Bracketnomics 2013: Final Four Saturday–April 6, 2013

2013 NCAA Tournament— Semifinal Round, April 6, 2013

Ttimes Eastern Daylight

 

Site: Georgia Dome in Atlanta

Network: CBS

Time	Favorite	Underdog	Line
6:09 PM	Louisville (33-5)	Wichita St. (30-8)	10
8:49 PM	Michigan (30-7)	Syracuse (30-9)	2

Elite 8 Record: 2-2

Tournament Total: 38-22

Teams Remaining In Bracket: 1 of  4 (But Louisville was our pick to go all the way)

 

PiRate Ratings Criteria Formula Statistics

Criteria	Louisville	Michigan	Syracuse	Wichita St.
Scoring Margin	16.2	12.6	12.2	8.9
FG% Margin	6.4	6.2	7.2	4.8
Rebound Margin	3.7	3.1	3.7	8.0
Turnover Margin	6.0	2.8	3.2	0.4
Steals	10.9	6.2	9.1	7.5
R+T	13.08	7.70	9.36	9.98
SOS	59.41	55.94	59.29	53.79
RD W%	81.8	68.4	65.0	71.4
Qualifiers	6	3	5	5
PiRate #	85.27	57.09	67.73	53.74
Modified	124.97	65.59	106.43	42.94

 

PiRate Criteria Means for 2000-2012 National Champions

 

Criteria	Champ Avg.
Scoring Margin	15.5
FG% Margin	8.7
Rebound Margin	6.2
Turnover Margin	1.3
Steals	7.8
R+T	9.29
SOS	57.09
RD W%	73.8
Qualifiers	7
PiRate #	75.88
Modified	94.78

 

 

Louisville vs. Wichita State

Roster—Louisville

#	NAME	HT	WT	POS	CL	HOMETOWN (PREVIOUS SCHOOL)
2	Russ Smith	6-00	165	G	JR	Brooklyn, N.Y. (Archbishop Molloy/South Kent)
3	Peyton Siva	6-00	185	G	SR	Seattle, Wash. (Franklin)
5	Kevin Ware	6-02	175	G	SO	Bronx, N.Y. (Rockdale County (Ga.))
10	Gorgui Dieng	6-11	245	C	JR	Kebemer, Senegal (Covenant/Huntington Prep)
11	Luke Hancock	6-06	200	F	JR	Roanoke, Va. (George Mason)
12	Mangok Mathiang	6-10	200	C	FR	Melbourne, Australia (IMG Academy (Fla.))
14	Logan Baumann	6-00	165	G	FR	Hartford, Ky. (Ohio County)
15	Tim Henderson	6-02	195	G	JR	Louisville, Ky. (Christian Academy)
20	Wayne Blackshear	6-05	230	G/F	SO	Chicago, Ill. (Morgan Park)
21	Chane Behanan	6-06	250	F	SO	Cincinnati, Ohio (Bowling Green)
22	Jordan Bond	6-00	165	G	FR	Louisville, Ky. (duPont Manual)
24	Montrezl Harrell	6-08	235	F	FR	Tarboro, N.C. (Hargrave Military Academy)
25	Zach Price	6-10	250	C	SO	Cleveland, Ohio (Jeffersontown)
32	Michael Baffour	6-02	170	G	JR	Lexington, Ky. (Bryan Station)
33	Mike Marra	6-05	215	G	SR	Smithfield, R.I. (Northfield Mt. Hermon School)
44	Stephan Van Treese	6-09	245	F	SR	Indianapolis, Ind. (Lawrence North)

 

Coach: Rick Pitino 12^th year at UL: 308-111

28 seasons overall: 662-239

(Hawaii, Boston U, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville)

 

 

Roster—Wichita St.

#	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Pos.	Yr.	Hometown (Prev School)
0	Chadrack Lufile	6-09	251	F	Jr.	Burlington, Ontario, Canada (Coffeyville CC)
1	Derail Green	6-07	199	F	Fr.	Houston, Texas (Klein Forest HS)
2	Malcolm Armstead	6-00	205	G	Sr.	Florence, Ala. (Chipola JC) (Central Park Prep)
3	Evan Wessel	6-05	201	G	So.	Wichita, Kan. (Heights HS)
5	Demetric Williams	6-02	178	G	Sr.	Las Vegas, Nev. (Cheyenne HS)
11	Cleanthony Early	6-08	215	F	Jr.	Middletown, N.Y. (Sullivan JC)
15	Nick Wiggins	6-06	187	G	Jr.	Toronto, ON (Wabash Valley [Ill.] College)
20	Kadeem Coleby	6-09	251	C	Sr.	Nassau, Bahamas (Louisiana-Lafayette)
21	Ehimen Orukpe	7-00	250	C	Sr.	Lagos, Nigeria, (Three Rivers [Mo.])
22	Carl Hall	6-08	238	F	Sr.	Cochran, Ga. (NW Florida St.)
23	Fred Van Vleet	5-11	190	G	Fr.	Rockford, Ill. (Auburn HS)
31	Ron Baker	6-03	218	G	Fr.	Scott City, Kan. (Scott City HS)
32	Tekele Cotton	6-02	202	G	So.	Marietta, Ga. (Whitefield Academy)
33	Zach Bush	6-06	175	F	Fr.	Wichita, Kan. (Goddard Eisenhower HS)
50	Jake White	6-08	232	F	So.	Chaska, Minn. (Chaska HS)

