“FOUR STATS” you may not know about… the Final Four
Here’s a look at a few stats you may not know about the upcoming NCAA men’s Final Four.
1. Five of the seven teams with 10 or more appearances in the Final Four are still in this year’s tournament. North Carolina and UCLA top the list with the most Final Four appearances with 18. Kentucky is next with 16 and Duke follows with 15. All four of those teams made this year’s Sweet 16. The other three teams on the list: Kansas with 14 Final Fours and Louisville and Ohio State with 10. Of those three, only Louisville is still alive in this year’s event.
2. Two teams that have made 18 or more NCAA tournament appearances but have never appeared in the Final Four are still alive and could possibly break those streak. Xavier has played in 25 (now 26) NCAA tourneys but has never made the Final Four, while Gonzaga has played in 18 (now 19) and has never made it to the Final Four.
3. Prior to this year, Kentucky has played in 35 Elite 8 games, winning 16 and losing 19. Their 19 losses in the Regional Final title game is most on the list. They are followed by Kansas State with nine, Villanova with eight, North Carolina with seven and Ohio State, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Connecticut and Arizona with six losses each. Texas, Oregon State, Illinois, Temple and Michigan have each lost five Regional Final title games. Of these teams listed, only three, Kentucky, North Carolina and Arizona are still alive in this year’s tournament.
4. Missouri tops the list with the most losses in the Regional Final title game with no appearances in the Final Four. Pittsburgh, Arizona State, Boston College and Davidson have each lost three Regional Final title games and have never made it to the Final Four.
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Is winning a conference tournament a precursor to the Final Four?
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published multiple times weekly focusing on stats that go beyond the numbers.
Rick Pitino's Louisville team is the only Final Four team this year to win its conference tournament. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Since 2000, there have been 52 different teams that have made it to the Final Four in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Over that timeframe, just under 54% of those Final Four teams (28 of the 52) played in their conference tournament championship game the week prior to the NCAA tournament. Twenty-three of the 28 won their conference tourney.
Of this year’s Final Four teams, Rick Pitino’s Louisville squad was the only one to win its conference tournament (they won the Big East Conference tournament); Kentucky and Ohio State both lost in their conference title game, while Kansas was defeated in the Big 12 conference semifinals.
In 2011, three of the Final Four teams won their conference tournament (Connecticut, Butler and Kentucky) and the fourth team, VCU, lost in the title game. In 2010, again three Final Four teams won their conference tournament (Duke, Butler and West Virginia) while Final Four participant Michigan State was defeated in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament.
Following are how well the Final Four teams since 2000 (the last 13 tournaments) did in their conference tournaments prior to the NCAA tournament.
Final Four teams that won their conference tournament: 23
Final Four teams that lost in the conference tournament title game: 5
Final Four teams that lost in the conference tournament semifinals: 14
Final Four teams that lost in the conference tournament quarterfinals: 9
Final Four teams that did not play in a conference tournament: 1
Did you know? Of the 12 teams that won the NCAA championship this century (2000-2011), eight won their conference tournament. The other four, North Carolina in 2009, North Carolina in 2005, Syracuse in 2003 and Maryland in 2002, all lost in their conference semifinals.
Did you know? The last year when none of the Final Four teams won their conference tournament was 2009.
Greatest upsets in the last two weeks of the NCAA basketball tournament
March Madness Experience logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published multiple times weekly focusing on stats that go beyond the numbers.
Now that we’re down to the last two weeks of the college basketball season, let’s take a look at the upsets that have shaped the final rounds of the tourney. The criteria I’m using is to look at the seeds of each team and the biggest difference in those seed numbers by teams that were ranked lower than the team they defeated. There are three Sweet Sixteen match-ups on Thursday and Friday that could join the upsets listed below if the lower seeds can win: Xavier (#10 seed) vs. Baylor (#3), North Carolina (#1) vs. Ohio (#13), and Kansas (#1) vs. North Carolina State (#11).
Here are the greatest upsets in the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four and Championship Game in the NCAA tournament since 1979 when all teams were seeded in the brackets. (To qualify for the list the team that won had to have been seeded five spots or more lower than the team they defeated.)
