Notre Dame Elite Eight Facts

Notre Dame defeated Wichita State 81-70 to advance to the Elite Eight.

Notre Dame is in their 6th Elite Eight and their first since 1979.  The 36 years between Elite Eights is the 12th longest in tournament history.  See Blog for list of other teams.

They are 1-4 in their previous 5 appearances.

• Lost to Indiana 79-66 in 1953
• Lost to Penn State 71-63 in 1954
• Lost to Kentucky 89-56 in 1958
• Defeated DePaul 84-64 in 1978
• Lost to Michigan State 80-68 in 1979

Notre Dame's Elite Eight appearance is Mike Brey's first in 12 appearances.  Brey was tied for third all-time with the most appearances without an Elite Eight appearance coming into the tournament behind Mark Few and Fran Dunphy who had 15 each.

It is the third consecutive year that a coach will be making his first Elite Eight appearance.  Buzz Williams, Marquette and Gregg Marshall, Wichita State made their first appearance in 2013.  Kevin Ollie, Connecticut and Archie Miller, Dayton made their first appearance in 2014.

Notre Dame's Elite Eight appearance marks a return for a #3 seed after a one-year absence.  A #3 seed had made the Elite Eight for 11 straight years before all four missing last year.

Notre Dame's Elite Eight appearance also marks a return for the ACC.  Before that, an ACC team had made the Elite Eight for 7 consecutive years. (Although it is guaranteed that an ACC team would be in the Elite Eight since North Carolina State is playing Louisville.)

Sweet Sixteen Quick Facts

Number of Sweet Sixteen Appearances with Sweet Sixteen Record for this years teams
Kentucky 42 (31-10)
UCLA 33 (21-11)
North Carolina 31 (24-6)
Duke 28 (19-8)
Louisville 28 (13-14)
Michigan State 19 (12-6)
Arizona 18 (10-7)
Notre Dame 16 (5-10)
Utah 16 (5-10)
North Carolina State 13 (5-7)
Oklahoma 10 (5-4)
West Virginia 9 (3-5)
Wisconsin 8 (3-4)
Xavier 7 (2-4)
Wichita State 6 (4-1)
Gonzaga 6 (1-4)
 
Consecutive Sweet Sixteen Appearances
Louisville 4
Michigan State 4
Arizona 3
Kentucky 2
UCLA 2
Wisconsin 2

Sweet Sixteen Droughts Snapped with Last Year in Sweet Sixteen
Notre Dame - 2003
Utah - 2005
Gonzaga - 2009
Oklahoma - 2009
West Virginia - 2010
North Carolina - 2012
North Carolina State - 2012
Xavier - 2012
Duke - 2013
Wichita State - 2013

Longest Sweet Sixteen Streaks Snapped
Florida 4
Michigan 2

Number of Teams by Conference (Record in Parenthesis)
Atlantic Coast 5 (11-1)
Pacific Twelve 3 (7-1)
Big Ten 2 (7-5)
Big Twelve 2 (5-5)
Big East 1(5-5)
Missouri Valley 1 (3-1)
Southeastern 1 (4-4)
West Coast 1 (2-1)

The 5 Sweet Sixteens by the ACC ties the record for the most set by the Big East in 2009.

Number of Teams by State (Record in Parenthesis)
North Carolina 3 (6-1)
Kentucky 2 (4-0)
Arizona 1 (2-0)
California 1 (3-2)
Indiana 1 (3-4)
Kansas 1 (3-1)
Michigan1 (2-0)
Ohio 1 (6-3)
Oklahoma 1 (2-1)
Utah 1 (2-1)
Washington 1 (2-1)
West Virginia 1 (2-0)
Wisconsin 1 (2-0)

Sweet Sixteen Tournament Rematches

Midwest

• Kentucky is 1-1 vs. West Virginia
• West Virginia defeated Kentucky 73-66 in the 2010 Elite Eight
• Kentucky defeated West Virginia 71-63 in the 2011 Round of 32
• Notre Dame and Wichita State have never met in the tournament