 

Coach: Gregg Marshall 6^th year at WSU: 139-69

15 seasons overall: 333-152

(Winthrop, Wichita St.)

 

Team Stats—Louisville

Player	G	GS	Min	FG	FGA	FG%	3pt	3ptA	3pt%	FT	FTA
Russ Smith	38	35	1143	223	527	.423	57	172	.331	215	261
Gorgi Dieng	31	30	959	121	227	.533	0	0	.000	73	112
Peyton Siva	38	38	1177	132	320	.413	38	125	.304	74	86
Chane Behanan	37	35	961	143	283	.505	1	12	.083	69	131
Wayne Blackshear	37	32	754	102	242	.421	43	135	.319	43	62
Luke Hancock	38	8	836	86	211	.408	55	148	.372	55	71
Montrezl Harrell	38	3	626	92	163	.564	0	0	.000	32	63
Kevin Ware	37	1	616	59	132	.447	15	37	.405	34	51
Stephan Van Treese	35	1	402	26	40	.650	0	0	.000	12	17
Zach Price	16	7	123	8	15	.533	0	0	.000	4	8
Tim Henderson	25	0	88	6	20	.300	4	17	.235	0	0
Logan Baumann	4	0	11	0	4	.000	0	0	.000	2	2
Michael Baffour	6	0	12	0	3	.000	0	2	.000	2	4
Jordan Bond	5	0	17	0	3	.000	0	2	.000	0	0
Totals	38	38	7725	998	2190	.456	213	650	.328	615	868
Opponents	38	38	7725	778	1987	.392	207	658	.315	444	681
Player	FT%	F	DQ	Ast	TO	Bk	Stl	Reb	Avg	Pts	Avg
Russ Smith	.824	95	0	111	100	2	81	129	3.4	718	18.9
Gorgi Dieng	.652	77	3	60	56	78	43	296	9.5	315	10.2
Peyton Siva	.860	99	3	220	102	6	84	87	2.3	376	9.9
Chane Behanan	.527	63	0	40	60	16	52	233	6.3	356	9.6
Wayne Blackshear	.694	92	0	24	24	10	33	120	3.2	290	7.8
Luke Hancock	.775	78	1	50	39	3	36	100	2.6	282	7.4
Montrezl Harrell	.508	48	0	7	22	27	20	141	3.7	216	5.7
Kevin Ware	.667	58	1	31	42	4	39	66	1.8	167	4.5
Stephan Van Treese	.706	42	0	9	13	10	17	111	3.2	64	1.8
Zach Price	.500	23	0	0	5	5	1	22	1.4	20	1.3
Tim Henderson	.000	5	0	3	6	1	6	10	0.4	16	0.6
Logan Baumann	1.000	1	0	0	1	0	0	3	0.8	2	0.5
Michael Baffour	.500	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.2	2	0.3
Jordan Bond	.000	1	0	1	0	0	1	3	0.6	0	0.0
Team					7			84	2.2
Totals	.709	682	8	556	477	162	413	1406	37.0	2824	74.3
Opponents	.652	731	X	385	707	128	216	1264	33.3	2207	58.1

 

Team Stats—Wichita St.

