catmandoo
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Member # 1284
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posted 03-27-2014 12:15 PM
Kentucky is in 11 of these 16 interesting NCAA tournament facts.
1. Let's hear it for the SEC
The football conference only earned three slots into the NCAA Tournament. But Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee went 7-0 and are tied with the Pac 12 and Big 10 for most teams in the Sweet 16.
2. Break it down
Besides three schools each from the SEC, Big 10 and Pac 12, there are two schools from the Big 12 (which had the most teams in the tournament at 7) and the American Athletic Conference and one each from ACC, Atlantic 10 and Mountain West.
3. Done this before
10 of the 16 teams have won NCAA men's basketball titles in the past: UCLA (11), Kentucky (8), Connecticut (3), Louisville (3, including 2013), Florida (2), Michigan State (2), Arizona (1), Michigan (1), Stanford (1), Wisconsin (1)
4. First time for everything
Iowa State, San Diego State, Tennessee and Virginia are the four teams that have never made it to the NCAA title game. Dayton lost to Lew Alcindor-led UCLA in 1967 and Baylor lost to Kentucky in the 1948 title game.
5. Bro-power
Archie Miller (Dayton) and Sean Miller (Arizona) are the first brothers to coach teams in the same Sweet 16 in NCAA men's basketball history.
6. Every even year
Baylor has traveled to the Sweet 16 in 2010, 2012 and 2014. The only other years the Bears were one of the final 16 teams in the NCAA Tournament was 1946, 1948 and 1950, when the tournament was eight teams.
7. Worth every penny?
The five highest paid Sweet 16 coaches, according to the media reports: Kentucky's John Calipari ($5.4M), Louisville's Rick Pitino ($5M), Michigan State's Tom Izzo ($3.7M), Florida's Billy Donovan ($3.7M) and UCLA's Steve Alford ($2.6M).
8. Top seed vs. fourth seed
The South (Florida vs. UCLA), East (Virginia vs. Michigan State) and West (Arizona vs. San Diego State) will have the top seed playing the fourth seed in the Sweet 16. That matchup has developed 43 times in previous tournaments and the top seed has a 29-14 record. In the Midwest, the fourth seed (Louisville) will meet the eighth seed (Kentucky). Surprisingly, the eighth-seeded team has won four of the six matchups previously.
9. NCAA may own March Madness, but they only rent Sweet 16
The NCAA has gone through the trademark wars on March Madness, but the Kentucky High School Athletic Association beat them to the punch on Sweet 16. The KHSAA registered the Sweet 16 trademark in 1988 and retains ownership. The NCAA licenses the term for its tournaments.
10. 2008 remains safe
When Kentucky held off Wichita State, it meant that 2008 will remain the only NCAA Tournament to date in which the top seeds won all four regions (Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA and Memphis).
11. Kentucky can tie a record
In the 1997 NCAA Tournament, Arizona set a record that can only be tied in the current format, beating three No. 1 seeds on the way to the title. Kentucky has a win over Midwest Region top seed Wichita State. If the Wildcats win the national title and beat Arizona in the semifinals and either Virginia or Florida in the title game, they would be the second Wildcats to run through three top seeds.
12. Sweet 16 appearances
In 1975, the NCAA men's basketball tournament expanded to 32 teams and the Sweet 16 was born. Here's the number of Sweet 16 appearances for the teams in this year's field: Kentucky (23), Louisville (20), Arizona (16), Michigan State (16), UCLA (16), Connecticut (14), Florida (10), Michigan (9), Virginia (8), Wisconsin (7), Tennessee (6), Stanford (5), Iowa State (4), Baylor (3), Dayton (2) and San Diego State (2).
13. One more time
Only Arizona, Florida, Louisville, Michigan and Michigan State return from the Sweet 16 of 2013.
14. First time coaching in Sweet 16
Connecticut's Kevin Ollie, Dayton's Archie Miller, Iowa State's Fred Hoiberg, Stanford's Johnny Dawkins and Tennessee's Cuonzo Martin will be first time head coaches in this year's Sweet 16.
15. Dome advantage
The Final Four will be held at an NFL stadium for the 15th consecutive season. In last year's tournament, the South and Midwest regionals were held in NFL domes. Louisville and Michigan won those regionals and then won at the Georgia Dome in the national semifinals. This year, only the Midwest Regional will be held in a domed NFL stadium. So will that be an advantage for the winner between Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan and Tennessee?
16. If/then statements
We have seen all these seeds matched up in the Sweet 16 before -- even 10 vs. 11. But if Kentucky and Tennessee or Dayton and UCLA win their games, then we'll have our first 4 vs. 11 or 8 vs. 11 in the Elite Eight. An 11th seed has made the Elite Eight five times and each time it was matched with a top seed (top seeds are only 3-2 in the matchup.
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[ 03-27-2014, 12:30 PM: Message edited by: catmandoo ]
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