Thursday, January 24, 2013

Biggest Win over #1 Ranked Team

With Miami's 27-point win over #1 Duke last night, I wondered what the largest defeats by #1 teams in the tournament have been.

The following are the largest margin of defeat for teams that were ranked #1 in the AP Poll entering the tournament:
  • #2 UCLA defeated #1 Houston 101-69 (32 points) in 1968 National Semifinals
  • #4 Kansas defeated #1 North Carolina 84-66 (18 points) in 2008 National Semifinals
  • #9 Marquette defeated #1 Kentucky 83-69 (14 points) in 2003 Elite Eight
  • #2 Cincinnati defeated #1 Ohio State 71-59 (12 points) in 1962 National Championship
  • #8 Michigan State defeated #1 Louisville 64-52 (12 points) in 2009 Elite Eight
  • #3 Michigan State defeated #1 Indiana State 75-64 (11 points) in 1979 National Championship
  • #2 UCLA defeated #1 Michigan 91-80 (11 points) in 1965 National Championship
  • #5 Duke defeated #1 Temple 63-53 (10 points) in 1988 Elite Eight
  • #5 Cincinnati defeated #1 Kansas State 85-75 (10 points) in 1959 Elite Eight
The largest margin of defeat for a #1 team in the Sweet Sixteen is #13 Florida over #1 Duke 87-78 in 2000.

The largest margin of defeat for a #1 team in the Round of 32 is UCLA over #1 DePaul 77-71 in 1980.  That game is also the largest margin of defeat for an unranked team over a #1 team.

Between 2006 and 2009, the #1 team was defeated by 8 or more points each year.  Only one other time in tournament history had there even been consecutive years in which the #1 team lost by 8 or more points (1959 and 1960).

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Records vs. Top 5 Winningest NCAA Tournament Teams

Before Kansas came back to defeat Texas today, someone on Twitter commented that Texas could possibly defeat both North Carolina and Texas and not make the tournament.  Although they still will play Kansas again this year, the chances of that happening are probably slim.

However, it made me wonder how teams have done against the top all-time tournament teams in a single year and all-time.

There are five schools that have won more than 90 tournament games all-time.

  • Kentucky 113
  • North Carolina 108
  • UCLA 100
  • Duke 96
  • Kansas 93
14 schools have at least 5 wins all-time vs. the "Top 5" schools led by Indiana
  • Indiana 9
  • Marquette, UCLA 8
  • Duke, Kentucky 7
  • Kansas, Ohio State 6
  • Arizona, Florida, Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina, Syracuse, Villanova 5
The schools that has the most victories vs. the "Top 5" without a defeat is Texas El-Paso (formerly Texas Western) with 3.
  • Defeated Kansas 81-80 in 1966 Elite Eight
  • Defeated Kentucky 72-65 in 1966 National Championship
  • Defeated Kansas 66-60 in 1992 Round of 32
Arizona is the only team to ever defeat 3 of the "Top 5" in a single tournament in 1997.
  • Defeated Kansas 85-82 in Sweet Sixteen
  • Defeated North Carolina 66-58 in National Semifinals
  • Defeated Kentucky 84-79 (OT) in National Championship
11 other teams have defeated 2 of the "Top 5" twice in a single tournament. Teams in Bold won National Championship
  • Texas El-Paso - 1966 (Kansas, Kentucky)
  • Houston - 1967 (Kansas, North Carolina)
  • Western Kentucky - 1971 (Kentucky, Kansas)
  • Florida State - 1972 (Kentucky, North Carolina)
  • Louisville - 1986 (North Carolina, Duke)
  • Michigan - 1993 (UCLA, Kentucky)
  • Kentucky - 1998 (UCLA, Duke)
  • Florida - 2000 (Duke, North Carolina)
  • Maryland - 2002 (Kentucky, Kansas)
  • Michigan State - 2005 (Duke, Kentucky)
  • Villanova - 2009 (UCLA, Duke)
Five of the above teams ended up losing to one of the "Top 5" also.  They were Houston, 1967; Florida State, 1971; Michigan, 1993; Michigan State, 2005 and Villanova, 2009.