Player	G	GS	Min	FG	FGA	FG%	3pt	3ptA	3pt%	FT	FTA
Cleanthony Early	38	21	942	176	390	.451	45	144	.313	123	156
Carl Hall	31	25	886	141	262	.538	0	2	.000	106	158
Malcolm Armstead	38	38	1085	146	363	.402	61	172	.355	61	76
Ron Baker	17	14	436	42	104	.404	27	78	.346	35	43
Demetric Williams	38	26	966	97	252	.385	32	114	.281	62	81
Tekele Cotton	38	27	896	88	200	.440	23	64	.359	44	82
Evan Wessel	8	8	152	16	33	.485	11	24	.458	1	1
Nick Wiggins	35	1	460	58	133	.436	31	73	.425	27	37
Fred Van Vleet	38	0	607	59	149	.396	20	47	.426	26	36
Jake White	36	0	399	51	109	.468	3	27	.111	25	35
Ehimen Orukpe	35	30	538	39	83	.470	0	0	.000	17	42
Chadrack Lufile	29	0	233	19	34	.559	0	0	.000	8	20
Totals	38	38	7600	932	2112	.441	253	745	.340	535	767
Opponents	38	38	7600	775	1971	.393	229	714	.321	534	745
Player	FT%	F	DQ	Ast	TO	Bk	Stl	Reb	Avg	Pts	Avg
Cleanthony Early	.788	97	3	23	61	34	29	202	5.3	520	13.7
Carl Hall	.671	73	0	22	41	55	14	213	6.9	388	12.5
Malcolm Armstead	.803	86	0	150	86	2	74	146	3.8	414	10.9
Ron Baker	.814	35	0	32	22	5	14	50	2.9	146	8.6
Demetric Williams	.765	84	2	86	63	1	44	98	2.6	288	7.6
Tekele Cotton	.537	78	1	65	43	6	39	149	3.9	243	6.4
Evan Wessel	1.000	15	0	15	5	1	2	14	1.8	44	5.5
Nick Wiggins	.730	29	0	11	21	6	10	63	1.8	174	5.0
Fred Van Vleet	.722	42	1	86	43	2	35	71	1.9	164	4.3
Jake White	.714	48	0	10	28	0	7	107	3.0	130	3.6
Ehimen Orukpe	.405	71	0	8	46	56	11	155	4.4	95	2.7
Chadrack Lufile	.400	22	0	9	12	8	5	52	1.8	46	1.6
Team					10			141	3.7
Totals	.698	680	7	517	481	176	284	1461	38.4	2652	69.8
Opponents	.717	680	X	400	496	113	212	1157	30.4	2313	60.9

 

Schedule—Louisville

Opponent	Score
MANHATTAN	79-51
SAMFORD	80-54
MIAMI (OH)	80-39
vs NORTHERN IOWA  (Bahamas)	51-46
vs MISSOURI  (Bahamas)	84-61
vs DUKE  (Bahamas)	71-76
ILLINOIS STATE	69-66
at COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON	80-38
MISSOURI-KANSAS CITY	99-47
at MEMPHIS	87-78
FIU	79-55
vs WESTERN KENTUCKY  (Nashville)	78-55
KENTUCKY	80-77
PROVIDENCE	80-62
at SETON HALL	73-58
USF	64-38
at CONNECTICUT	73-58
SYRACUSE	68-70
at VILLANOVA	64-73
at GEORGETOWN	51-53
PITTSBURGH	64-61
MARQUETTE	70-51
at RUTGERS	68-48
at NOTRE DAME	101-104
ST. JOHN‘S	72-58
at USF	59-41
SETON HALL	79-61
at DEPAUL	79-58
at SYRACUSE	58-53
CINCINNATI	67-51
NOTRE DAME	73-57
vs VILLANOVA  (BE Tourn.)	74-55
vs NOTRE DAME  (BE Tourn.)	69-57
vs SYRACUSE  (BE Tourn.)	78-61
vs NORTH CAROLINA A&T  (ncaa)	79-48
vs COLORADO STATE  (ncaa)	82-56
vs OREGON  (ncaa)	77-69
vs DUKE  (ncaa)	85-63

 

Schedule—Wichita St.

Opponent	Score
North Carolina Central	71-57
at Virginia Commonwealth	53-51
Western Carolina (Cancun Challenge)	79-63
Howard (Cancun Challenge)	69-50
(n) DePaul (Cancun)	75-62
(n) Iowa (Cancun)	75-63
Tulsa	86-60
at Air Force (MVC/MWC Challenge)	72-69
Northern Colorado	80-54
at Tennessee	60-69
Charleston Southern	65-53
Southern Mississippi	59-51
Northern Iowa	66-41
at Drake	75-63
at Bradley	69-63
Southern Illinois	82-76
at Evansville	67-71
Illinois St.	74-62
Crieghton	67-64
at Missouri St.	62-52
Bradley	73-39
Indiana St.	55-68
at Northern Iowa	52-57
at Southern Illinois	62-64
Missouri St.	79-50
Drake	71-56
at Illinois St.	68-67
at Indiana St.	66-62
Detroit (Bracketbuster)	94-79
Evansville	56-59
at Creighton	79-91
Missouri St. (mvc–St. Louis)	69-59
Illinois St. (mvc–St. Louis)	66-51
Crieghton (mvc–St. Louis)	65-68
(n) Pittsburgh ncaa	73-55
(n) Gonzaga ncaa	76-70
(n) La Salle ncaa	72-58
(n) Ohio St. ncaa	70-66

