Loyola-Chicago is just the latest Cinderella team to make a deep run in the tournament — here is how the others fared by Tyler Lauletta on Mar 28, 2018, 9:35 AM Advertisement
 The No. 11 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers are the feel-good story of the NCAA Tournament thus far, continuing their Cinderella run all the way to a spot in the Final Four. While low seeds making it this far into the tournament is not unprecedented, it is somewhat rare — just 11 teams seeded No. 8 or lower have made it to the Final Four since expanding to 64 teams. Of the ten teams that came before Loyola-Chicago, just one of them has taken home the national championship. Below you can find every team in NCAA Tournament history that entered March Madness as a No. 8 seed or lower that had made it to a national semifinal. No. 8 Villanova (1985)  The earliest team we're covering on this list is also the most successful — the 1985 Villanova Wildcats. As a No. 8 seed, the Wildcats surpassed every expectation and took down Patrick Ewing's Georgetown Hoyas 66-64 in the national title game. Villanova would not make it back to the championship until 2016.
No. 11 LSU (1986)  A year later, LSU would try to capture the same magic the Wildcats did. While the Tigers won their region as a No. 11 seed with a shocking victory over Kentucky in the Elite Eight, they almost didn't make it out of the first round of the tournament, needing double-overtime to knock out No. 6 Purdue. LSU would fall short of the title game though, losing to eventual champion Louisville in the Final Four.
No. 8 North Carolina (2000)  While college basketball fans are likely more familiar with UNC as one of the top seeds in March Madness, in 2000 the Tar Heels made a run to the Final Four as a No. 8 seed after gutting out a big win over No. 1 Stanford in the second round of the tournament. It was the third time in four years that UNC won their region before losing in the national semifinal.
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