West

• North Carolina defeated Wisconsin 88-82 in the 2005 Elite Eight
• Xavier and Arizona have never met in the tournament

East

• North Carolina State and Louisville have never met in the tournament
• Michigan State defeated Oklahoma 54-46 in the 1999 Sweet Sixteen

South

• Duke defeated Utah 79-77 in the 1966 National Third Place Game
• UCLA defeated Gonzaga 73-71 in the 2006 Sweet Sixteen

Notre Dame - Iowa State Tournament Facts

Here are some NCAA Tournament facts about Notre Dame and Iowa State:

Post-Game:
Iowa State defeats a Big East team in the Round of 64 for the second consecutive year.

Iowa State is 3-3 as the lower seed in the Round of 64.  They have won their last 3.

The Big Twelve is 15-13 against the Big East.  Iowa State's 18-point victory is the second largest for a Big Twelve team over a Big East team.  Kansas defeated Syracuse by 29 in the 2001 Round of 32.

It is the 3rd largest victory for Iowa State in tournament history.  Their two largest came against UCLA and Auburn in 2000.

It is also Notre Dame's 3rd largest defeat in tournament history.

Notre Dame loses to a double-digit seed for the fourth consecutive year.

Notre Dame is 0-3 vs. teams from Iowa.  They lost to Iowa 121-116 in 1970 Regional Third Place Game and to Drake 79-72 in 1971 Sweet Sixteen.

Pre-Game:
Notre Dame has lost to a double-digit seed each of the past 3 tournaments.


Notre Dame is 2-2 when playing in the state of Ohio.

Iowa State has won in the Round of 64 in 6 of their last 7 tournament appearances.

Iowa State has played one Big East team in past tournaments.  They defeated Connecticut 77-64 in the 2012 Round of 64.

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.

Tournament Streaks - Seeds

Here are the current streaks of appearances by seeds:

Consecutive Years Seeded #1
There are no repeat #1 seeds for the second straight year.  It is only the second time that has happened.  1987 and 1988 was the other time.

Duke holds the record with 5 straight #1 seeds from from 1998 to 2002.

Consecutive Years Seeded #1 or #2
1. Duke 6
2. Kansas 4
    Ohio State 4

Duke's current streak is tied for the all-time record.  They also had 6 straight from 1997-2002.

Consecutive Years with Top 3 Seed
1. Kansas 7
2. Duke 6
3. Ohio State 4
4. Georgetown 2
    Marquette 2
    Michigan State 2

North Carolina holds the record with 11 from 1979 to 1989.

Consecutive Years with Top 4 Seed
1. Kansas 13
2. Duke 6
3. Syracuse 5
4. Ohio State 4
5. Louisville 3

Kansas's current streak is the all-time record.

Consecutive Years with Top 5 Seed
1. Kansas 13
2. Duke 6
3. Syracuse 5
4. Ohio State 4
    Wisconsin 4

Kentucky holds the record with 14 from 1992 to 2005.

Consecutive Years with Top 6 Seed
1. Duke 17
2. Kansas 13
3. Syracuse 5
4. Georgetown 4
    Ohio State 4
    Wisconsin 4

Duke's current streak is the all-time record.

Consecutive years with Top 7 Seed

1. Duke 17
2. Kansas 13
3. Syracuse 5
4. Georgetown 4
    Notre Dame 4
    Ohio State 4
    Wisconsin 4

Duke's current streak is the all-time record.

Consecutive years with Top 8 Seed
1. Kansas 24
2. Duke 18
3. Ohio State 5
    Syracuse 5
5. Georgetown 4
    Kansas State 4
    UNLV 4
    Notre Dame 4
    Wisconsin 4

Kansas breaks North Carolina's record of 23 straight from 1979 to 2001