My March madness has started already. The first day of March is when I start to do my research for the tournament. It rarely ever does me any good, but damnit, it's a hobby. We've got several days until the real talk starts, but in the meantime, let's share some tips/historical stats. Each year I like to find some of the historical stats/tips, and they usually lead to that being my best bracket. Any of you guys come across some really good ones in the past few years, or even this year? I found a few yesterday (they may be a year old) that were pretty interesting.

~20 out of the last 23 champs have averaged 77+ points while having a 10+ scoring margin
~20 out of the last 21 years a double digit seed has made it to the Sweet 16; at least one 10 seed has made the Sweet 16 for 14 years in a row
~7 years in a row a conference has had 2 teams in the final four
~5 out of the last 6 years a conference has placed 3 teams in the Elite Eight
~8 out of the last 11 years a conference has placed 4 teams in the Sweet 16
~At least one 3+ seed as made it to the Final 4 every year except once since 1979
~Only one team has won it all without a HS Mickie D AA since 1979

"~At least one 3+ seed as made it to the Final 4 every year except once since 1979"


A few years ago wasnt it all #1 seeds?

I believe it was. Maybe that was the only time since 1978 (I imagine no 3+ seed made it that year since the stat starts at 1979). Maybe some college guy with a lot of time can check and see if that's an accurate "stat".

~7 years in a row a conference has had 2 teams in the final four

That stat ended last year with the final 4 being Duke/Butler/WVU/MSU. Just one thing I noticed. Still pretty cool research.

"At least one 3+ seed as made it to the Final 4 every year except once since 1979"

Looks like that was true as of 2006.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/mayhem/history/finalfourseeds

Good stuff. I thought the page was a year old. Might be a few years old then. Still some good stuff.

Just pick OSU and Purdue to make the final 4, and pick OSU to win the championship. GG

I created a group on espn for the tourney challenge. Group name is Ohio Chatter.