The Greatest NCAA Tournament That Never Was–National Championship Game

1974 North Carolina St. Wolf Pack

vs.

1968 UCLA Bruins

 

How They Got Here

 

North Carolina St.

Defeated 1999 Duke  94-72

Defeated 1980 Louisville 96-82

Defeated 1978 Kentucky 82-70

Defeated 2019 Virginia 75-64

Defeated 2018 Villanova 97-75

 

UCLA

Defeated 1973 Providence  91-70

Defeated 1962 Cincinnati 75-59

Defeated 2015 Duke  83-57

Defeated 1968 Houston 99-92

Defeated 1972 UCLA  95-92

The Starting Lineups For Tonight’s Championship Game

 

North Carolina St. Wolf Pack

Center–Tom Burleson  7-2  Sr.  from Newland, North Carolina

Forward–Tim Stoddard 6-7 Jr. from East Chicago, Indiana

Forward–David Thompson 6-4 Jr. from Shelby, North Carolina

Guard–Moe Rivers  6-1 Jr. from  Brooklyn, New York

Guard–Monte Towe  5-7 Jr.  from Converse, Indiana

The Wolf Pack are coached by Norm Sloan

 

UCLA Bruins

Center–Kareem Abdul-Jabbar  7-2  Jr. from New York, New York

Forward–Mike Lynn 6-7 Sr. from Covina, California

Forward–Lynn Shackelford  6-5 Jr. from Burbank, California

Guard–Lucius Allen 6-2 Jr. from Kansas City, Kansas

Guard–Michael Warren  5-11 Sr. from South Bend, Indiana

The Bruins are coached by John Wooden

 

And Your Winner is: UCLA

 

1968 UCLA	104
1974 North Carolina St.	77

Boxscore
1968 UCLA	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	C	13	20	0	0	4	6	6	14	20	3	0	7	3	3	30
Mike Lynn	F	4	10	0	0	1	2	2	12	14	1	2	2	1	4	9
Lynn Shackleford	F	4	11	0	2	2	2	1	6	7	2	1	0	2	3	10
Lucius Allen	G	7	16	3	9	3	5	0	3	3	5	3	0	2	2	20
Mike Warren	G	8	18	3	7	3	4	0	2	2	4	2	0	4	2	22
Jim Nielsen		1	2	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	1	0	1	0	2	2
Kenny Heitz		2	5	1	3	2	2	0	1	1	3	2	0	1	0	7
Bill Sweek		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Gene Sutherland		1	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	2
Neville Saner		1	2	0	0	0	0	1	3	4	0	0	0	1	1	2
Team										3
Totals		41	87	7	22	15	21	11	44	58	20	11	10	15	19	104
North Carolina St.	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Tom Burleson	C	4	9	0	0	1	2	1	6	7	4	0	2	2	4	9
Tim Stoddard	F	5	14	0	0	0	0	2	8	10	0	0	0	4	5	10
David Thompson	F	7	17	3	8	4	5	2	10	12	3	2	1	5	3	21
Mo Rivers	G	3	11	2	7	2	3	1	4	5	2	1	0	3	1	10
Monte Towe	G	3	10	2	7	4	4	0	2	2	3	1	0	5	2	12
Phil Spence		2	4	0	0	1	2	1	3	4	0	0	0	1	3	5
Mark Moeller		2	5	1	3	2	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	7
Greg Hawkins		1	3	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	3
Steve Nuce		0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	1	0
Dwight Johnson		0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Team										4
Totals		27	76	9	29	14	20	7	36	47	13	5	3	23	20	77
Player of the Game	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
UCLA	50	54	104
N.C. State	38	39	77

 

This concludes the Greatest NCAA Tournament That Was Never Played.  Our Congratulations go to the 1968 UCLA Bruins, the best college basketball team in the last 60 years, at least according to the tabletop basketball strategy board game.

 

The PiRates are now headed out to sea to find some remote Pacific Island until August.  Hopefully, there will be a college  and NFL football season that start as scheduled.  If not, we will have alternate programming when we return to land.

The Greatest NCAA Tournament That Never Was–Thursday, March 19 Results

Welcome to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament between the best teams of the last 60 years.

After two nights in Dayton, we are down to 64 teams, and today, the East and South Regions are featured.