SWEET SIXTEEN, seed difference, year, teams
9 1986: LSU (#11 seed) defeated Georgia Tech (#2 seed)
7 1987: LSU (#10 seed) defeated DePaul (#3 seed)
7 1991 Temple (#10 seed) defeated Oklahoma (#3 seed)
7 2002: Kent State (#10 seed) defeated Pittsburgh (#3 seed)
7 2008: Davidson (#10 seed) over Wisconsin (#3 seed)
5 1979: Penn (#9 seed) over Syracuse (#4 seed)
ELITE EIGHT, seed difference, year, teams
10 1986: LSU (#11 seed) defeated Kentucky (#1 seed)
10 2006: George Mason (#11 seed) defeated Connecticut (#1 seed)
10 2011: VCU (#11 seed) defeated Kansas (#1 seed)
6 1985: Villanova (#8 seed) defeated North Carolina (#2 seed)
6 2011: Butler (#8 seed) defeated Florida (#2 seed)
5 1983: North Carolina State (#6 seed) defeated Virginia (#1 seed)
5 1987: Providence (#6 seed) defeated Georgetown (#1 seed)
5 1992: Michigan (#6 seed) defeated Ohio State (#1 seed)
FINAL FOUR, seed difference, year, teams
6 1985: Villanova (#8 seed) defeated Memphis State (#2 seed)
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME, seed difference, year, teams
7 1985: Villanova (#8 seed) defeated Georgetown (#1 seed)
5 1983: North Carolina State (#6 seed) defeated Houston (#1 seed)
5 1988: Kansas (#6 seed) defeated Oklahoma (#1 seed)
NCAA men’s Division I basketball tournament seed matchups for the second round
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published multiple times weekly that focuses on stats that go beyond the numbers.
Image via Wikipedia
The NCAA men’s Division I basketball tourney second round begins tomorrow with second round games on Saturday and Sunday. Here’s a look at how the seed matchups have played out in the second round in the past 10 tournaments (2002-2011). Also listed is how well each of the 16 seeds have fared in second round games in the last 10 years (Beware the #12 seed if they get in to the second round!).
Seed matchups in the Second Round, higher seed won-lost record
#1 vs. #8 19-3
#1 vs. #9 16-2
#4 vs. #5 6-13
#4 vs. #12 8-4
#5 vs. #13 4-1
#12 vs. #13 4-0
#3 vs. #6 15-7
#3 vs. #11 10-5
#6 vs. #14 3-0
#2 vs. #7 18-7
#2 vs. #10 8-7
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Seed records in the Second Round in the last 10 years
#1 35-5
#2 26-14
#3 25-12
#4 14-17
#5 17-7
#6 10-15
#7 7-18
#8 3-19
#9 2-16
#10 7-8
#11 5-10
#12 8-8
#13 1-8
#14 0-3
#15 0-0
#16 0-0
Kansas gets 12th straight top four regional seed in NCAA tournament
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog that is published multiple times weekly looking at stats that go beyond the numbers.
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With their number 2 seed in the NCAA Midwest regional this year, the Kansas Jayhawks extended their current streak of receiving a #1, #2, #3, or #4 seed in a region for the 12th straight year. The last time Kansas was not a 1, 2, 3, or 4 seed in a region was in 2000 when they were the #8 seed in the East region in that tourney.
Four other schools this year received a top four regional seed for the third straight year (or more). Duke is a #2 seed in the South, giving them five straight years with a top four regional seed. Syracuse is the #1 seed in the East, the fourth straight year they have been a top four regional seed. A pair of Big Ten schools, Ohio State and Wisconsin both received top four regional seeds this year (Ohio State #2 in the East; Wisconsin #4 in the East) giving them each their third straight top four regional seed.
Following are the schools which have had the most top four regional seeds in the past 13 tournaments (since 2000)
Most top four regional seeds since 2000, schools
12: Duke, Kansas
8: Kentucky, North Carolina, Pittsburgh
7: Connecticut, Ohio State, Syracuse
6: Florida, Illinois, Louisville, Maryland, Oklahoma, Texas
Did you know? Six different schools have been a number 1 in a regional three or more times since 2000. Leading the list is Duke which has been a number 1 seed eight times in the last 13 years. They are followed by North Carolina and Kansas with five, Kentucky with four, and Stanford and Michigan State with three.
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