It
was another exciting weekend of college basketball. The Elite Eight was one of the more
competitive ones in recent memory.
-In
the Midwest, 1-seed Kentucky got some late luck to come from behind and beat
3-seed Notre Dame 68-66. I'm pretty sure
Jerian Grant will be replaying that last-second 3-point miss in his head for
the rest of his life.
-In
the West, in a rematch of last year's Elite Eight, 1-seed Wisconsin held off
2-seed Arizona 85-78 to earn the Badgers their first trip to consecutive Final
Fours in school history
-In
the East, 7-seed Michigan State beat 4-seed Louisville 76-70 in OT.
-In
the South, 1-seed Duke pulled away from 2-seed Gonzaga in the last few minutes
to secure a 66-52 win.
It
should be a really competitive Final Four, and I honestly think all four teams
have a shot. Also, I should note, fuck
Kentucky.
Here are the Final Four game
times this Saturday (Eastern). Both
games are on TBS:
(S1)
Duke vs. (E7) Michigan State – 6:09 p.m.
(W1)
Wisconsin vs. (MW1) Kentucky – 8:49 p.m.
As
I do this time of year, I'm going to drop some Final Four statistical knowledge
on you. Get ready for it.
10
(tie). By squeaking by Notre Dame,
Kentucky is now 38-0, becoming the 13th team in NCAA Tournament history to
reach the Final Four without a loss. Of
the previous 12, 7 have won a national title, the last to do so, of course,
being the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers (who would manhandle this year's Kentucky team,
by the way). The last team to enter the
Final Four undefeated was the 1991 UNLV Runnin' Rebels, who lost in the
semifinal game to eventual national champion Duke. Here is a list of teams that have made it to
the Final Four undefeated.
1956
San Francisco*
1957
North Carolina*
1961
Ohio State**
1964
UCLA*
1967
UCLA*
1968
Houston***
1972
UCLA*
1973
UCLA*
1976
Indiana*
1976
Rutgers***
1979
Indiana State**
1991
UNLV***
*
won the national title
**
lost in the title game
***
lost in the Final Four
10
(tie). With Michigan State's win Sunday,
Tom Izzo became the sixth coach in NCAA history to take his team to 7 or more
Final Fours, and with Duke's win Sunday, Mike Krzyzewski tied John Wooden for
the most Final Four coaching appearances.
Here are the coaches who have been to 7 or more Final Fours:
1
(tie). Mike Krzyzewski - Duke (12)
1
(tie). John Wooden - UCLA (12)
3. Dean Smith - North Carolina (11)
4
(tie). Tom Izzo - Michigan State (7)
4
(tie). Rick Pitino - Providence,
Kentucky, Louisville (7)
4
(tie). Roy Williams - Kansas, North Carolina
(7)
10
(tie). All four Final Four coaches have
coached in at least one Final Four. This
is only the 6th time in NCAA Tournament history that all four coaches have
previously coached in a Final Four.
Here's when it's happened:
2015: John Calipari (Kentucky), Tom Izzo (Michigan
State), Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Bo Ryan (Wisconsin)
2012: John Calipari (Kentucky), Roy Williams
(Kansas), Thad Matta (Ohio State), Rick Pitino (Louisville)
1993: Dean Smith (North Carolina), Steve Fisher
(Michigan), Rick Pitino (Kentucky), Roy Williams (Kansas)
1984: John Thompson (Georgetown), Guy Lewis
(Houston), Joe B. Hall (Kentucky), Terry Hollan (Virginia)
1968: John Wooden (UCLA), Dean Smith (North
Carolina), Guy Lewis (Houston), Fred Taylor (Ohio State)
1951: Adolph Rupp (Kentucky), Jack Gardner (Kansas
State), Henry Iba (Oklahoma A&M), Harry Combes (Illinois)
10
(tie). In addition, three coaches –-
John Calipari, Tom Izzo, and Mike Krzyzewski -- have won a national title. This is only the 4th time in NCAA Tournament
history that three or more coaches in a Final Four have previously coached an
NCAA championship team.
2015: John Calipari (Kentucky), Tom Izzo (Michigan
State), and Mike Krzyzewski (Duke)
2009: Roy Williams (North Carolina), Tom Izzo
(Michigan State), and Jim Calhoun (Connecticut)
2001: Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Lute Olson (Arizona),
and Tom Izzo (Michigan State)
1992: Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Steve Fisher
(Michigan), and Bob Knight (Indiana)
10
(tie). For the second year in a row, each
of the Final Four teams has already won an NCAA title. This is only the ninth time this has happened
since the NCAA tournament began in 1939.
The other years in which this occurred were 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998,
2007, 2009, 2012, and 2014.