Our See BS Network has all the games for you hear today.  16 games were played in these two regions, and the results are in.  Without further adieu, let’s get out to the East Region for the first game.

 

THE EAST REGION

 

Blue Devils Shoot Lights Out And Turns Lights Out On The Bonnies

 

1 Duke 2001	84
16 St. Bonaventure 1970	70

 

Boxscore
Duke	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Carlos Boozer	C	6	9	0	0	5	6	2	6	8	1	0	2	2	4	17
Shane Battier	F	7	13	2	4	4	4	1	7	8	4	1	2	3	3	20
Mike Dunleavy	F	5	9	1	2	2	2	1	5	6	3	0	0	1	3	13
Nate James	G	2	6	1	3	1	2	0	3	3	1	0	0	3	2	6
Jay Williams	G	6	11	3	6	4	5	0	4	4	5	2	0	2	1	19
Chris Duhon		3	6	0	0	1	2	0	3	3	3	0	0	3	3	7
Casey Sanders		0	0	0	0	2	2	1	4	5	0	0	0	1	3	2
Matt Christensen		0	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	4	0	0	0	0	1	0
Team										3
Totals		29	55	7	15	19	23	6	35	44	17	3	4	15	20	84
St. Bonaventure	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Bob Lanier	C	8	19	0	0	4	7	4	11	15	0	0	3	2	3	20
Matt Gantt	F	5	13	0	0	4	6	3	6	9	0	0	0	1	1	14
GregBubba Gary	F	3	9	0	2	1	2	3	2	5	1	1	1	0	4	7
Paul Hoffman	G	4	12	1	3	4	4	1	0	1	1	0	0	2	2	13
Bill Kalbaugh	G	4	10	3	8	2	3	0	2	2	4	2	0	2	2	13
Mike Kull		1	4	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	3
Tom Baldwin		0	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Team										2
Totals		25	69	5	19	15	22	11	21	34	7	4	4	7	17	70
Player of the Game	Jay Williams

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Duke	45	39	84
St. Bonaventure	39	31	70

 

Wildcats Have Too Much Inside Punch For Spartans

 

9 Kentucky 1978	73
8 Michigan St. 1979	59

 

Boxscore
Kentucky	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Rick Robey	C	5	8	0	0	3	4	3	7	10	2	2	2	2	1	13
Mike Phillips	F	3	7	0	0	2	3	2	5	7	0	0	2	1	3	8
Jack Givens	F	5	10	0	1	5	6	0	3	3	2	1	0	3	1	15
Truman Claytor	G	1	4	1	3	0	0	0	1	1	3	1	0	1	2	3
Kyle Macy	G	4	9	3	8	4	4	0	1	1	4	1	0	2	1	15
James Lee		3	5	0	0	2	3	1	4	5	0	0	1	1	4	8
Jay Shidler		2	5	2	5	1	1	0	1	1	2	1	0	2	1	7
Chuck Aleksinas		1	2	0	0	2	3	1	5	6	0	0	2	0	2	4
LaVon Williams		0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Team										2
Totals		24	52	6	17	19	24	7	28	37	13	6	7	12	15	73
Michigan St.	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Ron Charles	C	2	5	0	0	0	0	1	6	7	0	0	0	1	5	4
Greg Kelser	F	6	14	0	0	3	4	2	5	7	1	0	0	4	3	15
Jay Vincent	F	2	6	0	0	1	2	1	3	4	0	1	1	0	4	5
Mike Brkovich	G	3	9	2	7	2	2	0	1	1	2	1	0	2	2	10
Magic Johnson	G	5	11	1	3	5	7	2	7	9	7	2	0	2	2	16
Terry Donnelly		2	5	2	5	1	1	0	0	0	2	1	0	3	3	7
Rob Gonzalez		1	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	3	2
Team										2
Totals		21	54	5	15	12	16	6	23	31	12	5	1	13	22	59
Player of the Game	Rick Robey

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Kentucky	39	34	73
Michigan St.	24	35	59

 

 

Wolf Pack Relies on Stars Thompson, Burleson, and Towe To Top the Blue Devils

 

4 North Carolina St. 1974	94
13 Duke 1999	72

 

