tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29282256558399863772011-08-16T18:00:33.010-07:00JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.comBlogger171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-3810014431585499402011-08-16T17:59:00.000-07:002011-08-16T18:00:33.024-07:00

Over the last week during the latest realignment saga, the topic of super conferences keeps coming up in interviews, blogs and message board posts. Most commonly talked about is the nice, neat little package of four major conferences with 16 teams each. Why this idea has gained such widespread acceptance continues to amaze me. I guess if you say the same thing over and over people start to

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-62041308765966182152011-03-13T10:28:00.001-07:002011-03-13T10:41:44.563-07:00

There was a post on Tigerboard.com discussing a quote by Bill Self where he said "We really don't care about that; the NCAA Tourney is what really matters." I responded to that post responded that 7 out of the last 10 champions were Tourney Champs. First, as with any NCAA Tournament stat, I decided to verify it and found out that the answer was 6 out of 10.2010 Duke Yes2009 North Carolina

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-6903993037391885492011-03-10T20:41:00.001-08:002011-03-10T21:01:00.216-08:00

As the Big East gets ready to enter a possible record 11 teams in the NCAA Tournament, I thought I would take a look back at how the various conferences have done in recent NCAA Tournament History. For recent, I choose a nice round number (2000). Since 2000, here are the conferences with the most wins in the tournament:1. Big East 1042. Big Twelve 973. ACC 964. Big Ten 925. SEC 746. Pac Ten

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-40966574535656391682010-04-03T17:08:00.001-07:002010-04-03T17:16:08.833-07:00

Michigan State will be going to the Final Four for the 6th time in the last 12 years. In that same time frame, Kentucky has not been to a Final Four. This is for a school that has been to 13 Final Fours overall (which is tied for 4th all-time).Out of the 5 schools that have been to at least 13 final fours, UCLA has the longest all-time drought at 14 years, so Kentucky will need to make the

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-38448289291791299982010-03-27T10:47:00.000-07:002010-03-27T11:03:27.971-07:00

Tomorrow, Michigan State will be trying for their second consecutive Final Four and their 6th in the last 12 years. However, the other seven schools in the Elite Eight have not tasted as much success when it comes to the Final Four (at least lately).Traditional powers, Duke and Kentucky both have many Final Fours on their resume. Kentucky has been to 13 while Duke has been to 14. However,

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-17183409174025708922010-03-12T19:11:00.001-08:002010-03-12T21:12:23.630-08:00

Texas will be making their 12th consecutive tournament appearance which will be tied for 4th longest current streak. However, with the loss to Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament, they have still never won a Big 12 Tournament. Each one of their last 12 tournament appearances (including this year's) have been at-large bids which extends their own record. Below is a list of the longest streaks of

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-23370816617808702262010-03-11T19:45:00.000-08:002010-03-11T20:25:12.807-08:00

Today Georgia Tech defeated North Carolina 62-58 in the first round of ACC Tournament. Earlier UCLA knocked off Arizona 75-69 in the Pac Ten Quarterfinals. As a result, two long tournament streaks will come to an end this year.The last time that Roy Williams missed the tournament was in 1989. He was a rookie coach with Kansas. They finished 19-12 that year, but were ineligible for the NCAA

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-69406293002930166792010-02-03T17:08:00.000-08:002010-02-03T17:58:11.423-08:00

In December, I blogged about possible expansion in the NCAA Tournament. On Monday, some sources were reporting that expansion is a "Done Deal". I personally think it is a bad idea. The tournament is perfect the way it is. I understand why they went to 65 teams, but no one even watches the "play-in" game. 64 teams is the perfect number.Expanding the tournament adds logistic problems. If the

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-35779767204594662962010-01-24T17:47:00.001-08:002010-01-24T18:10:56.381-08:00

The New York Jets have not been to a Super Bowl since 1968 which is the longest drought of any team that has been to a Super Bowl. They were attempting to end that drought today, but feel short to the Colts 30-17. If they would have won, they would have also broke the record for the most number of years between consecutive Super Bowl appearances at 42.As I said before, this is not an NFL blog,

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-83218609620969123432010-01-24T14:54:00.000-08:002010-01-24T15:33:19.608-08:00

For the first time in AFC Championship history both coaches (Rex Ryan of the Jets and Jim Caldwell of the Colts) are rookie coaches. I was wondering if this has ever happened in the NCAA Tournament.The last coach to advance to the final four in his rookie season was Bill Gutheridge in 1998 coaching North Carolina. He only coached 3 seasons and had 2 final fours in those 3 seasons. North

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-43701182347552068032010-01-10T06:45:00.000-08:002010-01-10T07:47:07.088-08:00

Yesterday, in the NFL Playoffs, one long drought ended and another one continued. The Dallas Cowboys won their first playoff game since 1996. They were one of 6 teams that had not won a playoff game since the 1990's. The team that has gone the longest without a playoff win is the Cincinnati Bengals who last won a playoff game January 6, 1991 against the Houston Oilers. (For those that are too

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-85829448948540132652010-01-02T08:38:00.000-08:002010-01-02T08:54:46.014-08:00

I like obscure facts about the NCAA Tournament. As I was updating the reports for my website, I was looking at each team's game-by-game results and noticing when their last tournament victory was and who they defeated. I started to noticed some common names of the opponent of the last victory. This made me wonder which school was the victim of a team's last win the most.Since I have a database

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-10806411690613946742009-12-31T11:10:00.000-08:002009-12-31T11:59:45.327-08:00

In a recent podcast, Andy Katz asked Mike DeCourcey of the Sporting News and Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated and CBS who they thought the team of the Decade was. Mike said Kansas and Seth said Michigan State.With today being the last day of the decade, I wanted to take a look back at the decade of 2000-2009 (or the "Aughts") in the NCAA Tournament and discuss who should be named the team of the

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-59705490877337427252009-12-31T08:03:00.000-08:002009-12-31T09:03:28.860-08:00

On April 2, 2001, Duke defeated Arizona 82-72 to win its 3rd National Championship. Arizona was the #2 seed in the Midwest region that year. That marked the record 18th time that Duke had defeated a top four seeded team since 1979 when the tournament began seeding teams. Why is this significant today? Because, that is the last time Duke has defeated a top four seed. That is 8 years without

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-45921473885107595062009-12-30T20:03:00.000-08:002009-12-30T20:45:06.790-08:00

Three schools that have never been to the NCAA Tournament are looking to crash the party this year - Northwestern, Army and William & Mary.For the first time since 1969, Northwestern is ranked - entering the AP Poll at #25. They have victories over Stanford, Notre Dame, Iowa State and North Carolina State. Their only losses are to Butler and tonight in overtime at Illinois in the Big Ten

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-78382193290965321082009-12-28T11:48:00.000-08:002009-12-28T12:42:07.352-08:00

There has been a lot of talk in the past about expanding the NCAA Touranment. I am against the idea. The tournament is perfect at 6 rounds. When the Great West Conference gets an automatic bid in 2020, the tournament will likely expand by one team again so that at-large pool remains at 34. That is OK, but anything beyond that is too much.Jim Boeheim has been the biggest proponent of expansion

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2928225655839986377.post-7078854874329019792009-12-28T11:32:00.000-08:002010-02-03T17:08:30.457-08:00

I am an college basketball fanantic. I started following the NCAA Tournament in 1983 when I was 10 years old. I watched the tournament selection show that year and I got a bracket from the Sporting News. I was hooked. Since then, I have not missed a selection show. I watch it every year live. When I was dating my wife, we went out to eat on Selection Sunday and I told her that I had to be back

JTBensonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04222968184569182799noreply@blogger.com0