10
(tie). Based on past performance of
national titles per Final Four appearances, here is how the teams stack up, as
far as percentage of national titles per Final Fours. Not that great:
1. Kentucky:
50% (8/16) (I'm including the 1949 Final Four and national title, even
though that should be considered vacated due to a point-shaving scandal, as
well as the Final Fours in 2011, 2012, and 2014, and national championship in
2012, even though those will undoubtedly be vacated at some point, since John
Calipari is incapable of taking a team to the Final Four without it later being
vacated)
2. Wisconsin:
33% (1/3)
3. Duke:
27% (4/15)
4. Michigan State: 25% (2/8)
10
(tie). There are 9 schools with 8 or
more Final Fours: UCLA (18), North
Carolina (18), Kentucky (17), Duke (16), Kansas (14), Ohio State (11),
Louisville (10), Michigan State (9), and Indiana (8). This is the 30th year in a row and the 58th
year out of the last 59 that at least one of those 9 teams has been in the
Final Four. In fact, one of those teams
has been in all but 8 of 76 Final Fours (1941, 1943, 1947, 1950, 1954, 1955,
1956, and 1985). This is also the 12th
time that a Final Four will feature three of those schools. Interestingly enough, each of the 12 times it
has happened, the combination of teams has never been the same. Here is when three of the teams have been in
the Final Four at the same time:
2015: Duke, Kentucky, Michigan State
2012: Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Ohio State
2008: Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA
2005: Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina
1999: Duke, Michigan State, Ohio State
1993: Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina
1991: Duke, Kansas, North Carolina
1986: Duke, Kansas, Louisville
1975: Kentucky, Louisville, UCLA
1972: Louisville, North Carolina, UCLA
1968: North Carolina, Ohio State, UCLA
1957: Kansas, Michigan State, North Carolina
10
(tie). Michigan State is only the third
7-seed to ever advance to the Final Four.
Virginia advanced in 1984 and lost in the semis, and, of course, UConn
won it all last year as a 7-seed.
9. The 15 combined national titles (which will
become 16 next Monday) is also relatively high.
If you look at every year since the tournament began and count all of
the Final Four schools' national titles (whether it was won that year, prior, subsequent,
or later vacated), this will be only the 20th time (out of 76) that the Final
Four schools' combined national titles is 14 or greater. Of course, everything is skewed whenever UCLA
is in the Final Four, since they have 11 titles, so below is the list, with the
non-UCLA Final Fours in bold. As you can
see, this is only the 6th time the Final Four schools' combined national titles
is 14 or greater when UCLA was not in the Final Four.
1. 1975:
23 - UCLA (11), Kentucky (8), Louisville (3), Syracuse (1)
2
(tie). 2008: 19 - Kansas (3), Memphis
(0), UCLA (11), North Carolina (5)
2
(tie). 1995: 19 - UCLA (11), Arkansas (1), North Carolina
(5), Oklahoma State (2)
2
(tie). 1972: 19 – UCLA (11), Florida State (0), North
Carolina (5), Louisville (3)
5 (tie). 1993:
17 - North Carolina (5), Michigan (1), Kentucky (8), Kansas (3)
5
(tie). 1976: 17 – Indiana (5), Michigan (1), UCLA (11),
Rutgers (0)
5
(tie). 1974: 17 – NC State (2), Marquette (1), UCLA (11),
Kansas (3)
5
(tie). 1968: 17 – UCLA (11), North Carolina (5), Ohio
State (1), Houston (0)
9
(tie). 1973: 16 – UCLA (11), Memphis State (0), Indiana
(5), Providence (0)
9
(tie). 1969: 16 – UCLA (11), Purdue (0), Drake (0), North
Carolina (5)
9
(tie). 1967: 16 – UCLA (11), Dayton (0), Houston (0),
North Carolina (5)
9
(tie). 1964: 16 – UCLA (11), Duke (4), Michigan (1),
Kansas State (0)
13 (tie). 2014:
15 – Connecticut (4), Kentucky (8), Florida (2), Wisconsin (1)
13 (tie). 2012:
15 – Kentucky (8), Kansas (3), Louisville (3), Ohio State (1)
13
(tie). 2007: 15 - Florida (2), Ohio
State (1), UCLA (11), Georgetown (1)
13 (tie). 1998:
15 - Kentucky (8), Utah (1), North Carolina (5), Stanford (1)
13
(tie). 1971: 15 – UCLA (11), Villanova (1), Western
Kentucky (0), Kansas (3)
18
(tie). 1962: 14 – Cincinnati (2), Ohio State (1), Wake
Forest (0), UCLA (11)
