Stupid, stupid stats about seed matchups

If you're putting money on one team to make the Elite 8 (and hopefully you are), pick Kentucky. When 12-seeds make the Sweet 16, it usually ends ugly. 12-seeds are 0-16 against 1-seeds; they haven't even come within single digits in 17 years.

2009: Louisville defeats Arizona, 103-64
2008: UCLA over Western Kentucky, 88-78
Kansas over Villanova, 72-57
2005: Illinois over UW-Milwaukee and the villainous Bruce Pearl, 77-63
2003: Oklahoma over Butler, 65-54
2001: Michigan St over Gonzaga, 77-62
1999: Duke over Missouri St, 78-61
1996: UMass over Arkansas, 79-63
1994: Arkansas over Tulsa, 103-84
1993: Michigan over George Washington, 72-64
1992: UCLA over New Mexico State, 85-78
1991: North Carolina over Eastern Michigan, 93-67
1990: UNLV over Ball State, 69-67
1987: UNLV over Wyoming, 92-74
1986: Duke over DePaul, 74-67
1985: St. John's over Kentucky, 86-70

Cornell will try to become just the second 12-seed to make the Elite 8. The only other time it happened, 12-seed Missouri defeated 8-seed UCLA in the only 8-12 matchup in tourney history.

The other three rare matchups are 9-seed Northern Iowa vs. 5-seed Michigan State. I blogged about that two posts ago, so see below for the odds on that. The other two games are 11-seed Washington against 2-seed West Virginia, and 10-seed St. Mary's against 3-seed Baylor.

History says Washington is in trouble--and not just because Seattle sports are universally terrible. The only 11-seed to beat a 2-seed was Dale Brown's 1986 LSU squad that became the lowest seed to ever make the Final Four.
2002: UConn (2) over Southern Illinois (11), 71-59
1998: UConn (2) over Washington (11), 75-74
1991: Duke (2) over UConn (11), 81-67
1989: Duke (2) over Minnesota (11), 87-70
1988: Duke (2) over Rhode Island (11), 73-72
1986: LSU (11) over Georgia Tech, 70-64
1985: North Carolina (2) over Auburn (11), 62-56
Memphis (2) over Boston College (11), 59-57

St. Mary's should feel a little bit better than UW--also not just because Seattle sports are universally terrible. 3-seeds are only 7-4 against 10-seeds. And, like St. Mary's, the last two teams to win were mid-majors.
2008: Davidson (10) over Wisconsin (3), 73-56
2004: Georgia Tech (3) over Nevada (10), 72-67
2003: Syracuse (3) over Auburn (10), 79-78
2002: Kent State (10) over Pitt (3), 78-73 OT
2001: Maryland (3) over Georgetown (10), 76-66
2000: Oklahoma St (3) over Seton Hall (10), 68-66
1999: Kentucky (3) over Miami-Ohio (10), 66-58
1998: Utah (3) over West Virginia (10), 65-62
1994: Michigan (3) over Maryland (10), 78-71
1991: Temple (10) over Oklahoma St (3), 72-63 OT
1987: LSU (10) over DePaul (3), 63-58