 

Vital Statistics

FG% Margin: Louisville by 1.6%

Rebound Margin: Wichita St. by 4.3

Turnover Margin: Louisville by 5.6

R+T Margin: Louisville by 3.1 extra possessions

SOS: Louisville by 5.6 points per game

 

PiRate Pick: Louisville 73  Wichita State 61

 

Other: Louisville winning the national championship one year after their rival Kentucky won it would not be something new.  It has happened before.  In 2010, Duke won the title a year after North Carolina.  In 1993, North Carolina won the title a year after Duke.  In 1983, North Carolina State won the title a year after North Carolina.  In 1961, Cincinnati won the title a year after Ohio State, and to make it sweeter, the Bearcats beat the Buckeyes in the championship game (and repeated that victory the following season.  Ohio State had refused to play Cincinnati in the regular season.

 

Cincinnati comes into play on Wichita State’s side as well.  The Bearcats were members of the Missouri Valley Conference when they won those back-to-back titles.  The MVC has four national championship teams from the past.  In addition to Cinti, Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) won back-to-back titles in 1945 and 1946, while in the Valley.  The Cowboys moves to the Big 8 for the 1958-59 season.

 

Michigan vs. Syracuse

Roster—Michigan

#	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Pos.	Year	Hometown (High School)
1	Glenn Robinson III	6-06	210	F	FR	St. John, Ind. (Lake Central)
2	Spike Albrecht	5-11	170	G	FR	Crown Pt., Ind. (Northfield Mt. Hermon Prep MA)
3	Trey Burke	6-01	190	G	SO	Columbus, Ohio (Northland)
4	Mitch McGary	6-10	250	F	FR	Chesterton, Ind. (Brewster Academy [N.H.])
5	Eso Akunne	6-02	225	G	SR	Ann Arbor, Mich. (Gabriel Richard)
10	Tim Hardaway Jr.	6-06	205	G	JR	Miami, Fla. (Palmetto Senior)
11	Nik Stauskas	6-06	190	G	FR	Mississauga, Ontario (St. Mark’s School MA)
13	Matt Vogrich	6-04	200	G	SR	Lake Forest, Ill. (Lake Forest)
15	Jon Horford	6-10	250	F	SO	Grand Ledge, Mich. (Grand Ledge)
20	Josh Bartelstein	6-03	210	G	SR	Highland Pk., Ill. (Phillips Exeter Acad. [N.H.])
22	Blake McLimans	6-10	240	F	SR	Hamburg, N.Y. (Worcester Academy [Mass.])
23	Caris LeVert	6-05	170	G	FR	Pickerington, Ohio (Central)
32	Corey Person	6-03	210	G	GS	Kalamazoo, Mich. (Central)
44	Max Bielfeldt	6-07	245	F	FR	Peoria, Ill. (Notre Dame)
52	Jordan Morgan	6-08	250	F	JR	Detroit, Mich. (University of Detroit Jesuit)

 

Coach: John Beilein 6^th year at UM: 121-84

35 seasons overall: 672-402

(Erie CC, Nazareth, LeMoyne, Canisius, Richmond, West Virginia, Michigan)

 

Roster—Syracuse

#	Name	HT.	WT.	POS.	CL.	HOMETOWN / HIGHSCHOOL
0	Michael Gbinije	6-07	200	F	So.	Richmond, Va. / Benedictine College Prep
1	Mchl. Carter-Williams	6-06	185	G	So.	Hamilton, Mass. / St. Andrews School, R.I.
3	Jerami Grant	6-08	203	F	Fr.	Hyattsville, Md. / DeMatha Catholic
4	Nolan Hart	5-10	152	G	Jr.	Albany, N.Y. / Albany Academy
5	C.J. Fair	6-08	215	F	Jr.	Baltimore, Md. / City College HS/Brewster Acad.
10	Trevor Cooney	6-04	195	G	So.	Wilmington, Del. / Sanford School
12	Baye Moussa Keita	6-10	215	C	Jr.	Saint Louis, Senegal / Oak Hill Academy
13	Griffin Hoffmann	6-01	178	G	Sr.	New York, N.Y. / York Prep
14	Matt Lyde-Cajuste	6-05	215	F	Sr.	Mt. Vernon, N.Y. / Iona Prep
20	Brandon Triche	6-04	210	G	Sr.	Jamesville, N.Y. / Jamesville-DeWitt
21	Noel Jones	6-06	230	F	Jr.	Halifax, N.S. / Halifax Grammer School
23	Russ DeRemer	6-05	203	G	Jr.	Wrentham, Mass./Worcester Academy
25	Rakeem Christmas	6-09	242	F	So.	Philadelphia, Pa. / Academy of the New Church
32	DaJuan Coleman	6-09	288	F	Fr.	Jamesville, N.Y. / Jamesville-DeWitt
33	Albert Nassar	6-06	195	F	So.	Stuart, Fla. / South Fork
43	James Southerland	6-08	215	F	Sr.	Bayside, N.Y. / Cardozo/N. Dame Prep (Mass.)