The combination of schools that have never been beaten in a single tournament among the "Top 5" are:
  • UCLA and North Carolina
  • UCLA and Kansas
  • Duke and Kansas
Here are the times where a school defeated one team, but lost when they had the opportunity to defeat the other:

  • UCLA and North Carolina - 1967 Dayton, 1969 Purdue, 1972 Florida State, 1993 Michigan, 1995 Arkansas, 2009 Villanova
  • UCLA and Kansas - 1952 Santa Clara, 1967 Houston, 2008 Memphis
  • Duke and Kansas - 1990 UCLA, 1993 California, 1994 Purdue
 27 schools have at least 7 losses all-time vs. the "Top 5" led by Kansas
  • Kansas 12
  • Louisville 11
  • Michigan, Michigan State, Villanova  10
  • Utah 9
  • Illinois, Indiana 8
  • Iowa State, Marquette, Notre Dame, Purdue  7
  • Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky, New Mexico St, Ohio State, San Francisco, Syracuse, Temple  6
  • Arizona St, Connecticut, Houston, Miami (OH), North Carolina, Princeton, Xavier 5
Louisville in 1972 was the only team to ever lose to two "Top 5" teams in a single tournament when they lost to UCLA in the National Semifinals and North Carolina in the National Third Place game.  Of course with today's format, no team can lose more than one game in a single tournament.

The most wins and losses all-time vs. each of the "Top 5" are:
  • Kentucky - Marquette - 6 wins; Utah - 6 losses
  • North Carolina - Kansas - 3 wins; Michigan State - 5 losses
  • UCLA - Florida - 3 wins; San Francisco and Kansas - 5 losses
  • Duke - Kentucky - 3 wins; Connecticut, Kansas, Michigan and St. Joseph's - 3 losses
  • Kansas - UCLA - 5 wins; North Carolina - 3 losses

Friday, January 18, 2013

Consecutive Tournament Bids

13 schools have been to the tournament each of the past 5 seasons.  Here is a list of those schools with the longest active tournament streaks along with their RPI as of 1/18/2013
  • Kansas 23 (RPI - 2)
  • Duke 17 (RPI - 1)
  • Michigan State 15 (RPI - 17)
  • Gonzaga 14 (RPI - 10)
  • Texas 14 (RPI - 144)
  • Wisconsin 14 (RPI - 46)
  • Marquette 7 (RPI - 16)
  • Xavier 7 (RPI - 83)
  • Brigham Young 6 (RPI - 47)
  • Louisville 6 (RPI - 7)
  • Purdue 6 (RPI - 119)
  • Temple 5 (RPI - 32)
  • West Virginia 5 (RPI - 81)
Wisconsin and Brigham Young's RPI's put them on the bubble.  However, Wisconsin will most likely get in due to the fact that their strength of schedule will increase with playing in the Big Ten.

West Virginia, Xavier, Purdue and Texas will need to improve to be able to continue their string of tournament appearances.

If Texas misses the tournament, it would be the 9th time since 2000 that a double-digit streak has been snapped.

