New Mexico - Harvard Tournament Facts

Here are some NCAA Tournament facts about New Mexico and Harvard:

Post-Game:
Harvard wins their first ever tournament game in 4 tries.

Steve Alford is 5-7 in the tournament.

New Mexico has been a top 4 seed four times, but has failed to reach the Sweet Sixteen each time.

Pre-Game:
The last 6 times that New Mexico has been a single-digit seed, they have won their first game, but lost their second game.

Harvard is 0-3 all-time in the tournament.  They made the tournament last year after a 66 year drought.

  

Schools that achieved their highest ever Seed

Teams that achieved their highest ever Seed in this tournament.  Those that achieved it for the first time are in bold.

#1 Seed

• Gonzaga (1st time) - Previous high #2 in 2004
• Indiana (3rd time) - Last time was 1993
• Kansas (11th time) - Last time was 2011
• Louisville (3rd time) - Last time was 2009

#2 Seed

• Miami, Florida (2nd time) - Last time was 1999

 #3 Seed

• New Mexico (3rd time) - Last time was 2010
• Marquette (4th time) - 2nd consecutive year

#4 Seed

• Saint Louis (1st time) - Previous high #7 in 1994

#8 Seed

• Colorado State (1st time) - Previous high #10 in 1989 and 1990

#11 Seed

• Belmont (1st time) - Previous high #13 in 2011
• Middle Tennessee State (2nd time) - Last time was 1982

#12 Seed

•  Akron (1st time) - Previous high #13 in 2009

#13 Seed

• Boise State (1st time) - Previous high #14 in 1988, 1993, 1994 and 2008
• South Dakota State (1st time) - Previous high #14 in 2012

#14 Seed

• Northwestern State (2nd time) - Last time was 2006

#15 Seed

• Florida Gulf Coast (1st time) - First tournament appearance

 #16 Seed

• Liberty (3rd time) - Last time was 2004

RPI Facts - NCAA Tournament

Southern Mississippi has the highest RPI of any team that missed this year's tournament at #30.

California has the lowest RPI of any at-large team that made this year's tournament at #53.  The record is #74 held by New Mexico in 1999.

Duke is the 6th team to finish #1 in the RPI (since it began in 1994) and not receive a #1 seed.  The other #1 RPI teams to not get a #1 seed and their results are:

• 1995 North Carolina - #2 Seed - Lost in National Semifinals to Arkansas 
• 2000 Cincinnati - #2 Seed - Lost in Round of 32 to Tulsa
• 2005 Kansas - #3 Seed - Lost in Round of 64 to Bucknell
• 2008 Tennessee - #2 Seed - Lost in Sweet Sixteen to Louisville
• 2009 Duke - #2 Seed - Lost in Sweet Sixteen to Villanova

The top 2 teams in the RPI (Duke and New Mexico) did not receive a #1 seed.  It is the first time that neither of the top 2 teams in the RPI were a #1 seed.

This is the 6th time that Duke has finished #1 in the RPI.  Kansas has finished #1 5 times.  The only other teams to finish #1 multiple times are Kentucky and North Carolina with 2.

Duke has finished in the Top 10 of the RPI 6 consecutive years and 15 of the last 17.  Miami and Indiana finish in the Top 10 of the RPI for the first time since it began in 1994.

The RPI's of the #1 Seeds are:

• #3 Louisville
• #5 Kansas
• #6 Gonzaga
• #7 Indiana

The sum of their RPI's is 21.  That is the second highest RPI sum of the #1 seeds since 1994.  The highest was 27 in 2000 when the #1 Seeds and their RPI's were:

• #2 Duke
• #3 Arizona
• #9 Stanford
• #13 Michigan State

Only 2 teams that finished #1 in the RPI have won the National Championship in the 19 years of the RPI.  They were Kentucky in 1996 and Duke in 2001.  Both of them were #1 seeds also.

The most common RPI to win the Championship is #3 which has 5 Championships.  No other RPI has more than 2.  Louisville is #3 in the RPI this year.  Those 5 are:

• Kentucky - 1998
• Connecticut - 1999
• Maryland - 2002
• North Carolina - 2009
• Duke - 2010

Out of those 5, only Kentucky was not a #1 seed.