 

Coach: Jim Boeheim 37^th year at SU: 920-313

 

Team Stats: Michigan

Player	G	GS	Min	FG	FGA	FG%	3pt	3ptA	3pt%	FT	FTA
Trey Burke	37	37	1314	251	541	.464	72	189	.381	122	151
Tim Hardaway, Jr.	36	36	1250	192	431	.445	70	181	.387	73	105
Nik Stauskas	37	31	1153	137	291	.471	79	176	.449	74	87
Glenn Robinson, III	37	37	1239	159	281	.566	23	69	.333	65	97
Mitch McGary	37	6	704	127	210	.605	0	0	.000	21	46
Jordan Morgan	34	27	560	70	120	.583	0	0	.000	21	39
Jon Horford	30	4	272	33	57	.579	0	0	.000	17	24
Caris LeVert	31	1	323	25	84	.298	11	39	.282	7	14
Spike Albrecht	37	0	285	20	48	.417	12	26	.462	9	9
Eso Akunne	18	0	51	8	26	.308	4	12	.333	1	2
Max Bielfeldt	20	0	106	9	20	.450	0	2	.000	5	12
Matt Vogrich	26	6	125	9	27	.333	5	19	.263	3	4
Corey Person	13	0	43	3	7	.429	2	3	.667	2	3
Blake McLimans	16	0	20	4	15	.267	2	11	.182	1	2
Josh Bartelstein	6	0	10	0	1	.000	0	0	.000	0	2
Totals	37	37	7455	1047	2159	.485	280	727	.385	421	597
Opponents	37	37	7455	890	2105	.423	231	715	.323	318	469
Player	FT%	F	DQ	Ast	TO	Bk	Stl	Reb	Avg	Pts	Avg
Trey Burke	.808	67	0	253	81	18	59	115	3.1	696	18.8
Tim Hardaway, Jr.	.695	70	0	84	68	17	25	166	4.6	527	14.6
Nik Stauskas	.851	23	0	50	43	9	20	113	3.1	427	11.5
Glenn Robinson, III	.670	43	0	41	29	10	39	203	5.5	406	11.0
Mitch McGary	.457	84	0	18	43	25	41	228	6.2	275	7.4
Jordan Morgan	.538	50	1	13	32	3	15	153	4.5	161	4.7
Jon Horford	.708	44	0	9	14	16	8	68	2.3	83	2.8
Caris LeVert	.500	37	0	23	8	2	5	29	0.9	68	2.2
Spike Albrecht	1.000	23	0	28	12	1	12	29	0.8	61	1.6
Eso Akunne	.500	4	0	5	1	0	0	12	0.7	21	1.2
Max Bielfeldt	.417	8	0	3	3	1	3	31	1.6	23	1.2
Matt Vogrich	.750	8	0	5	3	0	2	23	0.9	26	1.0
Corey Person	.667	4	0	2	1	0	0	1	0.1	10	0.8
Blake McLimans	.500	4	0	1	1	1	1	13	0.8	11	0.7
Josh Bartelstein	.000	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	0.0	0	0.0
Team								118	3.2
Totals	.705	470	1	536	339	103	231	1302	35.2	2795	75.5
Opponents	.678	564	8	463	451	117	193	1186	32.1	2329	62.9

 

