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.

North Carolina A&T - Liberty Tournament Facts

Here are some NCAA Tournament facts about North Carolina A&T and Liberty:

Neither team has a tournament victory.  The last time that two teams met when neither has won a tournament game was the 2011 Round of 64 when San Diego State defeated Northern Colorado.

North Carolina A&T
North Carolina A&T is 0-9 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.  They hold the record for the most losses in the tournament without winning a game.

North Carolina A&T is 0-2 in Opening Round ("Play-In") Games.  They tie Alcorn State playing in their 3rd Opening Round game.

This is the 5th time that North Carolina A&T has been a #16 seed.  They are 0-4 as a #16 seed.

North Carolina A&T is 0-1 when playing in the State of Ohio.

North Carolina A&T is 0-2 on Tuesdays.

Liberty
Liberty is 0-2 all time in the NCAA Tournament.

This is the first time Liberty has played in an Opening Round game.

Liberty is #287 in the RPI which is the worst RPI ranking in the history of the tournament.  The previous worst was #284 by Hampton in 2006.

Liberty ties a tournament records with 20 regular season losses.  Coppin State in 2008 also had 20 regular season losses.

Tournament Droughts

2013 Tournament teams with the longest tournament droughts (with last appearance):

1. Middle Tennessee State (1989)
2. La Salle (1992)
3. James Madison (1994)
4. North Carolina A&T (1995)
5. Mississippi (2002)
6. Liberty (2005)
    Valparaiso (2005)
8. Northwestern State (2006)
    Pacific (2006)
    Southern (2006)

Florida Gulf Coast is also making their first tournament appearance.

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

Recent Tournament Records by Conference

Since 2000, the Atlantic Coast Conference has the best winning percentage in the tournament.  Here is a list of conference records since 2000:


 

Record by Conference

Conference	W	L	Win Pct
Atlantic Coast	110	60	0.647
Big Twelve	112	71	0.612
Big Ten	110	71	0.608
Big East	131	86	0.604
Southeastern	91	65	0.583
Pacific Twelve	79	57	0.581
Horizon League	20	16	0.556
Conference USA	34	34	0.500
West Coast	19	22	0.463
Atlantic Ten	29	35	0.453
Colonial	14	17	0.452
Mid American	8	13	0.381
Missouri Valley	14	25	0.359
Western Athletic	10	21	0.323
Mountain West	15	33	0.313
Metro Atlantic	5	14	0.263
Ohio Valley	4	13	0.235
Sun Belt	4	14	0.222
Big South	3	13	0.188
Mideastern	3	13	0.188
Patriot	3	13	0.188
Southern	3	13	0.188
Southland	3	13	0.188
Big West	3	14	0.176
America East	2	13	0.133
Ivy League	2	13	0.133
Northeast	2	13	0.133
Atlantic Sun	1	13	0.071
Big Sky	1	13	0.071
Southwestern Athletic	1	13	0.071
Summit League	1	13	0.071

   A look at more recent history reveals the following best conferences:
Best record since 
2001 - Atlantic Coast 103-57 . 644
2002 - Atlantic Coast 92-52 .639
2003 - Atlantic Coast 82-49 .626
2004 - Atlantic Coast 77-45 .631
2005 - Horizon League 17-10 .630
2006 - Southeastern 52-30 .634
2007 - Horizon League 14-8 .636
2008 - Horizon League 12-6 .667
2009 - Horizon League 11-5 .688
2010 - Horizon League 10-3 .769
2011 - Horizon League 5-2 .714
2012 - Southeastern 10-3 .769

Most Championships Since 2000:
1. Atlantic Coast 5
2. Big East 3
    Southeastern 3

Most Championship Game Appearances Since 2000:
1. Atlantic Coast 6
2. Big Ten 5
3. Southeastern 4
4. Big Twelve 3
    Big East 3

Most Final Fours Since 2000:
1. Atlantic Coast 10
    Big Ten 10
3. Big East 8
4. Big Twelve 7
5. Southeastern 6
6. Pacific Twelve 4
7. Conference USA 3

