MARCH STATNESS: Round 1 NCAA Tournament Fun And Not So Fun Stats
Ben Solomon. Getty Images.Welcome to March Statness. Round 1 is in the books, but we're only half-way through the four days every television in America dreads the most. Round 2 is around the corner and will allow no reprieve to the pixels on your screen. Sure, it's been pretty much all chalk to this point, but that just sets us up for nail biters later on.
But for now - let's crunch some numbers.
Clemson's 13-point first half was higher scoring than 16 other teams in NCAA Tournament history, so... there's that
Lot of fake news out there about Clemson scoring 13-points in the first half. Yahoo reported that the only team to score fewer in the shot clock era was Wisconsin in 1999 with 12.
FACT CHECK. FALSE!!
Colorado State scored 11 in the opening round JUST LAST YEAR! Come on guys. Literally a year ago on march 21, 2024. I need my fellow stat guys to step up. We're better than that!
Then we have AI. From the utter dipshit that brought you great hits such as "firing multiple nuclear weapons workers", here's Elon's upgraded Grok putting itself put in a spin cycle from a query that took me three lines of code and .3 seconds of processing time on my 16GB RAM laptop running three tabs of basketball games on YouTube TV.
This was comforting to see. Glad to know AI is no threat to a life-long part-time hobby job of blogging sports stats and texting Big Cat and PFT with dumb shit that sometimes finds it's way to Pardon My Take. We already know this is wrong from the Colorado State performance literally year ago (as of this writing). But I mean - maybe I'm being too hard Elon's peasant ass little bot. They say these AI algos are built on data only up to a year or so ago, so maybe that didn't make it into the model training.
Hang on a second. Let me cook here.
Shout out Pitt in 1941 for winning a game in which they scored eight points in the first half about eight months before flying off to war in the Pacific.
Baylor recorded the furthest from the basket offensive rebound in any level of basketball including pros, college, high school, YMCA, and schools of the blind
If you want to fact check me on this, go ahead and ask Grok and see what it says. But the best part of this clip is the clock operator changing the shot clock from :24 to :30. It's supposed to go to :20 on an offensive rebound and :30 for a defensive rebound. What we're led to believe here is the operator got confused into thinking the offensive player got a defensive rebound at the other end of the court with no other player or ref in his or any adjacent zip code. And you know what? I kind of don't blame him. No way this scenario was on the test. That's some post-doctorate level clock guy school shit right there. Unfair.
Also - would this not also be an over and back? What's the rule there??? Calling any post-doctorate clock school guys. Let me know.
Xavier and Missouri both have 27 NCAA Tournaments with zero Final Four appearances
Yeah - that's a record. Tough times make tough people. Tough people make easy times. People in easy times play Xavier or Missouri in the NCAA Tournament. It's been brutal for these teams. Xavier's had three chances knocking on the door in the Elite 8. Last in 2017 when they their doors blown off by Gonzaga 83-59. Then a similar story in 2008 vs UCLA (76-57) and finally a nail biter in 2004 vs Duke 66-63.
Pretty much the same script for Missouri. Three Elite 8s. Three check mates. 2009. 2002. 1994.
Robert Morris takes the lead in most tournament appearances with zero wins (9)
This stat is for all the Mizzou and Xavier fans feeling bummed out. Robert Morris now has sole possession of this record after starting 0-8 with Nebraska (only power conference team to never win a tournament game), and other super basketball known schools such as North Carolina (A&T), Belmont, and Texas Southern.
And all my Akron Lopes fans trying to hide in the bush - don't think I see you all there at 0-7 now after getting boat raced by Arizona.
Drake and McNeese get their first tournament wins
Good to see some newbies pop their tourney cherry. Drake is a funny team. Two of their players are at the top of most minutes played in the entire nation this season and they play slow as dirt. I'm not sure if that's to give those two guys a rest or to try to bore the other team to death, but the strategy works either way. As for McNeese. What else can you say? They have a secret weapon. The aura king.
UConn's streak of 11-straight tournament games without trailing in the second half ended in the win vs Oklahoma
Saw this one on the broadcast. It's crazy how good those UConn teams were. Even in the win vs Oklahoma, the Huskies are a shell of what they so dominantly were for the past two years. But it just seems the writing is on the wall. There was no holding back during the regular season to save the NOS for the tournament. This team is what it is. An 8 seed. A damn good team. But not a great team. And not a legendary team.
Spencer Hubbard is 27-0 when playing in a game for Duke
Haters will say this is like the ole "teams win when running back A rushes the ball 20+ times" in that you only do this when winning. But you know what? 27-0 is 27-0. I've never seen a ball on a layup seemingly go up an elevator two floors after the release to finally make it over the rim. Hard to do for short kings. Anyway - looks like we have our new Andrew Hurley for 2025.
Couple other goodies from non AI internet kings: