Time to take a closer look at this Sweet 16, by the numbers they keep. The teams come in all flavors.
Alabama is the nation’s top-scoring team at 90.8 points a game.
Houston has the stingiest defense, at 58.4.
Tennessee allows the lowest shooting percentages, at 38.2.
Duke has the widest average scoring margin at 21.5.
Houston shoots 3-pointers the best at 39.8 percent.
Michigan State defends them the best, 27.8 percent.
Auburn is No. 2 in the nation in blocking shots. Arkansas is No. 4.
Michigan State is fifth in bench points. Alabama is sixth.
No wonder they’re all still playing.
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The top seven teams in the NET ratings are still going, beginning with No. 1 Duke. The lowest ranked team still alive is Arkansas at No. 40. The highest ranked team kicked to the curb so far has been No. 8 Gonzaga.
The best record in the field belongs to Duke, at 33-3, just ahead of Florida and Houston at 32-4. Arkansas is lowest at 22-13. There were 92 teams in the nation who put together better records than the Razorbacks, but 77 of them would be pleased to trade places right about now.
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Fourteen of the 16 teams were ranked in the last Associated Press top-25. Ole Miss was down in the received votes section. High Point, McNeese and Akron received votes too, but Arkansas didn’t. Not one.
Some of the numbers are curious, confirming a team can get this far even while lugging around some unbecoming stats, and without a star scorer.
Only one of the top 54 scoring individuals in the country will be playing this weekend — Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn, who is 13th. Oh, but three of the top 12 in assists-per-game guys are still going. Purdue’s Braden Smith in second, Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler in fifth and Texas Tech’s Elijah Hawkins in 12th, suggesting it is more divine to pass than to shoot.
Alabama is 325th in the nation in fouls per game and 316th in turnovers forced.
Kentucky’s scoring defense, coughing up 77.2 points a game, is 308th in the nation.
Michigan State is 319th in 3-point shooting.
Ole Miss is 330th in rebound margin.
Purdue is 262nd in defensive field goal percentage.
BYU is 225th in shooting free throws.
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History?
The bracket includes eight programs that have won at least one national championship — Arizona, Arkansas, Duke, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan State and Michigan. Then again, none of the programs responsible for the past eight national championships are still around. Farewell, UConn, Kansas, Baylor, Virginia, Villanova, North Carolina.
Three teams have never been to a single Final Four — Tennessee, BYU and Ole Miss.
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Lineups?
All five Purdue starters began their careers at Purdue.
None of Arizona’s starters began their careers at Arizona.
Michigan started two players last week who began their careers at Texas Tech.
Texas Tech started one.
Kentucky does not have a single starter who began as a Wildcat. But Arkansas does.
There are original Tennessee Vols on three different starting lineups this weekend.
Four of the 16 coaches are new to their posts — Dusty May at Michigan, Mark Pope at Kentucky, Kevin Young at BYU and John Calipari at Arkansas — each pulling from the portal pool to get competitive in a hurry. Of their 20 starters last weekend, 14 were at another school in 2024.
The regular season?
It gave broad hints about March. The top four Big 12 teams in the standings are the same four in the Sweet 16. Same for six of the top eight in the SEC, and tied-for-ninth Arkansas. The top three in the Big Ten plus tied-for-fourth Purdue. And ACC champion Duke.
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All five first-team AP All-Americans play on — Duke’s Cooper Flagg, Auburn’s Johni Broome, Alabama’s Mark Sears, Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. and Purdue’s Smith.
So the standings’ and honor teams’ messages were clear, even if some of the scores were not.
Alabama beat Kentucky three times. Kentucky beat Tennessee twice. Tennessee beat Alabama.
Duke lost to Kentucky, who lost to Auburn, who lost to Duke,
Texas Tech lost to Arizona twice but also beat the Wildcats by 16.
Purdue whisked by Alabama but was mashed by Auburn, who lost at home to Alabama. The Boilermakers lost twice to Michigan but also hammered the Wolverines by 27.
Michigan State went 4-0 against fellow Sweet 16 Big Tenners Maryland, Michigan and Purdue across 20 days late in the season, but earlier lost at home to Indiana, who didn’t even make the tournament.
Florida destroyed Tennessee 73-43, but 25 days later, Tennessee crushed Florida 64-44.
Does all that make sense? Don’t worry, it shouldn’t. That’s why the play. All the numbers we just learned don’t mean much starting Thursday night.
