWS finals
2005 ― Tulane | Lost CWS second round
2006 ― Clemson | Lost in CWS second round
2007 ― Vanderbilt | Lost in Regional
2008 ― Miami | Lost in CWS second round
2009 ― Texas | Lost in CWS finals
2010 ― Arizona | Lost in CWS first round
2011 ― Virginia | Lost in CWS semifinal
2012 ― Florida | Lost in CWS first round
2013 ― North Carolina | Lost in CWS semifinals
2014 ― Oregon State | Lost in Regional
2015 ― UCLA | Lost in Regional
2016 ― Florida | Lost in CWS first round
2017 ― Oregon State | Lost in CWS semifinals
2018 ― Florida | Lost in CWS semifinals
2019 ― UCLA | Lost in Super Regional
2020 ― none
2021 ― Arkansas | Lost in Super Regional
2022 ― Tennessee | Lost in Super Regional
2023 ― No. 1 Wake Forest | Lost in CWS semifinals
2024 ― No. 1 Tennessee | TBD
CWS wins by seeds
Only half of the 24 national champions have been national seeds since the addition of the national seeds. The other have been unseeded teams. Only the No. 6 and No. 8 seeds have never claimed a national championship.
Florida is the lone team to make it as an unseeded team in the 2024 CWS. Here's how the championships break down by seeding:
Seeds | Championships |
1 | 1 |
2 | 3 |
3 | 3 |
4 | 1 |
5 | 3 |
6 | |
7 | 1 |
8 | |
Unranked | 12 |
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee baseball looks to end drought for No. 1 seeds in College World Series