Team Stats—Syracuse

Player	G	GS	Min	FG	FGA	FG%	3pt	3ptA	3pt%	FT	FTA
C. J. Fair	39	39	1357	208	442	.471	29	61	.475	114	151
Brandon Triche	39	39	1312	181	436	.415	49	168	.292	122	164
Mchl. Carter-Williams	39	39	1373	154	388	.397	35	118	.297	129	186
Rakeem Christmas	39	39	810	85	161	.528	0	0	.000	30	51
DaJuan Coleman	24	20	305	42	96	.438	0	0	.000	30	65
James Southerland	33	10	976	159	349	.456	83	206	.403	45	57
Jerami Grant	39	9	555	52	114	.456	6	15	.400	41	73
Baye Moussa Keita	39	0	655	53	87	.609	0	0	.000	39	65
Trevor Cooney	38	0	431	46	143	.322	27	103	.262	11	15
Albert Nasser	5	0	3	1	1	1.000	1	1	1.000	0	0
Noel Jones	6	0	8	1	2	.500	0	0	.000	0	0
Matt Lyde-Cajuste	13	0	22	1	6	.167	0	3	.000	0	0
Nolan Hart	11	0	15	1	6	.167	0	3	.000	0	1
Griffin Hoffman	12	0	15	0	5	.000	0	4	.000	1	4
Russ DeRemer	11	0	13	0	2	.000	0	1	.000	0	0
Totals	39	39	7850	984	2238	.440	230	683	.337	562	832
Opponents	39	39	7850	773	2101	.368	238	843	.282	502	742
Player	FT%	F	DQ	Ast	TO	Bk	Stl	Reb	Avg	Pts	Avg
C. J. Fair	.755	60	0	28	63	41	44	272	7.0	559	14.3
Brandon Triche	.744	81	2	136	107	5	50	134	3.4	533	13.7
Mchl. Carter-Williams	.694	87	4	290	131	19	109	190	4.9	472	12.1
Rakeem Christmas	.588	99	3	8	34	72	18	178	4.6	200	5.1
DaJuan Coleman	.462	30	0	4	23	9	13	95	4.0	114	4.8
James Southerland	.789	76	2	36	38	29	49	173	5.2	446	13.5
Jerami Grant	.562	54	1	17	26	16	17	111	2.8	151	3.9
Baye Moussa Keita	.600	95	2	6	22	45	21	147	3.8	145	3.7
Trevor Cooney	.733	32	0	23	19	3	28	31	0.8	130	3.4
Albert Nasser	.000	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0.2	3	0.6
Noel Jones	.000	2	0	0	0	1	0	6	1.0	2	0.3
Matt Lyde-Cajuste	.000	0	0	1	1	2	1	4	0.3	2	0.2
Nolan Hart	.000	0	0	1	6	0	1	3	0.3	2	0.2
Griffin Hoffman	.250	1	0	0	4	0	3	1	0.1	1	0.1
Russ DeRemer	.000	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	0.2	0	0.0
Team					10			154	3.9
Totals	.675	618	14	550	485	242	355	1502	38.5	2760	70.8
Opponents	.677	714	9	521	608	125	270	1357	34.8	2286	58.6

 

Schedule—Michigan

Opponent	Score
vs. Slippery Rock	100-62
vs. IUPUI TV (nit)	91-54
vs. Cleveland State (nit)	77-47
(n) Pittsburgh (nit)	67-62
(n) Kansas State (nit)	71-57
vs. No. 18 North Carolina State	79-72
at Bradley	74-66
vs. Western Michigan	73-41
vs. Arkansas	80-67
vs. Binghamton	67-39
(n) West Virginia (Brooklyn)	81-66
vs. Eastern Michigan	93-54
vs. Central Michigan	88-73
at Northwestern	94-66
vs. Iowa	95-67
vs. Nebraska	62-47
at No. 15 Ohio State	53-56
at No. 9 Minnesota	83-75
vs. Purdue	68-53
at Illinois	74-60
vs. Northwestern	68-46
at No. 3 Indiana	73-81
vs. No. 10 Ohio State	76-74 ot
at Wisconsin	62-65 ot
at Michigan State	52-75
vs. Penn State	79-71
vs. Illinois	71-58
at Penn State	78-84
vs. No. 9 Michigan State	58-57
at Purdue	80-75
vs. No. 2 Indiana	71-72
vs. Penn State (B10)	83-66
vs. No. 22 Wisconsin (B10)	59-68
vs. South Dakota State ncaa	71-56
vs. VCU ncaa	78-53
vs. No. 3 Kansas ncaa	87-85 ot
vs. No. 14 Florida ncaa	79-59

 

Schedule—Syracuse

Opponent	Score
at San Diego St. (Onboard Midway)	62-49
Wagner	88-57
Princeton	73-53
Colgate	87-51
at Arkansas (SEC/Big East)	91-82
Eastern Michigan	84-48
Long Beach St.	84-53
Monmouth	108-56
Canisius (Gotham Classic)	85-61
Detroit (Gotham Classic)	72-68
(n) Temple (MSG) (Gotham Classic)	79-83
Alcorn St. (Gotham Classic)	57-36
Central Connecticut	96-62
Rutgers	78-53
at South Florida	55-44
at Providence	72-66
Villanova	72-61
at Louisville	70-68
Cincinnati	57-55
at Villanova	71-75 ot
at Pittsburgh	55-65
Notre Dame	63-47
St. John’s	77-58
at Connecticut	58-66
at Seton Hall	76-65
Providence	84-59
Georgetown	46-57
at Marquette	71-74
Louisville	53-58
DePaul	78-57
at Georgetown	39-61
(n) Seton Hall (MSG) (BE)	75-63
(n) Pittsburgh (MSG) (BE)	62-59
(n) Georgetown (MSG) (BE)	58-55 ot
(n) Louisville (MSG (BE)	61-78
(n) Montana ncaa	81-34
(n) California ncaa	66-60
(n) Indiana ncaa	61-50
(n) Marquette ncaa	55-39

