NCAA Championship Game Thoughts and Facts

After an Elite Eight for the ages, the Final Four didn't disappoint either.  In Saturday's first game, South 1-seed Virginia won a nail-biting 63-62 game over Midwest 5-seed Auburn, after UVa's Kyle Guy was fouled shooting a 3 with less than 2 seconds left.  He calmly and coolly made all three free throws, leading the Cavaliers to their first-ever NCAA title game.

In the second game, West 3-seed Texas Tech used its stifling defense to top East 2-seed Michigan State, 61-51, giving the Red Raiders their first-ever trip to the championship game.

The championship tips off tonight at 9:20 Eastern on CBS.  Virginia is a 1-point favorite.  Both teams rely on their great defensive play, as both rank in the top three in defensive efficiency -- so it's no surprise the over/under is a mere 118 points.

Here are some fun facts for you to ponder as you're watching these two teams beat each other up.

6.  No matter who wins, it will be the first national title for either head coach, Virginia's Tony Bennett and Texas Tech's Chris Beard.  It will be the 26th time that a first-time Final Four coach will have won the championship.  Of course, those numbers are heavily skewed towards the beginning decades of the NCAA Tournament.  Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, it has only happened 7 times.  Here is everyone (including before 1985), in reverse chronological order:

-Kevin Ollie (UConn, 2014)

-Bill Self (Kansas, 2008)

-Jim Calhoun (UConn, 1999)

-Tubby Smith (Kentucky, 1998)

-Jim Harrick (UCLA, 1995)

-Steve Fisher (Michigan, 1989)

-Rollie Massimino (Villanova, 1985)

-Jim Valvano (NC State, 1983)

-Jud Heathcote (Michigan State, 1979)

-Norm Sloan (NC State, 1974)

-Don Haskins (Texas Western, 1966)

-George Ireland (Loyola (Ill.), 1963)

-Ed Jucker (Cincinnati, 1961)

-Fred Taylor (Ohio State, 1960)

-Pete Newell (California, 1959)

-Phil Woolpert (San Francisco, 1955)

-Ken Loeffler (LaSalle, 1954)

-Doggie Julian (Holy Cross, 1947)

-Henry Iba (Oklahoma A&M, 1945)

-Vadal Peterson (Utah, 1944)

-Everett Shelton (Wyoming, 1943)

-Everett Dean (Stanford, 1942)

-Harold E. Foster (Wisconsin, 1941)

-Branch McCracken (Indiana, 1940)

-Howard Hobson (Oregon, 1939)

5.  As we all know, last year, Virginia became the first 1-seed to lose to a 16-seed in NCAA Tournament history, when they were blown out by UMBC.  And now the Cavaliers have a chance to become the 6th team ever to win a national title the year after losing their first game of the NCAA Tournament.  Here are the others who have done it:

2015:  Duke

1995:  UCLA

1987:  Indiana

1983:  NC State

1964:  UCLA

Other than the 1964 UCLA team (since seeding didn't begin until 1979), all of those teams lost to double-digit seeds the year before winning the title. 

4.  This is the first time since 1990 that two teams without a previous national championship will be playing for the title, and the first time since 1979 that two teams will play for the championship without ever having played in the championship game before.  Here are the years in which both teams meeting in the championship game had not previously won an NCAA title (excluding the first tournament in 1939), with an asterisk for years in which both teams played in the title game for the first time:

-1990:  UNLV over Duke

-1989:  Michigan over Seton Hall

-1984:  Georgetown over Houston

-1979*:  Michigan State over Indiana State

-1974*:  NC State over Marquette

-1964*:  UCLA over Duke

-1959*:  Cal over West Virginia

-1954:  LaSalle over Bradley

-1952:  Kansas over St. John's

-1950*:  CCNY over Bradley

-1948*:  Kentucky over Baylor

-1947*:  Holy Cross over Oklahoma

-1945*:  Oklahoma A&M over NYU

-1944:  Utah over Dartmouth

-1943*:  Wyoming over Georgetown

-1942*:  Stanford over Dartmouth

-1941*:  Wisconsin over Washington State

-1940*:  Indiana over Kansas

3.  If Texas Tech wins, it will become the 13th school to win the national title in its first-ever trip to the Final Four -- and the first in 20 years and only second since JFK died to do so.  Here are the other ones who have done it.
-1999:  UConn
-1966:  Texas Western
-1963:  Loyola (IL)
-1955:  San Francisco
-1954:  LaSalle
-1947:  Holy Cross
-1945:  Oklahoma A&M
-1944:  Utah
-1943:  Wyoming
-1942:  Stanford
-1941:  Wisconsin
-1940:  Indiana
-1939:  Oregon

2.  If Texas Tech wins, it will be the first school west of the Mississippi River since Kansas in 2008 to win the NCAA title.  Of the 35 prior champs, 13 have been located west of the Mississippi.  Here are the schools west of the Mississippi that have won it all:
-UCLA (11):  1964-1965, 1967-1973, 1975, 1995
-Kansas (3):  1952, 1988, 2008
-Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) (2):  1945-1946
-San Francisco (2):  1955-1956
-Arizona (1):  1997
-Arkansas (1):  1994
-California (1):  1959
-Oregon (1):  1939
-Stanford (1):  1942
-Texas Western (now UTEP) (1):  1966
-UNLV (1):  1990
-Utah (1):  1944
-Wyoming (1):  1943

1.  Virginia is a 1-seed, and Texas Tech is a 3-seed.  For the second year in a row, we have a 1-seed vs. a 3-seed in the championship game.  This is the third time this has happened since seeding began in 1979, with the 1-seed owning a 2-0 advantage over 3-seeds (Villanova over Michigan last year and UNLV over Duke in 1990).  Overall, 1-seeds are 22-15 in the championship game, while 3-seeds are 5-6.  When playing higher-seeded teams in the championship game, 1-seeds are 14-6.  Here is the breakdown, in reverse chronological order:

1-seed winners
2018:  Villanova
2017:  North Carolina
2015:  Duke
2013:  Louisville
2012:  Kentucky
2010:  Duke
2009:  North Carolina
2008:  Kansas
2007:  Florida
2005:  North Carolina
2002:  Maryland
2001:  Duke
2000:  Michigan State
1999:  UConn
1996:  Kentucky
1995:  UCLA
1994:  Arkansas
1993:  North Carolina
1992:  Duke
1990:  UNLV
1987:  Indiana
1984:  Georgetown
1982:  North Carolina

1-seed losers

2017:  Gonzaga

2016:  North Carolina

2015:  Wisconsin

2008:  Memphis

2007:  Ohio State

2005:  Illinois

1999:  Duke

1997:  Kentucky

1993:  Michigan

1988:  Oklahoma

1986:  Duke

1985:  Georgetown

1983:  Houston

1982:  Georgetown

1979:  Indiana State

3-seed winners

2011:  UConn

2006:  Florida

2003:  Syracuse

1989:  Michigan

1981:  Indiana

3-seed losers

2018:  Michigan

2004:  Georgia Tech

1998:  Utah

1991:  Kansas

1990:  Duke

1989:  Seton Hall