some folks do a really good job of posting seeding odds as it relates to tournament advancement.
I know it’s far more likely a 2 seed loses round 1 - but I’d be curious the “upset rate” of 1s versus 2s in the round of 32.
This might not be exactly what you are asking for, but it's the easiest way I could think to do it. This is where each #2 seed finished in the last 20 NCAA Tournaments, so 80 different #2 seeds.
2025 - Elite Eight, Elite Eight, Elite Eight, Second Round
2024 - Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen, Sweet Sixteen, Sweet Sixteen
2023 - Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen, Second Round, First Round
2022 - Final Four, Final Four, Second Round, First Round
2021 - Final Four, Sweet Sixteen, Second Round, First Round
2019 - Final Four, Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen, Sweet Sixteen
2018 - Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen, Second Round, Second Round
2017 - Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen, Second Round, Second Round
2016 - National Champion, Final Four, Second Round, First Round
2015 - Elite Eight, Elite Eight, Second Round, Second Round
2014 - Final Four, Elite Eight, Second Round, Second Round
2013 - Elite Eight, Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen, First Round
2012 - National Runner Up, Final Four, First Round, First Round
2011 - Elite Eight, Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen, Second Round
2010 - Final Four, Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen, Second Round
2009 - National Runner Up, Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen, Sweet Sixteen
2008 - Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen, Second Round, Second Round
2007 - Final Four, Final Four, Elite Eight, Second Round
2006 - National Runner Up, Elite Eight, Second Round, Second Round
2005 - Elite Eight, Sweet Sixteen, Second Round, Second Round
So of the 80 teams...
- 7 (8.8%) lost in the First Round. So 73 (91.2%) at least made it to the Second Round.
- 22 (27.5%) went down in the Second Round. So 51 (63.8%) at least made it to the Sweet Sixteen.
- 16 (20.0%) lost in the Sweet Sixteen. So 35 (43.8%) at least made it to the Elite Eight.
- 21 (26.3%) lost in the Elite Eight. So 14 (17.5%) made it to the Final Four or beyond.
- 10 (12.5%) lost in their first Final Four game. So 4 (5.0%) made it to the National Championship Game.
- Of the 4 that played for a title, 3 (3.8%) finished as National Runner Up and 1 (1.3%) won the National Championship
If I am thinking about this correctly, you effectively want to eliminate the 7 teams that lost in the First Round from the sample size and see what percent of the remaining 73 teams (i.e., those teams that found themselves in the Second Round to begin with) advanced to the Sweet Sixteen or beyond. And it looks like that answer is 51 out of the 73 teams ... so the #2 seed won its Second Round game just under 70% of the time.