2017 March Madness Bracket Facts and Trends

March Madness Bracket Facts and Trends
Date/Time:StartsThursday, March 16th.
TV:CBS / TBS / TNT / TruTV
byMike M,College Basketball Handicapper, Predictem.com

With the NCAA tournament just days away, below is a list of 33 random facts to keep in mind when picking your brackets.Stats given are as of 1985, the first year the NCAA went to a 64-team field.

1.A 12thseeded team has upset a 5thseeded team in 46 of 128 chances for a 36% winning percentage, but only one 12thseeded team has ever made it to the Elite Eight (Missouri 2008).

2.In 19 of the past 24 years, the national championship winning team has finished in the top 30 of total offense (those that didn’t Villanova 2016 57th, UConn 2014 142nd, UConn 2011 75th, Michigan State 2000 90th, UConn 1999 32nd).

3.No team has ever won the national championship after having lost in the first round of their conference tournament.

4.In the past nineteen seasons, teams that won their conference tournament have won the national championship eleven times, though Louisville in 2013 is the only team in the past five years to have done so.

5.From 1987-2010, a team seeded higher than 6thmade it to the Final Four just three times, 11thseeded George Mason in 2006 and both North Carolina and Wisconsin making it as 8 seeds in 2000.

6.UCLA has the most NCAA Tournament championships with 12, but has won just one of those in the past 41 seasons.

7.Only twice in 32 years has the Final Four not included at least one of the top seeded teams (2006 & 2011).

8.18 of the last 19 winners of the national championship have been seeded 1st, 2ndor 3rd, with the only team to buck the trend being 7thseeded UConn in 2014.

9.111 of the 128 teams to be seeded 1sthave made it to the Sweet Sixteen.

10.9 out of 128 teams seeded 13th-16thhave made it to the Sweet Sixteen.

11.BYU has the most NCAA tournament appearances without reaching a Final Four with 29.Xavier is next at 26 and Missouri is third with 25.

12.28 of the 32 tournament winners since 1985 have had a foul shooting percentage of 69% or more.

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13.UConn in 2004 had the lowest foul shooting percentage of any winner with 62.3%.

14.The two teams to finish with the highest foul shooting percentage were both in the past three seasons, Villanova in 2016 with 78.2% and UConn with 77.7% in 2014.

15.31 teams seeded 1sthave made the finals in 32 years.

16.Teams seeded 1sthave won the national championship 20 times in 32 years.

17.In the 128 regions that have happened since 1985, 16 times the top four seeds in each (1,2,3,4) have all gone one to make the Sweet Sixteen.

18.The 2017 tournament will be the 28thstraight appearance for the Kansas Jayhawks, breaking the all-time record set by North Carolina from 1975-2001.

19.During their current 27 consecutive tournament streak, Kansas has only twice not been a top four seed (1999 6th, 2000-8th) .

20.And during that same 27-year streak, a lower seeded team has upset Kansas 15 times, seven of which saw them lose to a team seeded at least seven spots lower than them.

21.At least one double-digit seeded team has made the Sweet Sixteen in 30 of the past 32 years.

22.At least two double-digit seeded teams have made the Sweet Sixteen in 16 of the past 20 years.

23.From 2010-2014, 16 double-digit seeded teams made the Sweet Sixteen.

24.In twelve NCAA tournament appearances under Roy Williams, North Carolina has lost to a team seeded lower than 4th only once, and that was to a George Mason team seeded 11thin 2006 that went on to make the Final Four.In the three years prior to Williams arriving at UNC, the Tar Heels were eliminated by teams seeded 13th, 7thand 5th.

25.The Big 10 has had only one winner of the national championship in basketball since 1989, which was Michigan State in 2000.They have also only had just 2.5 winners in football since 1970, with Ohio State winning in 2014 and 2002 and Michigan sharing a title in 1997.

26.If you add up the number of the seeds for each of the Final Four teams, it averages out to 11.1 over the past 32 tournaments, with the lowest amount being 4 when all the 1 seeds made it in 2008, and the highest amount being 26, when in 2011 teams seeded 3rd, 4th, 8thand 11thmade it to the last weekend.

27.Oregon hasn’t made a Final Four since 1939 and Baylor since 1950, while Purdue and Iowa State have all never made one.

28.Before winning the national championship last season, Villanova had gone five straight seasons without making it to the Sweet 16, this despite being ranked as a 1 seed once and a 2 seed twice during that span.

29.This will be the 19thconsecutive NCAA tournament appearance for Gonzaga, which is tied for 6thlongest all time with Wisconsin.

30. Gonzaga has never made the Final Four, gone to the Elite Eight just twice (1999 & 2015) and despite making the tournament every year between 2002-2014, made the Sweet Sixteen only twice during that time frame.

31.Only three winners of the national championship since 1985 have been seeded higher than 4th, Villanova in 1985 (8th), Kansas in 1988 (6th) and UConn in 2014 (7th).

32.In the past six seasons Arizona has made the Elite Eight three times, but is still looking for their first Final Four appearance since 2001.

33.Eight of the past nine national champions have ended their regular season playing at a high level, with each closing out the year with the following records; 2016 Villanova 10-1, 2015 Duke 11-0, 2014 UConn 7-2, 2013 Louisville 10-1, 2012 Kentucky 22-0, 2010 Duke 9-1, 2009 North Carolina 13-1 and 2008 Kansas 8-2.The only team not to have ended their regular season well was UConn in 2011 who closed out with a 1-4 record in their last five, but they would then go on to catch fire and win the Big East tournament and ride that momentum into a national title. More FREE loot! Deposit $100 to $1000 and get $50 to $500 FREE at MyBookie!