Boxscore
N. C. State	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Tom Burleson	C	10	17	0	0	5	7	4	9	13	0	0	4	3	3	25
Tim Stoddard	F	2	5	0	0	1	2	3	7	10	0	1	2	2	4	5
David Thompson	F	11	23	2	5	9	12	4	6	10	3	3	1	3	2	33
Mo Rivers	G	3	9	2	7	2	2	1	1	2	4	2	0	2	1	10
Monte Towe	G	5	12	4	11	5	5	0	1	1	6	6	0	4	1	19
Mark Moeller		1	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	1	4	2
Steve Nuce		0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	0	2	0
Phil Spence		0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	3	0	0	1	2	3	0
Team										3
Totals		32	69	8	23	22	28	15	27	45	14	13	8	17	20	94
Duke	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Elton Brand	C	7	12	0	0	4	6	2	6	8	0	1	2	3	5	18
Corey Maggette	F	1	5	0	2	3	5	1	5	6	1	1	1	5	4	5
Chris Carrawell	F	1	4	0	1	1	2	0	2	2	3	2	0	1	2	3
Trajan Langdan	G	6	14	4	11	2	2	1	2	3	3	2	0	6	4	18
William Avery	G	8	17	2	6	4	4	0	1	1	4	2	0	5	2	22
Shane Battier		1	3	0	1	1	1	1	3	4	0	1	1	2	4	3
Chris Burgess		1	1	0	0	1	2	1	4	5	0	0	0	1	2	3
Nate James		0	1	0	1	0	0	1	2	3	1	1	0	1	3	0
Team										2
Totals		25	57	6	22	16	22	7	25	34	12	10	4	24	26	72
Player of the Game	David Thompson

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
N. C. State	41	53	94
Duke	37	35	72

 

 

Griffith Leads Cardinals To Upset Victory

 

12 Louisville 1980	82
5 Connecticut 1999	74

 

Boxscore
Louisville	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Wiley Brown	C	5	9	0	0	1	3	2	4	6	0	0	2	1	3	11
Rodney McCray	F	3	7	0	0	2	3	3	8	11	2	0	1	2	3	8
Derek Smith	F	7	13	0	0	2	4	3	11	14	1	1	2	2	4	16
Darrell Griffith	G	9	18	1	3	5	6	1	3	4	4	2	1	3	3	24
Jerry Eaves	G	2	4	1	2	1	2	0	1	1	5	2	0	2	2	6
Poncho Wright		3	5	0	0	1	1	0	2	2	0	0	0	1	2	7
Roger Burkman		1	3	1	3	4	4	0	1	1	2	0	0	2	1	7
Tony Branch		1	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	1	2	3
Team										3
Totals		31	60	4	9	16	23	9	31	43	14	6	6	14	20	82
Connecticut	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Jake Voskuhl	C	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	6	8	0	0	2	1	3	0
Kevin Freeman	F	2	5	0	0	2	3	1	8	9	1	0	0	1	5	6
Richard Hamilton	F	8	19	2	7	5	6	2	5	7	3	2	0	2	4	23
Ricky Moore	G	5	11	2	5	4	6	1	2	3	5	1	0	3	3	16
Khalid El-Amin	G	8	18	0	2	4	5	0	1	1	6	1	0	1	1	20
Albert Mouring		2	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	4
Edmund Saunders		1	2	0	0	1	2	0	2	2	0	0	1	1	3	3
Souleymane Wane		1	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	2
Rashamel Jones		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Antric Klaiber		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Team										3
Totals		27	64	4	14	16	22	7	25	35	16	5	3	9	21	74
Player of the Game	Darrell Griffith

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Louisville	41	41	82
Connecticut	41	33	74

 

 

Cavs’ Defense Stifles High-Flying Hogs

 

