Kansas, Purdue & Wisconsin extend NCAA men’s bball tourney streaks with first round wins
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Prior to the start of this year’s NCAA Div. I men’s tournament, eight different schools had active streaks of consecutive years with at least one win in three or more NCAA tournaments. Leading the way was Pittsburgh with six straight years with at least one win in the tourney. Here’s a look at those eight schools and how their streaks were affected after first round play on Thursday and Friday.
Pittsburgh (six straight tournaments with one or more win): That streak ended when Pittsburgh failed to get a berth to this year’s tournament.
Kansas (five straight tournaments with one or more win): Extended their streak to six years with a 65-50 win over Detroit.
Purdue (five straight tournaments with one or more win): Extended their streak to six years with a three-point first round win over St.Mary‘s.
Wisconsin (five straight tournaments with one or more win): Made it six straight after a convincing 73-49 win over Montana on Thursday.
Duke (four straight tournaments with one or more win): Upset by #15 Lehigh in the first round on Friday to end their streak.
Syracuse (three straight tournaments with one or more win): Dodged the upset bullet with a first round victory against #16 NC-Asheville extending their streak to four straight years.
Washington (three straight tournaments with one or more win): Streak ended when they did not get invited to this year’s tournament.
Gonzaga (three straight tournaments with one or more win): Extended their streak to four years with a first-round win over West Virginia.
Note: With victories in first round games, four schools have now won at least one game in three straight tournaments… Ohio State, Kentucky, Kansas State and Brigham Young.
SIX STATS you might not know about… NFL’s divisional playoff weekend
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(Note: In 1990, the NFL went to a playoff system that allowed 12 teams to play in the postseason. The following stats reflect playoff games from 1990 through 2010 [21 postseasons… 84 games] during the Divisional Playoff Weekend (DPW), which is after Wild Card Weekend and prior to the conference championship games. Divisional Playoff Weekend is this weekend!)
1. Fifty-four of the 84 DPW games (64.3%) were decided by nine points or more. Nineteen games were decided by three points or less (22.6%); 11 games were decided by four to eight points (13.1%). Twenty-five games (29.8%) were decided by 20 or more points.
2. On 11 of the 21 DPW the number one seeds from both conferences won advancing to the conference championship games. In the last six postseasons, however, 2009 was the only year that the two number one seeds both won on DPW.
3. Teams that scored under 20 points during DPW won 10 games and lost 58 (a .147 winning percentage). Teams that scored 30 or more points on DPW were 36-4 (a .900 winning percentage).
4. Home teams were 62-22 on DPW, a winning percentage of .738. In the last six postseasons, however, home teams are 12-12 on divisional playoff weekend.
5. The last time all four home teams won on DPW was in 2004. Since 1990, all four home teams have won on DPW only seven times in 21 postseasons.
6. In the last three DPW, the team that scored the most points on DPW of the eight teams has gone on to win the Super Bowl: last year, Green Bay, 48; in 2009, New Orleans, 45; in 2008, Pittsburgh, 35.
SIX STATS you might not know about… the NFL’s Wild Card Weekend
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“SIX STATS…” is a bonus feature of Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ and is published every Friday.
In 2002, the NFL realigned into four divisions in each conference. In addition, the playoffs were adjusted to include the four division winners and two wild card teams in each conference. This is the current playoff system in the NFL.
The first weekend of the NFL playoffs feature the two wild card teams in the AFC and NFC playing the division winners with the third and fourth best records of the four division champs. This first weekend is commonly referred to as “Wild Card Weekend” (WCW).
Today’s blog will look back at some stats from “Wild Card Weekend” since that 2002 realignment… a total of 36 games.
1. The home team holds a 19-17 record in WCW play. The only year since 2002 that the home team won all four games the first weekend of the playoffs was in 2006. Home teams are only 7-9 in the last four years of the WCW.
2. Having a better record than your opponent on WCW doesn’t matter. Teams with a better record than the opposition on WCW are 14-14 (there have been eight games between teams with the same record).
3. Sixteen of the 36 Wild Card Weekend games since 2002 have been decided by eight points or less.
4. Teams that won the first weekend went on to win the next week on 14 occasions. In 2008, three teams that won on WCW also won the following week.
5. Teams that scored 30 or more points on WCW since 2002 have won 17 and lost four.
6. Six teams that played on WCW since 2002 have made it to the Super Bowl: Carolina (2003), Pittsburgh (2005), Indianapolis (2006), New York Giants (2007), Arizona (2008), Green Bay (2010). Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, the Giants and Green Bay won the Super Bowl those years.
BONUS STAT
How well did this year’s 12 playoff teams do against each other? Following are the records of the 12 playoff teams in regular season games against each other.
6-0: Baltimore, Green Bay
5-1: New Orleans
4-1: San Francisco
3-2: Houston
3-4: Pittsburgh
1-2: New England
1-3: Denver, New York Giants
1-4: Atlanta
1-5: Detroit
0-7: Cincinnati
How well did the teams that did not make the playoffs do against the 12 playoff teams during the regular season?
2-2: Washington
2-3: Buffalo
3-5: Tennessee
2-4: Kansas City, Oakland, San Diego
2-5: Chicago, Seattle
2-6: Tampa Bay
1-4: Dallas, Philadelphia
1-5: Arizona
1-6: Carolina, Jacksonville
1-7: Indianapolis, St. Louis
0-5: Miami, New York Jets
0-7: Minnesota
0-8: Cleveland
“SIX STATS” you might not know about… The next season after a Super Bowl win!
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“SIX STATS…” is a bonus feature of Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ and is published every Friday
The Green Bay Packers began defense of their Super Bowl championship with a 42-34 win last night over the New Orleans Saints. So what do the Packers and their fans have to look forward to this season after a Super Bowl? Here’s a look at how the previous 44 Super Bowl champions did the season following their championship.
1. Only six Super Bowl champs increased their win total the following season. Five teams had the same number of wins as their Super Bowl winning season; thus 75% of the Super Bowl champions had fewer wins the season after their Super Bowl win.
2. Twenty-nine of the 44 Super Bowl champs (65.9%) won 10 or more games the next season.
3. Thirty-one of the 44 champs (70.5%) made the playoffs the next season. Eight teams won back-to-back Super Bowls: Dallas (1992, 1993), Denver (1997, 1998), Green Bay (1966, 1967), Miami (1972, 1973), New England (2003, 2004), Pittsburgh (1974, 1975), Pittsburgh (1978, 1979), San Francisco (1988, 1989).
4. Of those 31 teams that made the playoffs the season after their Super Bowl win, 21 (67.7%) won at least one playoff game.
5. Twenty-four of the previous 44 Super Bowl champs won their division the next year. Nine finished second in their division; seven finished third; two finished fourth; two finished fifth.
6. Prior to last night’s Packers-Saints game, the previous 44 Super Bowl champs were 30-13-1 in their first game of the next season after their Super Bowl win.
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