The 12 Lowest Seeded College Basketball Teams To Win A Conference Tournament This Century

All 31 conferences that comprise the Division I level of college basketball hold a tournament that determines which of its teams gets an automatic NCAA Tournament bid. Many of the schools that end up winning would have been able to punch their ticket to March Madness without a victory, but there are more than a few sleepers who’ve managed to sneak in while staging an unlikely run.

These are the men’s basketball teams with the lowest seeds that have managed to win a conference tournament since 2000

A little less than half of the spots in the NCAA Tournament bracket are officially reserved for the teams that earned the right to call themselves the best squad in their conference by outlasting the rest of the competition in the postseason gaunlets that mark the unofficial start of March Madness.

Those conference tournaments are designed to give the teams that posted the best record over the course of the season an edge compared to lower-seeded squads that face a stiffer level of competition and don’t benefit from the byes that are frequently awarded to the ones who ended up at the top of the standings.

However, some of those underdogs have managed to extend their season with a string of unlikely victories, including the teams that were ranked #8 or lower that have won a tourney since the new millennium rolled around.

#8 Texas Southern: 2023 SWAC Tournament

Record at start of tournament: 11-20 (7-11 in conference play)

We’ll kick things off with the trio of teams that were sitting at #8 when the conference tournament kicked off, and I’m going to start with the most recent and work my way backwards.

Texas Southern snuck into the SWAC Tournament in 2023 as the last of eight teams that got the nod. The Tigers had been a bit of a juggernaut in the previous decade, as the defending back-to-back champions had won six of the previous nine iterations but took a step back after going 7-11 in conference play.

However, they took down top-seeded Alcorn State in the opening round, earned a 13-point victory over Alabama A&M, and capped things off with a 61-58 win at the expense of Grambling State.

No team that’s played in the NCAA Tournament has had more losses,  which led to Texas Southern earning a 16 seed and being exiled to the First Four. They were able to dispatch Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, but they were sent home after losing to Kansas.

#8 Georgetown: 2021 Big East Tournament

Record: 9-12 (7-9)

Only three of the 11 teams in the Big East had a worse record than Georgetown did in conference play during the 2020-21 season.

They kicked things off with a win over #9 Marquette and subsequently eked out a 72-71 win over top-ranked Villanova the next day to make things very interesting. Seton Hall ended up being their next victim in the semis, and they made a statement with a 73-48 blowout over #2 Creighton to win it all.

Georgetown earned the 12 seed and met Colorado in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but it ended up being a one-and-done showing.

#8 Michigan: 2017 Big Ten Tournament

Record: 20-11 (10-8)

Michigan is the first team we’ve mentioned so far that actually posted a winning record in conference play and during the regular season. It was one of four teams that finished in a tie for fifth in the Big 10 in 2017 but ended up as the eighth seed in the tournament due to tiebreakers, which does make this run much less unlikely than most of the others here.

The Wolverines kicked things off with a 20-point win over #9 Illinois and proceeded to topple #1 Purdue with a 74-70 overtime upset. Minnesota also put up a fight before losing in an 84-77 semifinal showdown, but it’s hard to say the same for Wisconsin, which lost by 15 in the title game.

Michigan was a 7-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and they beat Oklahoma State and Louisville before losing to Oregon in the Sweet Sixteen.

#8 Austin Peay: 2016 Ohio Valley Tournament

Record: 14-17 (7-9)

This is another situation where a team was the last one to qualify, as four teams were left on the outside looking in when Austin Peay secured the eighth and final spot in the Ohio Valley tournament in 2016.

#5 Tennessee Tech headed home for the season after the Governors opened things up with a 92-72 rout. #4 Tennessee State managed to make things much more competitive, but they still ended up on the wrong side of a 74-72 result.

Top-ranked Belmont lost its first and only game of the tournament when Austin Peay got a 97-96 win in overtime, and the team claimed yet another victim with “Tennessee” in its name after #2 Tennessee-Martin lost by 10 points in the title matchup.

Interestingly enough, this also led to the team getting a #16 seed before losing to Kansas in the first round.

#9 Iona: 2021 MAAC Tournament

Record: 8-5 (6-3)

Next up, we’ve got five teams that ended up as the nine seed in a conference tournament, and we’ll once again work our way back from the most recent.

That means we’re starting with Iona, which wasn’t really a 9-seed based on the odd system the MAAC used for a tournament that was played as teams were still grappling with the pandemic. The scheduling headaches that resulted meant overall wins were used for the rankings, which put the Gaels at ninth despite being second in winning percentage behind Siena.

It was thus somewhat unsurprising to see Rick Pitino’s team cruise past Quinnipiac before beating Siena in the quarterfinals. From that point, they were one of the favorites to win it all, and they did exactly that by beating Niagara and Fairfield.

Iona got a 15-seed in the NCAA Tournament, but Alabama immediately sent them packing with a 68-55 win.

#9 Holy Cross: 2016 Patriot League Tournament

Record: 10-19 (5-13)

We’ve finally got another team that received the seed that it did for being plain bad during the season, as Holy Cross struggled to hold its own as the second-worst team inPatriot League play (ahead of Lafayette) in 2016.

The Crusaders opened things up with a 72-67 win over Loyola, and they put the rest of the Patriot League on notice with a 77-72 upset over #1 Bucknell in double overtime. Army was the next team to lose at their hand in a 60-38 barnburner, but we got a slightly more intriguing contest when Holy Cross got a 59-56 win over Lehigh.