3 Virginia 2019	70
14 Arkansas 1991	61

Boxscore
Virginia	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Mamadi Diakete	C	3	5	0	0	0	2	2	5	7	0	0	2	1	3	6
De’Andre Hunter	F	6	12	1	3	3	4	3	6	9	1	0	0	2	2	16
Guy Jerome	F	6	11	4	8	3	3	1	6	7	6	1	0	4	2	19
Kyle Guy	G	5	14	3	9	2	3	1	5	6	2	0	0	3	1	15
Kihei Clark	G	1	4	0	2	1	2	1	1	2	3	1	0	4	2	3
Braxton Key		3	5	1	2	2	2	1	5	6	2	1	0	3	3	9
Jack Salt		1	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	2	2
Team										1
Totals		25	53	9	24	11	16	10	29	40	14	3	2	17	15	70
Arkansas	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Oliver Miller	C	7	12	0	0	2	4	2	6	8	1	0	1	3	3	16
Isaiah Morris	F	1	3	0	0	0	0	1	4	5	0	0	0	1	2	2
Todd Day	F	3	9	2	8	5	5	1	3	4	3	3	0	3	0	13
Lee Mayberry	G	4	11	2	9	4	5	0	1	1	2	2	0	2	2	14
Arlyn Bowers	G	2	8	1	5	0	0	0	1	1	3	2	0	1	2	5
Ron Huery		2	6	1	4	1	2	0	2	2	2	2	0	1	3	6
Roosevelt Wallace		1	2	0	0	0	0	1	3	4	0	0	0	0	2	2
Ernie Murry		1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	3
Rod Fletcher		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
Team										2
Totals		21	53	7	27	12	16	5	20	27	13	9	1	12	15	61
Player of the Game	Guy Jerome

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Virginia	34	36	70
Arkansas	29	32	61

 

Hoyas Come From Behind In Last 4 Minutes To Top ‘Nova

Villanova led 58-52 & Georgetown ends game on 13-2 run

 

11 Georgetown 1984	65
6 Villanova 2016	60

 

Boxscore
Georgetown	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Patrick Ewing	C	6	10	0	0	4	6	3	6	9	0	0	5	2	2	16
Reggie Williams	F	4	10	2	5	2	3	1	3	4	1	0	0	3	1	12
Fred Brown	F	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	2	1	0	2	0	2
David Wingate	G	4	10	0	0	3	4	0	6	6	3	1	0	1	1	11
Michael Jackson	G	3	6	1	3	3	3	0	1	1	4	1	0	4	1	10
Michael Graham		2	3	0	0	0	2	2	3	5	0	0	2	1	2	4
Horace Broadnax		2	4	1	2	1	1	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	6
Gene Smith		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	2	0	1	0	2
Bill Martin		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	2
Ralph Dalton		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	1	0	1	0
Team										3
Totals		24	50	4	10	13	19	6	28	37	15	5	8	14	8	65
Villanova	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Daniel Ochefu	C	3	6	0	0	1	2	1	7	8	0	0	1	1	5	7
Kris Jenkins	F	3	9	2	6	0	0	1	3	4	2	0	0	1	5	8
Josh Hart	F	5	11	2	4	1	2	1	6	7	3	1	0	2	2	13
Jalen Brunson	G	3	7	1	4	2	2	1	2	3	2	0	0	3	0	9
Ryan Arcidiacono	G	6	15	2	8	2	2	1	2	3	4	2	0	2	1	16
Darryl Reynolds		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0
Phil Booth		2	6	1	3	0	0	1	0	1	2	0	0	0	1	5
Mikal Bridges		1	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	1	2	0	1	3	2
Team										2
Totals		23	58	8	26	6	8	6	22	30	14	5	1	11	18	60
Player of the Game	Patrick Ewing

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Georgetown	28	37	65
Villanova	26	34	60

 

Callaway Sinks Crucial Foul Shots To Give Hoosiers The Win

 

10 Indiana 1987	76
7 UCLA 1995	75

 

Boxscore
Indiana	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Dean Garrett	C	3	5	0	0	1	2	2	6	8	0	0	2	3	3	7
Daryl Thomas	F	4	9	0	0	3	4	1	7	8	1	1	0	2	2	11
Rick Callaway	F	4	8	0	0	7	8	0	4	4	2	1	0	4	1	15
Keith Smart	G	4	8	2	4	2	2	1	2	3	3	1	0	1	2	12
Steve Alford	G	9	17	4	7	4	5	0	1	1	3	1	0	2	2	26
Steve Eyl		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	0
Joe Hillman		0	2	0	1	2	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	1	2
Todd Meier		0	0	0	0	1	2	1	1	2	1	0	0	1	3	1
Kreigh Smith		1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	2	2
Team										2
Totals		25	51	6	12	20	25	5	23	30	13	4	2	14	18	76
UCLA	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
George Zidek	C	4	7	0	0	1	2	3	5	8	1	0	0	0	5	9
Ed O’Bannon	F	5	11	1	3	3	4	2	4	6	3	1	1	3	3	14
Charles O’Bannon	F	4	7	0	0	3	4	1	3	4	1	2	1	1	2	11
Cameron Dollar	G	1	3	0	1	0	0	0	2	2	2	0	0	1	2	2
Tyus Edney	G	3	7	3	7	4	5	0	1	1	6	2	0	4	1	13
Toby Bailey		3	8	1	3	3	4	1	3	4	2	2	0	3	2	10
J.R. Henderson		2	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1	0	0	1	4	4
Ike Nwankwo		3	5	0	0	0	1	1	2	3	0	0	0	0	2	6
Kris Johnson		2	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1	0	0	0	1	4
Omm’A Givens		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	2
Team										1
Totals		28	58	5	14	14	20	8	25	34	17	7	2	13	23	75
Player of the Game	Rick Callaway				Callaway hit 2 FT on last possession to win for IU

