Some Tourney Fun Facts

First NCAA Tournament was in 1939. The field was 8 teams so essentially making the tourney put you into the Elite 8. The tourney was expanded as follows.

16 Teams in 1951
22 Teams in 1953
24 Teams in 1954
25 Teams in 1956
23 Teams in 1957
24 Teams in 1958
23 Teams in 1959
25 Teams in 1960
24 Teams in 1961
25 Teams in 1962-64
23 Teams in 1965
22 Teams in 1966
23 Teams in 1967-68
25 Teams in 1969-75
32 Teams in 1976-78
40 Teams in 1979
32 Teams in 1980-82
36 Teams in 1983
37 Teams in 1984
64 Teams in 1985-2000
65 Teams in 2001-2010
68 Teams in 2011-2019

Seeding began in 1979. Since seeding began, the lower seed has won 28% of the time 693 of 2470 games).

1 seeds have been upset 115 times (prior to Virginia losing to UMBC last seaosn, the worst upset for a No. 1 seed was to an 11 seed which happened 3 times)

Lowest seed upset - 3 times a 13 seed has defeated a 12 seed
Most common upset - as you would expect, the 9 seed has defeated the 8 seed 76 times
The 2 seed has defeated the 1 seed 34 times

9 teams have played at least 100 games
1. Kentucky - 180
2. North Carolina - 170
3. Kansas - 153
4. UCLA - 148
5. Duke - 148
6. Louisville - 119
7. Syracuse - 107
8. Villanova - 100
9. Indiana - 100
10. Michigan St. - 96

Top 11 coaches by games coached
1. Coach K - 123
2. Ole Roy - 102
3. Dean Smith - 92
4. Jim Boeheim - 92
5. Lute Olson - 74
6. Rick Pitino - 73
7. John Calipari - 71
8. John Calhoun - 71
9. Bob Knight - 70
10. Tom Izzo - 68
11. Bill Self - 66

Top 10 Coaches by wins
1. Coach K - 94
2. Ole Roy - 77
3. Dean Smith - 65
4. Jim Boeheim - 58
5. Rick Pitino - 54
6. John Calipari - 53
7. Jim Calhoun - 51
8. Tom Izzo - 48
9. Bill Self - 47
10. John Wooden - 47

Coaches with most upset wins
1. Izzo - 14
2. Boeheim - 11
3. Massimino - 11
4. Lute Olson - 11
5. Penders - 9
6. John Chaney - 9

Coaches with most upset losses
1. Coach k - 21
2. Jim Boeheim - 16
3. Bob Knight - 15
4. Lute Olson - 14
5. Bill Self - 13
6. Ole Roy - 13

Since 1997 (Beginning of Big 12) conferences with most games played
1. Big East - 336
2. Big 10 - 325
3. ACC - 319
4. Big 12 - 282
5. SEC - 265
6. Pac 12 - 235

Most Common Coaching matchups
1. Roy Williams vs. Bill Self - 5 times

Most defeats one coach to another
1. Self over Williams - 4 times

Most Common school matchups
1. Marquette vs. Kentucky - 10 times
2. UCLA vs. San Francisco - 7 times
3. Villanova vs. North Carolina - 7 times
4. Utah vs. Kentucky - 6 times
5. Ohio St. vs. Kentucky - 6 times
6. North Carolina vs. Arkansas - 6 times
7. North Carolina vs. Kansas - 6 times
8. Louisville vs. Kentucky - 6 times
9. Kansas vs. Duke - 6 times

Bill Self's 3 Final Fours puts him in a tie for 18th

Most Final Fours
1. North Carolina - 20
2. UCLA - 18
3. Kentucky - 17
4. Duke - 16
5. Kansas - 15
6. Ohio St. - 11
7. Louisville - 10
8. Michigan St. - 9

Most Championship games
1. UCLA - 13
2. Kentucky -- 12
3. North Carolina - 11
4. Duke - 11
5. Kansas - 9
6. Michigan - 7
7. Indiana - 8
8. Ohio St. - 5

Most overachieving coaches - This is defined as coaches who have won more games than their seed says they should have won. In other words, each matchup has a probability of winning based purely on the seeds. Using this metric a handful of coaches stand far above the rest. Unfortunately, using this metric, Coach Self has actually underachieved in the tournament (but only ever so slightly) with a net game count of -0.09. In other words, he has won just about as many games as he should have for his seeding falling short by less than a 1/10th of a game. Here are the coaches who have excelled in the NCAA.

1. Izzo +7.9 games
2. Ole Roy +7.4 games (4.8 at UNC and 2.6 at KU)
3. Massimino +7.4
4. Debby Crum +6.5
5. Rick Pitino +6.5
6. Calipari +5.9
7. Coach K +5.8
8. Jim Calhoun +5.8
9. Brad Stevens +4.5
10. Billy Donovan +4.2
11. John Beilein +4.0
12. Kevin Ollie +4.0
13. Larry Brown +3.8
14. Dean Smith +3.8
15 Gary Williams +3.8
16. Jim Boeheim +3.7
17. Jim Valvano +3.6
18. John Chaney 3.4
19 Tom Davis +3.3
20. Rick Majerus +3.1

Now which coach on the previous list does not seem like the rest? Just for interest here is the very bottom of the list


632. Rick Barnes -4.9
631. Norm Stewart -4.5
630. Gene Keady -4.2
Other notables

618. Travis Ford -2.1
613. Kelvin Sampson -2.0
489. Billy Tubbs -0.53
407 Bob Knight -0.34

With Self and KU getting a 4 seed, this is the perfect season to make up some serious ground.

Most Common Coaching matchups
1. Roy Williams vs. Bill Self - 5 times

Most defeats one coach to another
1. Self over Williams - 4 times

Found this to be an interesting tidbit. Here's another follow up on this with a brief explanation:

Highest TEAM winning percentage in Self vs. Williams matchups:
KU: 1.000

I remember watching in 2002 as KU took down a very big and physical Illinois squad coached by a guy who would end up taking the KU job a little over a year later. Back then the Big 10 was VERY physical and the Big 12 seemed to be more of a finesse league, with Big 10 refs allowing a LOT more contact than Big 12 refs. Back then I remember lamenting that this gave the Big 10 a distinct advantage heading into March since they were used to taking more contact, and if the refs kept their whistles pocketed, we'd have trouble. I remember watching KU/Illinois from a condo in the Florida Keys on vacation with my wife and now 21 year old son who had just very recently learned how to use the potty like a big boy (we bought him a shark tooth necklace to commemorate this achievement).

In the end, if it's Bill Self vs. Roy Williams, the guys with "Kansas" on their jerseys are undefeated. And since Roy isn't likely to be welcomed back to a coaching position in Lawrence Kansas, the basketball gods favor KU to beat UNC based on this trend.