Most Elite Eights Since 2000:
1. Big Twelve 21
2. Big East 16
3. Big Ten 14
4. Southeastern 13
    Atlantic Coast 13
6. Pacific Twelve 11
7. Conference USA 5
8. Atlantic Ten 4

Most Sweet Sixteens Since 2000:
1. Big East 37
2. Big Ten 28
    Big Twelve 28
4. Atlantic Coast 26
5. Southeastern 23
6. Pacific Twelve 22
7. Atlantic Ten 8
    Conference USA 8
9. Horizon League 5
    Missouri Valley 5
    West Coast 5
12. Mountain West 4

   

 

Multiple Bids by Conference - NCAA Tournament

Conferences with multiple bids

• Big East 8
• Big Ten 7
• Atlantic Ten 5
• Big Twelve 5
• Mountain West 5
• Pacific Twelve 5
• Atlantic Coast 4
• Southeastern 3
• Missouri Valley 2
• Sun Belt 2
• West Coast 2

The 5 bids for the Atlantic Ten is tied for the most that they have ever had.  They also had 5 bids in 1997 and 1998.

The 5 bids for the Mountain West breaks the record for the most that they have ever had.  They previously had 4 bids in 2010 and 2012.

The 3 bids for the Southeastern Conference is tied for their lowest since the field expanded in 1985.  The also had 3 bids in 1990 and 2009.

Consecutive years with multiple bids
1. Atlantic Coast 39
    Big Ten 39
3. Pacific Twelve 35
    Southeastern 35
5. Big East 34
6. Big Twelve 17
7. Mountain West 12
8. Atlantic Ten 8
9. Missouri Valley 2
    West Coast 2
 
Sun Belt has multiple teams for the first time since 2008. It is the 13th time that the Sun Belt has had multiple bids.

Consecutive years with at least 3 bids
1. Atlantic Coast 34
    Big East 34
    Big Ten 34
    Southeastern 34
5. Big Twelve 17
6. Atlantic Ten 6
7. Mountain West 4

The Big Twelve and Big East have had at least 3 teams every year of their existence.

Consecutive years with at least 4 bids
1. Big East 20
2. Big Twelve 17
3. Atlantic Coast 13
4. Big Ten 9
5. Atlantic Ten 2
    Mountain West 2

The Big Twelve has had at least 4 teams every year of their existence.

Consecutive years with at least 5 bids
1. Big East 10
2. Big Twelve 6
3. Big Ten 5

Consecutive years with at least 6 bids
1. Big East 10
2. Big Ten 3

Consecutive years with at least 7 bids
 Big East 6

Consecutive years with at least 8 bids
 Big East 4

Round of 64 Games Between AP Ranked Teams

Pistols Firing (@pistolsguy) had an interesting question on twitter:

"I have no idea where to find this but is #okstate #oregon the first top 25 matchup in first round history?"

Anytime someone asks a question like this, I immediately want to find out the answer, so here it is:

There have been 10 such games in the past, but this is the first time that both teams are from a BCS conference.  Before, it has been a mid-major (or two) that is ranked, but is lower seeded because of their schedule.  Here are the games (with seeds):

Year	Ranking	Team	Score		Ranking	Opponent	Score
1986	14	Bradley (7)	83		20	Texas-El Paso (10)	65
1988	15	Loyola Marymount (10)	119		13	Wyoming (7)	115
1990	21	Loyola Marymount (11)	111		24	New Mexico State (6)	92
1997	16	Charleston, SC (12)	75		22	Maryland (5)	66
2002	24	Stanford (8)	84		19	Western Kentucky (9)	68
2002	22	Xavier, Ohio (7)	70		25	Hawaii (10)	58
2007	22	Winthrop (11)	74		17	Notre Dame (6)	64
2008	23	Davidson (10)	82		24	Gonzaga (7)	76
2009	21	Louisiana State (8)	75		22	Butler (9)	71
2011	21	Kansas State (5)	73		19	Utah State (12)	68