Sunday, March 17, 2013

2013 NCAA Tourney By The Numbers

Bracket Projections                                                                                         Bracket Odds

Bracketology, March Madness, The Big Dance, Post Season, The Road To Atlanta, whatever you call it, one thing that is consistent every year during the month of March, surprises, disappointments, upsets, star performances and Cinderella stories will surface to entertain us.  This season has been labeled as crazy, unbelievable and up & down with five consecutive weeks going by with the #1 team in the country being upset, eventually totaling 6 #1 upsets for the entire regular season.  The result Gonzaga ends the season #1 going into the NCAA tournament.  The last time 6 #1's went down in the same season was the 08-09 season when North Carolina was the only #1 seed to reach the Final Four and actually won the Championship.

The Selection Committee is waiting for four conference games to conclude, to establish what will prove to be controversial seedings for the top two seed lines (#1 or #2).  While teams await their regional fate, fans are looking for brackets full of schools so that the Brackets games may begin.  Here are some NCAA thoughts by the numbers that just might help with the craziness that is now affectionately embraced as March Madness;

0 - No 16 Seed has every won a game in the NCAA tournament
1 - One 16 Seed forced an overtime game in NCAA tournament history (Murray St. vs Mich. St. 90')
2 - Two 14 Seeds have reached the Sweet 16 (Cleveland St. 86' and UT Chattanooga 97')
3 - Three 11 Seeds have reached the Final Four (LSU 86', Geo. Mason 06' and VCO 11')
4 - Four #1 Seeds have made the Final Four only once in 2008 (KU, UNC, UCLA & Memphis)
5 - Five 13 Seeds have reached the Sweet 16 (Rich 88', Valpo 98', OK 99' Bradley 06' & OH 12')
6 - Six 15 Seeds have won opening rd. games  against #2 seeds (Richmond over Syracuse 91', Santa Clara over AZ 93', Coppin St over SC 97', Hampton over Iowa St 01', Norfolk St over Mo 12' and Lehigh over Duke 12')
7 - Seven 10 Seeds have reached the Elite 8 (LSU 87', TX 90', Temple 91', Prov. 97', Gonz. 99',
Kent St. 02' and Davidson 08')
8 - Eight Schools have entered the NCAA's Ranked #1 in one of the polls and won it all (KY 49,51,78 12', IND 53', 76', Duke 92', 01', UCLA 64', 67', 69', 71', 72', 73', 75', 95', SF 55', 56' UNC 57', 82' NCSU 74' and ARK 94')
9 - Nine Notable NCAA upsets,  Norfolk St 21.5 underdog vs MO, Santa Clara 19.5 underdog vs AZ
Coppin St, 18.5 underdog vs SC, Hampton 17.5 underdog vs Iowa St, and in Championship Games UConn 9.5 underdog vs Duke, Villanova 9 underdog vs Geotwn., KU 8 underdog vs OK, NCSU 7.5 underdog to Houston and 6.5 TX Western 6.5 underdog to KY
10 - Ten National Titles won by the great John Wooden, 7 of which were consecutive.
11 - Eleven Active Coaches with National Championships (Mike - 4, Billy -2, Roy -2, Jim, Larry, John, Steve, Tom, Rick, Bill and Tubby)
12 - The Twelve Seed has reached the Elite Eight once ( Missouri 02')
13 - 2013 NCAA Tournament field will commenced with the #1 Seeds with at least a combined 18 losses, unofficially the most in tournament history.

In the opening parings, the 100% wining percentage (112-0) could be challenged in 2013 if the craziness prevails.  See how the other seeds normally fare;

#2 106- 6 (94.64%)  #3 96-16 (85.71%)  #4 88-24 (78.57%  #5 74-38 (66.07%) #6 74-38 (66.07%)
#7 67-45 (59.82%)  #8 54-58 (48.21%)  (1 vs 16, 2 vs 15, 3 vs 14, 4 vs 13, 5 vs 12, 6 vs 11, 7 vs 10
8 vs 9)

The 2013 tournament should prove to be a wonderfully competitive event, even with the controversial seedings, teams left out and the 31 Automatic Qualifiers compared to the 37 At-Large selections, this year is going to unveil that "One Shinning Moment" for several players over the next three weeks.

There were three previous years where no #1 Seed made it to the Final Four.  First 1980 (#2 Louisville won with #5 Iowa, #6 Purdue and UCLA in the field), next 2006 (#3 Florida won, with #2 UCLA, #4 LSU and #11 George Mason rounding the Four) and recently 2011 when #3 U Conn won with #4 Kentucky, #8 Butler (runner-up) and #11 VCU making up that Cinderella season.

When this years brackets are completed you might just consider picking with your heart or some recent trends, because records and traditions will probably leave holes and disappointment in your predictions.



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