Yep, in VB, you might get an unseeded team (or a team seeded 5-8) in the regional semifinals. Wouldn't bet too much on them going any further. Same with WBB - usually the superior talent and coaching beats back any potential upsets of teams outside the top 16 by the Sweet 16. The most notable I can think of in the last 5-ish years was 10 seed Creighton making the Elite 8 in 2022 and 9 seed Miami making the Elite 8 in 2023.
In VB, an 11 seed won it all (2004) and an unseeded team made the finals (BYU) in 2014. Been a long time.
I think softball might be the least chalky - there's also an unseeded team or two (or three sometimes) in the WCWS, and one made it all the way to the finals in 2022 (holla).
One of the at-large is automatically ND's*, so more like SEC champ + 6 potential at-large spots for Texas.
*as the committee has clearly made it plain as day this year, they are in at 10-2 and their schedule sets them up for 10-2 or better for the rest of forever.
All times eastern and on ESPN+
Thursday, Dec. 4
3 p.m. | No. 5 Colorado vs. American
4:30 p.m. | No. 6 Baylor vs. Arkansas State
4:30 p.m. | No. 8 UCLA vs. Georgia Tech
5 p.m. | No. 5 Miami (Florida) vs. Tulsa
5:30 p.m. | No. 4 Indiana vs. Toledo
5:30 p.m. | No. 6 UNI vs. Utah
5:30 p.m. | No. 6 UTEP vs. North Carolina
6:30 p.m. | No. 7 Tennessee vs. Utah State
7 p.m. | No. 1 Kentucky vs. Wofford
7 p.m. | No. 3 Purdue vs. Wright State
7:30 p.m. | No. 4 Kansas vs. High Point
8 p.m. | No. 5 BYU vs. Cal Poly
8 p.m. | No. 3 Creighton vs. Northern Colorado
8 p.m. | No. 3 Wisconsin vs. Eastern Illinois
9 p.m. | No. 2 Arizona State vs. Coppin State
10:30 p.m. | No. 4 Southern California vs. Princeton