18 (tie). 1997:
14 - Arizona (1), Kentucky (8), Minnesota (0), North Carolina (5)
18
(tie). 1980: 14 – Louisville (3), UCLA (11), Purdue (0),
Iowa (0)
8. Moving on to another worthless statistic, if
you just look at how many titles the schools had won up to that point (and not
including that year's title), this year is even rarer. Here are the top ten years for number of
prior national titles for the Final Four teams (with the number of titles up
to, but not including, that year):
1. 2008: 17 - Kansas (2), Memphis (0), UCLA
(11), North Carolina (4)
2. 1995:
16 - UCLA (10), Arkansas (1), North Carolina (3), Oklahoma State (2)
3. 2015:
15 – Kentucky (8), Duke (4), Michigan State (2), Wisconsin (1)
4
(tie). 2014: 14 – Kentucky (8), Connecticut (3), Florida
(2), Wisconsin (1)
4
(tie). 2007: 14 - Florida (1), Ohio
State (1), UCLA (11), Georgetown (1)
6
(tie). 2012: 13 - Kentucky (7), Kansas (3), Louisville
(2), Ohio State (1)
6
(tie). 1975: 13 - UCLA (9), Kentucky (4), Louisville (0),
Syracuse (0)
8. 1976:
12 – Indiana (2), Michigan (0), UCLA (10), Rutgers (0)
9
(tie). 2006: 11 - Florida (0), UCLA
(11), LSU (0), George Mason (0)
9
(tie). 1998: 11 - Kentucky (6), Utah (1), North Carolina
(3), Stanford (1)
7. The Big Ten has two teams in the Final Four
for the 8th time, which is by far the most times one conference has had two
teams in the same Final Four (the ACC, Big East, and SEC are tied for second
with 4 times). It is also the third year
in a row and 23rd time overall that one conference has had two or more teams in
the same Final Four. Here is when it has
happened (note: the NCAA Tournament
began giving out at-large bids in 1975, so that was the first year there could
have been more than one team from the same conference in an NCAA Tournament):
2015: Big Ten - Michigan State, Wisconsin
2014: SEC – Florida, Kentucky
2013: Big East – Louisville, Syracuse
2009: Big East – Connecticut, Villanova
2006: SEC – Florida, LSU
2005: Big Ten – Illinois, Michigan State
2003: Big 12 – Kansas, Texas
2002: Big 12 – Kansas, Oklahoma
2001: ACC – Duke, Maryland
2000: Big Ten – Michigan State, Wisconsin
1999: Big Ten – Michigan State, Ohio State
1996: SEC – Kentucky, Mississippi State
1994: SEC – Arkansas, Florida
1992: Big Ten – Indiana, Michigan
1991: ACC – Duke, North Carolina
1990: ACC – Duke, Georgia Tech
1989: Big Ten – Illinois, Michigan
1988: Big 8 – Kansas, Oklahoma
1987: Big East – Providence, Syracuse
1985:
Big East – Georgetown, St. John's,
Villanova
1981: ACC – North Carolina, Virginia
1980: Big Ten – Iowa, Purdue
1976: Big Ten – Indiana, Michigan
If
Wisconsin and Michigan State both win their semifinal games, it would be the 4th
time two teams from the same conference have met in the championship game. Thus far it has happened in 1976 (Indiana
over Michigan), 1985 (Villanova over Georgetown), and 1988 (Kansas over
Oklahoma).
6. Since 2000, the Big Ten has sent a
representative to the Final Four 14 times, the most of any conference in that
span.
1. Big Ten – 14 (Michigan State (6), Wisconsin
(3), Ohio State (2), Indiana (1), Illinois (1), Michigan (1))
2. ACC – 11 (Duke (4), North Carolina (4), Maryland
(2), Georgia Tech (1))
3. Big East – 10 (Connecticut (3), Louisville (2),
Syracuse (2), Georgetown (1), Villanova (1), West Virginia (1))
4. SEC – 9 (Florida (4), Kentucky (4), LSU (1))
5. Big 12 – 7 (Kansas (4), Oklahoma (1),
Oklahoma State (1), Texas (1))
6. Pac-10/Pac-12 - 4 (UCLA (3), Arizona (1))
7. Conference USA – 3 (Louisville (1), Marquette
(1), Memphis (1)
8
(tie). Colonial – 2 (George Mason, VCU)
8
(tie). Horizon – 2 (Butler (2))
10
(tie). American – 1 (Connecticut)
10
(tie). Missouri Valley – 1 (Wichita
State)
Of
course, the Big Ten hasn't won a title since Michigan State did so in 2000,
while the American (1), ACC (5), Big East (4), Big 12 (1), and SEC (3) have all
won titles since then, so it's all relative.
5. For only the 14th time in NCAA Tournament
history, none of the Final Four teams is located west of the Mississippi
River. Oddly, all of these 14
occurrences have come since 1979. Here
are the years it has happened: 1979,
1981, 1985, 1989, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2015.