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Indiana	37	39	76
UCLA	44	31	75

 

 

May’s Last Second Block Shot Secure Exciting Overtime Victory for Carolina

 

2 North Carolina 2005	104	2 OT
15 Ohio St. 1962	103

 

Boxscore
North Carolina	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Sean May	C	9	15	0	0	7	9	3	11	14	1	2	1	4	3	25
Jawad Williams	F	4	9	2	5	5	6	1	8	9	1	0	0	2	4	15
Jackie Manuel	F	2	4	0	0	1	2	0	3	3	3	1	1	1	1	5
Rashad McCants	G	6	14	3	6	3	5	0	4	4	5	2	0	3	4	18
Raymond Felton	G	5	11	2	5	5	5	1	2	3	10	3	0	5	2	17
Marvin Williams		5	10	0	0	6	6	1	1	2	0	1	0	2	3	16
Melvin Scott		1	4	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3
Reyshawn Terry		1	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	1	0	0	1	2	2
David Noel		1	3	1	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	3	3
Quentin Thomas		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Team										4
Totals		34	71	9	23	27	34	7	31	42	22	10	2	19	23	104
Ohio St.	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Jerry Lucas	C	10	16	0	0	5	6	5	13	18	3	1	3	1	3	25
Doug McDonald	F	4	7	0	0	1	2	1	4	5	1	0	1	2	5	9
John Havlicek	F	7	15	2	6	4	4	4	9	13	5	5	0	1	4	20
Richard Reasbeck	G	4	8	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	2	9
Mel Nowell	G	7	16	4	9	2	3	0	1	1	6	2	0	4	4	20
Gary Bradds		1	3	0	0	2	3	1	2	3	1	0	0	2	3	4
Jim Doughty		1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2
Gary Gearhart		1	4	0	2	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	3
LeRoy Frazier		1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	3	2
Don Flatt		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
Bob Knight		2	4	1	3	2	3	0	2	2	1	0	0	2	2	7
Dick Taylor		1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2
Team										4
Totals		39	80	7	20	18	25	11	31	46	20	9	4	18	31	103
Player of the Game	Raymond Felton

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	OT	OT	Final
North Carolina	44	36	11	13	104
Ohio St.	36	44	11	12	103

 

THE SOUTH REGION

 

Big Blue Press and Three-Point Shooting Downs Terps

 

1 Kentucky 1996	98
16 Maryland 1974	88

 

Boxscore
Kentucky	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Walter McCarty	C	5	9	0	0	1	2	2	5	7	1	1	2	2	3	11
Antoine Walker	F	11	19	1	2	5	7	3	7	10	3	0	0	4	2	28
Derek Anderson	F	2	6	1	3	0	0	0	3	3	3	2	0	1	5	5
Tony Delk	G	5	11	3	8	3	4	1	2	3	4	2	0	3	1	16
Anthony Epps	G	3	5	2	3	2	3	2	1	3	6	1	0	2	4	10
Ron Mercer		7	12	3	5	4	5	2	4	6	3	1	0	3	3	21
Mark Pope		1	3	0	0	0	0	2	3	5	0	0	2	1	4	2
Jeff Sheppard		1	4	1	3	2	2	1	0	1	2	0	0	1	2	5
Wayne Turner		0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	2	0
Allen Edwards		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	1	0	0
Team										0
Totals		35	70	11	24	17	24	13	26	39	23	10	4	18	26	98
Maryland	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Len Elmore	C	7	11	0	0	6	8	3	8	11	0	0	4	2	3	20
Tom McMillen	F	7	15	1	3	5	7	2	4	6	2	0	2	4	2	20
Owen Brown	F	4	7	0	0	1	2	1	5	6	1	1	1	1	5	9
John Lucas	G	8	19	5	13	5	6	0	2	2	5	3	0	5	3	26
Mo Howard	G	2	6	1	4	4	5	0	1	1	4	2	0	3	4	9
Jap Trimble		1	2	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	0	1	0	1	3	2
Tom Roy		1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1	0	0	1	1	2
Billy Hahn		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	1	0
Team										3
Totals		30	61	7	20	21	28	7	24	34	14	7	7	19	22	88
Player of the Game	Antoine Walker