 

Vital Statistics

FG% Margin: Syracuse by 1.0%

Rebound Margin: Syracuse by 0.6

Turnover Margin: Syracuse by 0.4

R+T Margin: Syracuse by 1.7 extra possessions

SOS: Syracuse by 3.4 points per game

 

PiRate Pick: Syracuse 76  Michigan 70

 

Other: If Syracuse plays Louisville for the national title, it will be the fourth time conference opponents have faced each other in the championship game.  In 1988, Kansas beat Oklahoma in a big upset.  In 1985, Villanova beat Georgetown in an even bigger upset.  In 1976, Indiana beat Michigan to complete the last undefeated season of a national champion.

 

Michigan and Louisville or Michigan and Wichita State would continue a tradition of recent Midwest dominance in the Championship Game.  We consider Louisville and Lexington to be more Midwest than South.  There have been 11 Midwest schools in the 13 title games of the 2000’s.  There have been 9 teams from the South, 4 from the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast area, and 2 from the West.

 

The Big Ten has placed five teams in the Championship Game this century, but only one member one—Michigan State in 2000.  The Big East is 3-0 in 21^st Century National Championship Games.

10 College Basketball Coaches To Keep An Eye On

Here is a list of 10 coaches at low-major and mid-major schools that could move to a top tier conference and do wonders for a school.

 

We have limited this list to coaches 50 years old and younger, have limited or no previous experience at a “Big Six” conference, and have a philosophy of aggressive and exciting basketball.

 

10. Steve Prohm—Murray State (37 years old)

Prohm is only in his first season as head coach at Murray State, but his Racers are ranked number nine in the current poll with a 23-0 record.  No Ohio Valley Conference team has been ranked in the Top 10 since Western Kentucky in 1971.

 

Prohm worked his way up from a low assistant to a top assistant.  He is noted for being able to recruit in the cracks—to find hidden gems.  Murray State has been the basketball equivalent of Miami of Ohio.  This school is the Cradle of Coaches on the hardwood.  Ron Greene, Steve Newton, Mark Gottfried, Mick Cronin, and Billy Kennedy all advanced to major conference schools after serving a stint in Murray.  Prohm may need a few more years to prove himself, but he will coach in the big time one day.

 

9. Bruiser Flint—Drexel (46 years old)

Flint is the James Brown of basketball coaches.  He is the hardest working coach in America.  He demands the same from his players, and he has turned Drexel’s fortunes around.  The Dragons have a great shot at making the Big Dance this season, and their fans have become rabid supporters of the team.  

 

Flint was a John Calipari assistant at U Mass, and he followed Calipari there as head coach.  He guided the Minutemen to multiple NCAA Tournament berths even though he was saddled with sanctions left there by Calipari.

 

He seems to be a perfect fit for a Big East or Big Ten school.

 

8. Dan Hurley—Wagner (38 years old)

The Hurley family is an Eastern version of the Sutton family.  Dan is the younger brother of former Duke star Bobby.  He played at Seton Hall in the 1990’s.  In just his second season at Wagner, he has the program at the top of the Northeastern Conference in a neck and neck race with Long Island.  Hurley knows the game inside and out, and he has a lot of recruiting contacts in the Metro New York-New Jersey area.

 

7. Greg McDermott—Creighton (47 years old)

Remember Press Maravich?  His son was a fairly good ballplayer, but it did not lead to LSU becoming a national power.  How about Al McGuire?  His son Allie was a star at Marquette, but poppa McGuire was an even better head coach.

 

Greg McDermott has the next Larry Bird playing on his team, and said player comes from his own seed.  Doug McDermott is a combination of Jimmer Fredette and Adam Morrison. 

 

Coach McDermott led Northern Iowa to three consecutive NCAA Tournament berths.  He advanced to Iowa State and led them to respectability, but the Cyclones were never able to get to the next level in the touch Big 12.  Given a chance to coach a major conference team with some basketball tradition, he would shine.  He seems like a great fit for the SEC or ACC.

 

6. Steve Alford—New Mexico (47 years old)

Alford has made New Mexico a mid-major power.  He won big at Southwest Missouri, and despite some ups and downs, he won at Iowa.  Since his departure, the Hawkeyes have fallen to the basement of the Big Ten.  Alford has a temper like his mentor, and he tends to use a lot of vulgarity, but he would be a great fit back in the Big Ten or Big East, where fans seem to go for that kind of thing.