4. The second semifinal game, between Kentucky
and Wisconsin, will be a rematch of last year's semifinal matchup between the
two schools, when Kentucky won 74-73 on an Aaron Harrison 3-pointer with 5.7
seconds left. This is only the third
time in NCAA Tournament history that two teams will meet each other in the
Final Four in consecutive years. History
doesn't bode well for the Badgers. Both
other times there have been semifinal rematches, the same team has won both
years:
1960: Cincinnati vs. California (Cal won both
games)
1968: UCLA vs. Houston (UCLA won both games)
3. There are three #1 seeds in the Final Four
for the first time since 2008 (the only year there have ever been four 1-seeds
in the Final Four). Including this year,
since seeding began in 1979, three or more 1-seeds have advanced to the Final
Four only five times. Here is a
breakdown of how many #1 seeds have advanced to the Final Four each year since
1979.
2015:
3 (Duke, Kentucky, Wisconsin)
2014:
1 (Florida)
2013:
1 (Louisville*)
2012:
1 (Kentucky*)
2011:
0
2010:
1 (Duke*)
2009:
2 (North Carolina*, Connecticut)
2008:
4 (Kansas*, Memphis**, North Carolina, UCLA)
2007:
2 (Florida*, Ohio State**)
2006:
0
2005:
2 (North Carolina*, Illinois**)
2004:
1 (Duke)
2003:
1 (Texas)
2002:
2 (Maryland*, Kansas)
2001:
2 (Duke*, Michigan State)
2000:
1 (Michigan State*)
1999:
3 (Connecticut*, Duke**, Michigan State)
1998:
1 (North Carolina)
1997:
3 (Kentucky**, North Carolina, Minnesota)
1996:
2 (Kentucky*, Massachusetts)
1995:
1 (UCLA*)
1994:
1 (Arkansas*)
1993:
3 (North Carolina*, Michigan**, Kentucky)
1992:
1 (Duke*)
1991:
2 (UNLV, North Carolina)
1990:
1 (UNLV*)
1989:
1 (Illinois)
1988:
2 (Oklahoma**, Arizona)
1987:
2 (Indiana*, UNLV)
1986:
2 (Duke**, Kansas)
1985:
2 (Georgetown**, St. John's)
1984:
2 (Georgetown*, Kentucky)
1983:
2 (Houston**, Louisville)
1982:
2 (North Carolina*, Georgetown**)
1981:
2 (LSU, Virginia)
1980:
0
1979:
1 (Indiana State**)
*Champions
**Advanced
to championship game
2. The average seed for this year's Final Four
is 2.5, which is the first time since 2012 that the average seed as been that
low and the 19th time since seeding began in 1979 that the average seed is 2.5
or lower. Here are the average seeds for
the Final Four since 1979:
2015:
2.5
2014:
4.5
2013:
4.5
2012:
2.25
2011:
6.5
2010:
3.25
2009:
1.75
2008:
1
2007:
1.5
2006:
5
2005:
2.75
2004:
2
2003:
2.25
2002:
2.25
2001:
1.75
2000:
5.5
1999:
1.75
1998:
2.25
1997:
1.75
1996:
2.75
1995:
2.25
1994:
2
1993:
1.25
1992:
3.25
1991:
1.75
1990:
3
1989:
2.25
1988:
2.5
1987:
2.5
1986:
3.75
1985:
3
1984:
2.75
1983:
3
1982:
2.75
1981:
1.75
1980:
5.25
1979:
3.5
1. Including Michigan State this year, 27 teams
seeded 5 or higher have advanced to the Final Four since seeding began in
1979. Of the prior 26 teams, only 4 have
won it all, another 7 have been runners up, and the remaining 15 have lost in
the semis. Here are the years in which
there have been any teams seeded 5 or higher in the Final Four since 1979:
2015: 1: 7-seed Michigan State
2014: 2: 7-seed UConn* and 8-seed Kentucky**
2013: 1: 9-seed Wichita State
2011: 2: 8-seed Butler** and 11-seed VCU
2010: 2: 5-seeds Butler** and Michigan State
2006: 1: 11-seed George Mason
2005: 1: 5-seed Michigan State
2002: 1: 5-seed Indiana**
2000: 3: 5-seed Florida**, 8-seeds North Carolina
and Wisconsin
1996: 1: 5-seed Mississippi State
1992: 1: 6-seed Michigan**
1988: 1: 6-seed Kansas*
1987: 1: 6-seed Providence
1986: 1: 11-seed LSU
1985: 1: 8-seed Villanova*
1984: 1: 7-seed Virginia
1983: 1: 6-seed NC State*
1982: 1: 6-seed Houston
1980: 3: 5-seed Purdue, 6-seed Iowa, 8-seed UCLA**
1979: 1: 9-seed Penn
*Champions
**Advanced
to championship game
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