http://www.ncaa.org/library/records/soccer_records_book/2004/2004_soccer_records.pdf
The men's NCAA tournament began seeding the top eight teams in the country in 1997. Here's a little recap of how the seeds performed, with a special eye to the ACC:
1 seed 4 of 7 from ACC
ACC #1 seeds: 6-4, 0.600
Non-ACC #1 seeds: 7-3, 0.700
2 seed 6 of 7 from ACC
ACC #2 seeds: 13-6, 0.684
Non-ACC #2 seeds: 5-0, 1.000
3 seed 2 of 7 from ACC
ACC #3 seeds: 0-2, 0.000
Non-ACC #3 seeds: 13-3, 0.813
4 seed 1 of 7 from ACC
ACC #4 seeds: 0-1, 0.000
Non-ACC #4 seeds: 10-6, 0.625
5 seed 3 of 7 from ACC
The ACC #5 seeds: 5-3, 0.625
Non-ACC #5 seeds: 10-3, 0.769
6 seed 2 of 7 from ACC
The ACC #6 seeds: 2-2, 0.500
Non-ACC #6 seeds: 11-5, 0.688
7 seed 2 of 7 from ACC
The ACC #7 seeds: 5-1, 0.833
Non-ACC #7 seeds: 6-5, 0.545
(Go ACC!)
8 seed 0 of 7 from ACC
ACC #8 seeds: 0-0
Non-ACC #8 seeds: 13-5, 0.722
All seeds, 1-8
ACC 20 of 56 teams
Average seed #3.35 (i.e. high)
Record: 31-19, 0.620
Non-ACC 36 of 56 teams
Average seed #5.08 (i.e. not as high)
Record: 75-30, 0.714
Average wins 2.08
Despite the small sample size, when you adjust for seeding, the difference in performance between ACC and Non-ACC teams is statistically significant(permutation test p.value: 0.02).
Updating to include 1997-2004
1 seed 5 of 8 from ACC
ACC #1 seeds: 7-5, 0.583
Non-ACC #1 seeds: 7-3, 0.700
2 seed 6 of 8 from ACC
ACC #2 seeds: 13-6, 0.684
Non-ACC #2 seeds: 10-0, 1.000
3 seed 3 of 8 from ACC
ACC #3 seeds: 3-3, 0.500
Non-ACC #3 seeds: 13-3, 0.813
4 seed 2 of 8 from ACC
ACC #4 seeds: 2-2, 0.500
Non-ACC #4 seeds: 10-6, 0.625
5 seed 3 of 8 from ACC
The ACC #5 seeds: 5-3, 0.625
Non-ACC #5 seeds: 10-4, 0.714
6 seed 2 of 8 from ACC
The ACC #6 seeds: 2-2, 0.500
Non-ACC #6 seeds: 12-6, 0.667
7 seed 2 of 7 from ACC
The ACC #7 seeds: 5-1, 0.833
Non-ACC #7 seeds: 7-6, 0.538
8 seed 0 of 8 from ACC
ACC #8 seeds: 0-0
Non-ACC #8 seeds: 14-6, 0.700
All seeds, 1-8
ACC 23 of 64 teams
Average seed #3.26 (i.e. high)
Record: 37-22, 0.627
Average wins 1.61
Non-ACC 41 of 64 teams
Average seed #5.15 (i.e. quite a bit lower)
Record: 83-34, 0.709
Average wins 2.02
More info (dupe of a post to men's college)
Total Final Four Appearances, 1997-2003*
Pac-10 6 (Stanford 3, UCLA 3)
Big Ten 6 (IU 6)
ACC 5 (Maryland 3, UNC, UVa)
Big East 4 (St. John's 2, UConn 2)
WCC 3 (Santa Clara 3)
MVC 3 (Creighton 2, SMU)
C-USA 1 (St. Louis)
Only 12 different teams have made the Final Four ... there really aren't enough competitive programs out there.
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Number of Teams Seeded in Top Eight, 1997-2003
(with conference Final Four appearances in brackets)
ACC 20 [5] (UVa 6, Clemson 3, Maryland 3, UNC 3, Wake 3, Duke 2)
Big East 8 [4] (St. John's 4, UConn 2, Boston College, Notre Dame)
Pac-10 7 [6] (UCLA 4, Stanford 2, Washington)
Big Ten 5 [6] (IU 5)
MVC 5 [3] (SMU 3, Creighton, Southwest Missouri St.)
C-USA 3 [1] (Saint Louis 3)
WCC 1 [3] (San Diego)
Others 7 [0] (So. Carolina 2, American, CSU-Fullerton, FIU, San Jose St., VCU)
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Number of Teams Seeded in Top Four, 1997-2003
(with conference Final Four appearances in brackets)
ACC 13 [5] (UVa 3, Clemson 2, Maryland 2, UNC 2, Wake 2, Duke 2)
Pac-10 5 [6] (UCLA 2, Stanford 2, Washington)
Big East 2 [4] (St. John's, UConn)
Big Ten 3 [6] (IU 3)
MVC 2 [3] (SMU 2)
C-USA 1 [1] (Saint Louis)
WCC 1 [3] (San Diego)
Others 1 [0] (So. Carolina)
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At the end of the day, sports is about results. Like duetime, I don't have anything against the ACC (well, maybe Duke ;)), but it sure looks to me like something is wrong with our seeding system.
*Note that the years were determined by the start of the 8-seed system
Walking/Running Puppy - Advise needed
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