 

5. Dave Rice—UNLV (43 years old)

Rice is only in his first year in Las Vegas, but he has been noted as perhaps the top assistant coach in the West for years.  Everywhere he has been as an assistant, his teams have won a high percentage of games and scored a lot of points.

 

Rice played for Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV, and his first coaching stop was Tark’s last season as a coach in Vegas.  He was an assistant at Utah State and BYU, and he served as the “offensive coordinator of those teams.”

 

He has brought back the “running” in Runnin’ Rebels at the Thomas and Mack Center, and a UNLV basketball game is the most exciting entertainment in Vegas once again.  He would be the perfect fit in the Pac-12, but his style of coaching would be a good fit at any school.  His teams play like the teams of the mid-1960’s to mid-1970’s when if you did not average 80 points per game, you were not any good.

 

4. Randy Bennett—Saint Mary’s (49 years old)

Bennett is a world class recruiter—he recruits from all over the world.  His teams have a great inside-outside, high-low presence, and they know how to play consistent basketball.

 

His only drawback is the long-term contract he has signed.  Any team that wants him will have to pay a hefty buy out.  Bennett turned down the chance to coach in the Pac-12, so he may not have many options left.  However, he could be the perfect coach for a Big Ten, Big 12, or SEC school.

 

3. Scott Sutton—Oral Roberts (41 years old)

Sutton is the son of former Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton.  His ORU teams play the same type of aggressive, Hank Iba-style of ball that poppa Sutton’s teams played.  He teaches fundamentals, and his teams may not be flashy, but they are solid.  Expect ORU to play in the Big Dance this year, and they will be no pushover for a higher seeded team.

 

2. Gregg Marshall—Wichita State (48 years old)

Marshall established the program at Winthrop and made them the perennial champion of the Big South Conference.  He even won an NCAA Tournament game with a Number 15 seed.

 

He has already returned the Shockers to dominance in the Missouri Valley Conference, and he has hung a championship banner, albeit an NIT title.

 

Marshall’s teams play stifling defense and play intelligently on offense.  His teams seldom beat themselves; they play hard, and they exploit any weaknesses.  If a school wants a long string of success, they need to grab him this year.

 

1. Jim Ferry—Long Island University (44 years old)

Most basketball fans outside of Brooklyn do not know this name, but in our opinion, Jim Ferry is the best college basketball coach in the nation.  Some astute athletic director at a Major college needs to move him to the top of his short list.  He can take a program to the Final Four.

 

Ferry has won big everywhere he has been in the small college world.  His teams didn’t just win; they won in John Woodenesque manner.  They play aggressive defense, control the boards, and know how to run an organized fast break.  In the halfcourt, his teams move the ball around and know how to score inside.

 

He took over at LIU when the program was in such pitiful shape, they were playing games in an old theater.  Within a few short years, he had the once storied program back on its feet.  

 

Last year, LIU was the top low major team in the East.  Following some key graduation losses, the Blackbirds were expected to fall back in the pack in the NEC.  Yet, LIU is back on top again this year in a heated race with Wagner.  

 

Ferry can win anywhere he goes.  He could take over at a Big East school and make them a powerhouse.  He could do the same for a school in the Big Ten, ACC, and SEC.  In fact, it is our opinion that he could be a major coup for a team in the South.  With his great recruiting ties in the Metro New York-New Jersey area, and with his history of winning big everywhere he has been, he could be the next Frank McGuire.

 

Sidenote: There is one other coach that we consider to be a wildcard.  He is Duggar Baucom at VMI.  Baucom, 51, falls outside our parameters, but his is a special case.

 

VMI has about as much chance of competing in basketball as the Kansas City Royals have of winning the next three World Series.  Height restrictions make it impossible for the Keydets to consistently defeat the Virginia’s of the world and close to impossible to beat the Coastal Carolina’s of the world.

 

Yet, Baucom has achieved a modicum of success, even winning 24 games one year and coming within a game of an automatic trip to the Big Dance.

 

VMI has led the nation in scoring the last five seasons.  They have been outmanned several times each year, but Baucom’s system has produced as many as 5 to 10 additional wins per year.  

 

Given a real chance to win and recruit at a major conference school, this system will embarrass a lot of other teams that play a slower, less exciting brand of basketball.  Top recruits do not desire to play in a passive, slow system.  It does not allow them to showcase their talent.  Put them in a fast-paced, 94-foot aggressive system, and all of their skills are on display.  

 

Baucom would be the perfect fit in the SEC, where dozens of quality talented athletes are available.