Syracuse - California Tournament Facts

Here are some NCAA Tournament facts about Syracuse and California:

Post-Game:
Syracuse is in the Sweet Sixteen for the 21st time.  It is their 4th appearance in the past 5 years.

Jim Boeheim becomes the 5th coach to win 50 tournament games.

1. Mike Krzyzewski, Duke 80
2. Dean Smith, North Carolina 65
3. Roy Williams, Kansas & North Carolina 62
4. Jim Calhoun, Northeastern & Connecticut 51
5. Jim Boeheim, Syracuse 50

The Big East is now 20-12 vs. the Pacific Twelve.  This is the 8th consecutive Tournament that a Big East team has defeated a Pacific Twelve team.  That is the longest current streak by one conference over another.

Pre-Game:
Syracuse is in the Round of 32 for the 31st time.  It is their 5th consecutive trip.  They are 19-11 in the Round of 32.  Only North Carolina has more appearances in this round with 37.  Duke also is in their 31st.

Jim Boeheim is coaching in his 26th Round of 32 which is a tournament record tied with Mike Krzyzewski.

Syracuse is 1-0 vs. the Pacific Twelve.  They defeated Arizona State 78-67 in the 2009 Round of 32.

California is in the Round of 32 for the 8th time. It is their first appearance since 2010.  They are 3-4 in the Round of 32.

Mike Montgomery is in his 12th Round of 32.  It is his 2nd with California.  The first 10 were with Stanford.

California is 2-3 vs. the Big East:

• 1990 - Lost to Connecticut 74-54 in Round of 32
• 1997 - Defeated Villanova 75-68 in Round of 32
• 2002 - Lost to Pittsburgh 63-50 in Round of 32
• 2010 - Defeated Louisville 77-62 in Round of 64
• 2012 - Lost to South Florida 65-54 in Opening Round

UNLV - California Tournament Facts

Here are some NCAA Tournament facts about UNLV and California:

Post-Game:
UNLV's 5th consecutive tournament loss is their longest in school history.

The Pacific Twelve is now 6-1 vs. the Mountain West.  The only Mountain West victory was by Utah over Oregon 60-58 in the 2003 Round of 64.

California is 6-0 in games decided by 3 points or less.  Only Georgia Tech has a better record in one-possession games at 7-0.

UNLV is 3-7 in games decided by 3 points or less.

UNLV is 1-6 when in the tournament when unranked.

Pre-Game:
UNLV has lost their last 4 tournament games.  Their last win was in 2008. Since 1991 tournament where they went to the Final Four, they are just 3-7 in the tournament.

UNLV is 1-2 vs. the Pacific Twelve.  Their only win came against Arizona 68-67 in the 1989 Sweet Sixteen.  They lost to Colorado in the Round of 64 last year.

California has been a #12 seed two other times and lost both times.  In 1996, they lost to Iowa State 74-64 in the Round of 64, and in 2012, they lost to South Florida 65-54 in the First Four.

California is 5-2 when playing in their home state.



  

Tournament Appearances by State

Most appearances by State

• California 5 (California, Pacific, St. Mary's, San Diego State, UCLA)
• North Carolina 5 (Davidson, Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina State)
• Pennsylvania 5 (Bucknell, La Salle, Pittsburgh, Temple, Villanova)
• Indiana 4 (Butler, Indiana, Notre Dame, Valparaiso)
• New York 4 (Albany, Iona, Long Island-Brooklyn, Syracuse)

Consecutive years with at least one school in the tournament
1. California 64
2. Kentucky 50
3. New York 41
4. North Carolina 40
5. Pennsylvania 37
6. Ohio 32
7. Kansas 30
8. Florida 16
    Michigan 16
    Washington 16

Texas has no teams in the tournament for the first time since 1977 ending a string of 35 consecutive appearances.  Utah has no teams for the first time since 1994 ending a string of 18 consecutive appearances.

Consecutive years with at least two schools in the tournament
1. North Carolina 37
2. California 27
3. Kentucky 22
4. Ohio 17
5. New York 16
6. Pennsylvania 15
7. Wisconsin 9
8. Tennessee 8
9. Indiana 7
10. Michigan 5
      Virginia 5

Texas had at least two teams for the last 11 tournaments before having no teams this year.

Consecutive years with at least three schools in the tournament
1. California 9
2. Tennessee 8
3. New York 5
    Ohio 5
5. Indiana 4
6. North Carolina 3
    Virginia 3

Texas had at least three teams for the last 6 tournaments before having no teams this year.  Kentucky also had at least three teams for the last 6 tournaments before having two teams this year.

California has at least 4 schools in the tournament for the 9th consecutive year.

North Carolina has 5 schools in the tournament for the 2nd consecutive year.

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.

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