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The top seeds in March Madness are facing a trickier path to the Final Four. The past four NCAA Tournaments have seen more lower-seeded teams making deeper runs. That coincides with coaches' growing use of the transfer portal to find talent. Notably, the average combined seeds of Final Four teams from 2021-24 was 17.0. That's up from 13.5 in the four tournaments before the COVID-19 pandemic. There also has been at least one team seeded eighth or lower in four consecutive Final Fours, a first since the tournament's expansion to 64 teams in 1985.
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