They headed to March Madness as a 16 seed and beat Southern in the First Four before losing to Oregon.

#9 UConn: 2011 Big East Tournament

Record: 21-9 (9-9)

There are only two teams that have won five games in five days to win a conference tournament, and UConn became the first one to check that box in 2011.

The Huskies didn’t need to win the Big East tournament to make it to March Madness, but they entered it with a bit of a chip on their shoulder when you consider all nine of the losses they had during the regular season came in conference play.

The UConn team that revolved around Kemba Walker made easy work of DePaul and Georgetown in the first two rounds, but they got their first statement win with a 76-74 victory over #1 Pitt. They needed overtime to earn a five-point win over Syracuse in the semifinals, and they capped off the historic run with a 69-66 triumph over Louisville.

That marked the start of a five-game winning streak that continued for six more as UConn beat Butler to win a national championship.

#9 Ohio: 2010 MAC Tournament

Record: 17-14 (7-9)

Ohio was in the middle of the pack when it came to overall records among teams in the MAC during the 2009-10 season, and they ended up under .500 in conference play.

That meant the Bobcats had to settle for the ninth seed in the MAC tournament, which they opened up with an 85-77 overtime win over #8 Ball State. The Cardinals actually gave them more trouble than Kent State did, as Ohio eliminated the top seed with an 81-64 victory that ended up being the least competitive game of the run.

Miami (Ohio) fell by eight points in the semis, and Ohio earned an 81-75 win over Akron in another overtime showdown to earn the right to make the trek to the NCAA Tournament. They handed Georgetown a stunning 97-83 upset as a 14-seed in the first round, but Tennessee stamped out the dreams of a Cinderella run.

#9 Syracuse: 2006 Big East Tournament

Record: 19-11 (7-9)

If we’re being technical, Syracuse didn’t post a single win during the 2005-06 season, as the program officially vacated all of its victories after Terrence Roberts was retroactively deemed ineligible.

He was a bit of an afterthought on an Orange team most fans probably remember for the dynamic Caucasian duo of Eric Devendorf and March Madness legend Gerry McNamara, who were instrumental in the team’s unlikely run to its second straight Big East tournament win.

McNamara drilled a buzzer-beater to lift Syracuse to a 74-73 victory over Cincinnati in the first round, and he nailed another trey against UConn in the next game to force overtime before his team emerged with the 86-84 win.

The guard also dished the pass that led to Devendorf sinking a game-winning layup in a 58-57 win over Georgetown in the semifinals, and their win over Pitt to close things out was the only game that didn’t feature any major dramatics.

They headed to the NCAA Tournament as a five seed, but they ended up being upset by Texas A&M in the first round.

#10 NC State: 2024 ACC Tournament

Record: 17-16 (9-11)

Remember when I said only two teams have won five games to win a tournament? NC State is the other one.

All of the teams I’ve talked about so far that hail from a major conference would have been invited to March Madness if they hadn’t won the tournament, but that was not the case with a dark horse NC State squad that needed the automatic bid to earn a spot.

The Wolfpack somewhat quietly earned wins over Louisville and Syracuse, but they could no longer be ignored after getting their third straight by beating #2 Duke by five points. They ended up one win away from their goal with a thrilling overtime victory over Virginia by way of a buzzer-beater to tie things up at the end of regulation, and UNC ended up being their fifth and final victim while losing by eight.

Big man D.J. Burns emerged as the standout player for an NC State team that carried the momentum into March Madness, as they became just the sixth team to reach the Final Four as an 11-seed before losing to Purdue.

#10 Xavier: 2006 Atlantic 10 Tournament

Record: 17-10 (8-8)

Xavier’s 8-8 record in Atlantic 10 conference play during the 2005-06 season only tells part of the story, as they were one of four teams that essentially tied for seventh after going .500. However, they pulled the short straw when it came to tiebreakers, which means they ended up as the 1oth seed.

The Musketeers started with a nine-point win over UMass, followed that up with a 59-55 victory that eliminated #2 Dayton, and then beat a #6 Fordham team that had pulled off an upset of its own in the second round to advance to the finals with an 11-point margin of victory.

Xavier edged out Saint Joseph’s and made the trip to March Madness in the wake of the 62-61 win. They ended up as a 14 seed, and while they gave Gonzaga a run for their money in the first round, they ended up losing by four.

#11 Georgia: 2008 SEC Tournament

Record: 13-16 (4-12)

This one comes with an asterisk, as Georgia was technically a six-seed back when the SEC Tournament kept its teams grouped in the East and West. However, they were tied with Auburn for the worst record in the conference that year, and the Bulldogs were effectively #11 by virtue of their win over the Tigers.

Their run only added to the bizarre nature of a tournament that kicked off at the Georgia Dome before it was moved to Georgia Tech’s arena after a tornado touched down in the vicinity of the former. That transpired a day after Georgia beat Ole Miss in overtime in the opening round and right before the Bulldogs were slated to meet Kentucky in the quarterfinals.

The Bulldogs had to play three games in less than 36 hours as a result of the reshuffled schedule, and they ended up two away from March Madness with a four-point win over the Wildcats that also came in overtime. They beat Mississippi State by the same margin in regulation in the semis, and ended the wild ride with a 66-57 win over Arkansas.

They entered the NCAA Tournament as a 14 seed, but the good vibes failed to carry over in a loss to Xavier.