Get yourself properly educated before the action tips off in Minneapolis.
1. Not only is Texas Tech the No. 1 defensive team in college basketball this season, but the Red Raiders’ current adjusted defensive efficiency (84.0) is the best of any team since Ken Pomeroy began tracking the statistic in 2002. Chris Beard’s team has forced all four of its NCAA tournament opponents into one of its two worst offensive efforts of the season when it comes to points per possession.
2. This is the second time in three years that the Final Four has featured three coaches making their first appearance in the national semifinals. This Final Four features first timers Tony Bennett (Virginia), Chris Beard (Texas Tech) and Bruce Pearl (Auburn), and then Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, who is doing this for the eighth time. In 2017, the final weekend was graced by first timers Frank Martin (South Carolina), Dana Altman (Oregon) and Mark Few (Gonzaga). The champion that year was North Carolina, which won it all in Roy Williams’ ninth trip to the Final Four.
3. This is the 81st NCAA tournament, an event which has been won by 35 different schools. Three teams in this year’s Final Four — Virginia, Texas Tech and Auburn — have an opportunity to expand that club by one member. If any team besides Michigan State cuts down the nets in Minneapolis, college basketball will have a fresh champion for the first time since Florida won the first of its back-to-back national titles in 2006.
4. Virginia is vying to become the first team in four years to win the national championship a year after failing to win a game in the NCAA tournament. Duke was the last team to do it, winning the 2015 national title just a year after an embarrassing first round loss to 14th-seeded Mercer.
5. Auburn is the eighth No. 5 seed to make the Final Four. Three of those eight teams have advanced to the national title game, but a 5-seed has never cut down the nets. Every other seed line from 1-8 has produced at least one national champion.
6. This is the first time since 1993 that the ACC, SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 (then the Big Eight) have all been represented in the same Final Four. That year, the ACC’s North Carolina outlasted the Big Ten’s Michigan thanks to an infamous timeout call by Chris Webber in the game’s final moments.
7. A 1-seed out of the ACC (Duke both times) has won the last two Final Fours played in Minneapolis (1992 and 2001). The only other Final Four played in Minneapolis happened in 1951, and was won by Kentucky. This will be the first Final Four played at U.S. Bank Stadium, which opened in 2016.
8. None of the four teams headed to Minneapolis are doing so after a dominant performance in the Elite Eight. No team won its regional final game by more than six (Auburn and Texas Tech), and the total margin of victory for the four games was just 18 points, the lowest in the history of the Elite Eight.
9. No. 1 seeds have won nine out of the last 12 national titles. A 2-seed has won the title just once since 2004 (Villanova in 2016), and 3-seeds have won two titles over that span (Florida in 2006, UConn in 2011).
10. If Texas Tech wins the national championship, it will become the first team ever to lose its first conference tournament game and then go on to win the Big Dance. The Red Raiders were upset in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament by 10th-seeded West Virginia, 79-74.
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