The 'maddest' NCAA tournaments ever, in one handy chart

In an alternate universe where pure chaos reigns, the NCAA tournament is down to only the lowest possible seeds, and the University of Albany is on its way to the national title. Ah, the madness. But the real tournament this year has also been roiled by its share of stunning upsets. Duke went home after one game, formerly-undefeated Wichita State got bounced in the second round, and the scrappy Dayton Flyers booted two powerhouse programs en route to the Sweet 16.

So how does this upset-heavy year stack up against years past? The following chart compares the sum of all Sweet 16 seeds in a given year since the tournament field ballooned to 64 teams in 1985. Higher numbers mean more chaos, while lower numbers — approaching the lowest possible sum of 40 — mean a fat payday for that jerk in your bracket pool who went all chalk.

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.