Memphis - St. Mary's Tournament Facts

Here are some NCAA Tournament Facts about Memphis and St. Mary's:


Post-Game:
Memphis is now 8-2 in games decided by 1 or 2 points.

Memphis is 4-3 vs. teams from California.

Memphis is now 8-3 as a #6 seed.  The other 3 times that they were a #6 seed, they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.

St. Mary's is 1-1 vs. teams from Tennessee.  Both of them were in this year's tournament.

This was the closest game that St. Mary's has played in the tournament.

Pre-Game:
Josh Pastner is looking for his first tournament win for Memphis in his third game.  He lost to Arizona and Saint Louis in the last two tournaments.

Memphis is 1-1 vs. the West Coast Conference.  Both prior games were against Pepperdine, losing to them 87-77 in the 1976 Round of 32 and defeating them 80-70 in the 1992 Round of 64.

Randy Bennett was the coach in 3 of St. Mary's 4 tournament wins.

St. Mary's - Middle Tennessee Tournament Facts

Here are some NCAA Tournament facts about St. Mary's and Middle Tennessee State:

St. Mary's
St. Mary's is 3-7 all-time in the NCAA tournament.

This is Randy Bennett's 5th appearance as a coach for St. Mary's.  He is 2-4.

St. Mary's is 0-3 as an at-large.  Only Nebraska (0-5), Air Force (0-4) and Yale (0-4) have a worse record as an at-large.

Middle Tennessee State
Middle Tennessee State is 2-6 all-time in the NCAA tournament.  This is their first appearance as a member of the Sun Belt.  All of their previous appearances were when they were in the Ohio Valley.

This is Kermit Davis, Jr.'s first appearance as a coach for Middle Tennessee State.  He previously coached in the tournament at Idaho.  He is 0-2 in the tournament.

This is Middle Tennessee State's second appearance as an at-large.  Their only other at-large bid was in 1987.  That year they were a #12 seed and lost to #5 Notre Dame 84-71 in the Round of 64.

Middle Tennessee State has been an #11 seed one other time (1982).  In that tournament, they defeated Kentucky 50-44 in the First Round for their first ever tournament win, but lost to Louisville 81-56 in the Second Round.

Opening Round History

Tonight the tournament begins.  This round is know by many names:  "Play-in Game", "Opening Round", "First Four", "First Round".  Whatever it is called, it is the round before the round of 64.  Many people believe that it started in 2001 when the field expanded to 65.  However, there were actually opening round games in 1983 and 1984 before the field expanded to 64.

In 1983, the field expanded to 52 games, but they #4 seed to have a bye, so they created the extra round with two #12 teams in each regional for a total of 4 opening round games.  In 1984, the field was expanded to 53 games and their were 5 opening round games with one of them being between #11 seeds.

With the field expanded to 64, there was no need for an extra round until 2001 when the Mountain West Conference began.  The NCAA did not want to reduce the number of at-large teams, so they expanded the field to 65.  This created the need for an extra game between #16 seeds.  In 2011, the field once again expanded to 68 and the First Four was born.

Alcorn State has played in the most opening round games having played in 3.  North Carolina A&T will tie them with their third opening round game this year.  Here is the history of opening round games for this year's participants:

North Carolina A&T
1983 - Lost to Princeton 53-41
1984 - Lost to Morehead State 70-69

Liberty - Never played an Opening Round game

St. Mary's - Never played an Opening Round game

Middle Tennessee State - Never played an Opening Round game

Long Island-Brooklyn
1984 - Lost to Northeastern 90-87

James Madison - Never played an Opening Round game

La Salle
1983 - Defeated Boston 70-58

Boise State - Never played an Opening Round game

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.