Longest Active Streaks Snapped Each Year
2012 - Pittsburgh 10
2011 - Cornell, Siena 3
2010 - Arizona 25
2009 - Kentucky 17
2008 - Florida 9
2007 - Alabama, Connecticut, NC State 5
2006 - Cincinnati 14
2005 - Maryland 11
2004 - Indiana 18
2003 - UCLA 14
2002 - North Carolina 27 (Longest streak in tournament history)
2001 - Purdue 8
2000 - New Mexico 4
1999 - Massachusetts 7
1998 - Wake Forest 7
1997 - Arkansas 9
1996 - Oklahoma State 5
1995 - Duke 11
1994 - Louisiana State 10
1993 - Georgetown 14
1992 - UNLV 9
1991 - Illinois, Oklahoma 8
1990 - DePaul 6
1989 - Kentucky 9
1988 - UAB 7
1987 - Villanova 7
1986 - Arkansas 9
1985 - Louisville 8
1984 - Iowa, Tennessee 5
1983 - DePaul 5
1982 - UCLA 15
1981 - Marquette 10
1980 - San Francisco, Utah 3
1979 - Kentucky, Providence 2
1978 - Michigan 4
1977 - Alabama, Georgetown, Indiana, Rutgers, San Diego State 2
1976 - Penn 6
1975 - South Carolina 4
1974 - Kentucky, Weber State 6
1973 - Villanova 4
1972 - New Mexico State 5
1971 - Davidson, Santa Clara 3
1970 - North Carolina, St. John's 3
1969 - Houston 4
1968 - Dayton, SMU 3
1967 - Oklahoma City 4
1966 - UCLA 4
1965 - Arizona State, Seattle 4
1964 - Cincinnati 6
1963 - Ohio State 3
1962 - Utah 3
1961 - Idaho State 8
1960 - Kentucky 5
1959 - San Francisco 4
1958 - Oklahoma City 6
1957 - Seattle 4
1956 - Bradley, Colorado, La Salle, Penn State 2
1955 - Santa Clara 3
1954 - Kansas, TCU, Wyoming 2
1953 - NC State 3
1952 - Brigham Young 2
1951 - Baylor, Bradley, CCNY, Holy Cross, Ohio State, UCLA 1
1950 - Wyoming 3
1949 - Holy Cross 2
1948 - CCNY, Navy, Oklahoma, Oregon State, Texas, Wisconsin 1
1947 - Ohio State 3
1946 - Utah 2
1945 - Dartmouth 4
1944 - DePaul, Georgetown, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington, Wyoming 1
1943 - Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Penn State, Rice, Stanford 1
1942 - Arkansas, Creighton, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Washington St, Wisconsin, Wyoming 1

1942 was the first year that a team went to consecutive tournaments when Dartmouth did.

Defending Champs Loss

There have been 74 NCAA Tournaments, which means there have been 73 potential opportunities for the defending champion to lose in the following year's tournament.  However, the defending champion has only done so in 42 out of those 73. There are two reasons why the defending champ would not be defeated in the following tournament:
  1. They defended their championship.
  2. They missed the tournament.
No team has ever defeated the defending champion two years in a row, but there are four schools that have multiple victories over the defending champion.
  • Indiana (1953, 1976, 2002)
  • Arizona (1997, 2001, 2011)
  • Michigan State (1999, 2003, 2009)
  • North Carolina State (1974, 2005)  
14 times the team that defeated the defending champion ended up losing to that year's eventual champion with Arizona accomplishing that feat twice in 2001 and 2011.
  • In 2001, Arizona defeated Michigan State, but lost to Duke.
  • In 2011, Arizona defeated Duke, but lost to Connecticut.
 The last 4 times that a team has defeated the defending champion, they went on to lose to the eventual champion.
  • 2006, George Mason defeated North Carolina, but lost to Florida
  • 2007, Florida defended championship
  • 2008, Florida missed tournament
  • 2009, Michigan State defeated Kansas, but lost to North Carolina
  • 2010, North Carolina missed tournament
  • 2011, Arizona defeated Duke, but lost to Connecticut
  • 2012, Iowa State defeated Connecticut, but lost to Kentucky
 George Mason is the only team to defeat the last two defending champions (different teams) in the same tournament when they defeated North Carolina and Connecticut in 2004.

Four teams have defeated two-time defending champions.
  • Kansas defeated San Francisco in 1957
  • Loyola, Ill. defeated Cincinnati in 1963
  • North Carolina State defeated UCLA in 1974
  • California defeated Duke in 1993