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Kentucky	55	43	98
Maryland	43	45	88

 

UCLA Pulls Away From Hoosier With Second Half 14-2 Run

 

8 UCLA 1964	87
9 Indiana 1981	80

 

Boxscore
UCLA	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Fred Slaughter	C	2	4	0	0	1	2	3	6	9	0	1	1	3	3	5
Keith Erickson	F	3	6	0	0	2	2	1	8	9	2	2	0	2	1	8
Jack Hirsch	F	5	11	0	0	3	4	3	4	7	1	1	0	4	2	13
Walt Hazzard	G	7	17	2	5	7	9	0	3	3	2	2	0	2	3	23
Gail Goodrich	G	7	15	4	9	7	7	0	1	1	5	3	0	3	2	25
Kenny Washington		4	7	0	0	2	3	4	9	13	0	0	1	3	3	10
Doug McIntosh		1	2	0	0	1	2	0	1	1	1	0	0	1	2	3
Kim Stewart		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0
Chuck Darrow		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mike Higgins		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Vaughn Hoffman		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Team										3
Totals		29	62	6	14	23	29	11	33	47	11	9	2	19	16	87
Indiana	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Landon Turner	C	5	8	0	0	1	2	2	7	9	0	0	1	1	4	11
Ray Tolbert	F	6	13	1	3	3	3	1	7	8	2	1	0	2	3	16
Ted Kitchel	F	6	17	4	13	3	4	0	3	3	1	0	0	2	4	19
Randy Wittman	G	3	6	2	5	2	2	1	5	6	3	2	0	5	2	10
Isiah Thomas	G	5	14	3	8	4	5	0	4	4	6	1	0	4	3	17
Jim Thomas		1	3	1	3	0	0	0	1	1	3	2	0	2	3	3
Tony Brown		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	1	2
Steve Risley		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1	1	0	0	2	0
Glen Grunwald		1	2	0	0	0	0	1	3	4	0	0	0	0	1	2
Team										4
Totals		28	66	11	32	13	16	5	33	42	16	8	1	16	23	80
Player of the Game	Gail Goodrich

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
UCLA	36	51	87
Indiana	39	41	80

 

 

Bruins Control The Glass & Place Starting 5 in Double Figures

 

4 UCLA 1970	113
13 Oklahoma 1988	85

 

Boxscore
UCLA	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Steve Patterson	C	7	13	0	0	4	6	4	7	11	1	0	3	2	3	18
Sidney Wicks	F	8	15	0	0	6	7	7	9	16	1	1	5	4	2	22
Curtis Rowe	F	10	17	0	0	7	8	3	7	10	3	3	1	3	4	27
John Vallely	G	6	13	1	3	3	5	1	2	3	3	1	0	2	1	16
Henry Bibby	G	5	10	2	5	4	5	0	2	2	7	2	0	4	3	16
John Ecker		2	3	1	2	1	1	2	3	5	0	0	0	1	1	6
Kenny Booker		1	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	1	2	0	2	3	2
Terry Schofield		1	3	1	3	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	3
Andy Hill		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bill Siebert		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	0	0	0	0	1	0
Rick Betchley		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jon Chapman		1	2	1	2	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	3
Team										3
Totals		41	79	6	16	25	32	18	36	54	17	10	9	20	19	113
Oklahoma	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Stacey King	C	8	14	0	0	3	5	2	5	7	0	0	1	3	4	19
Harvey Grant	F	7	13	0	0	3	4	1	7	8	0	0	0	2	5	17
Dave Sieger	F	1	5	1	5	0	0	1	4	5	2	1	0	1	3	3
Mookie Blaylock	G	6	17	5	13	2	4	1	2	3	4	4	0	5	3	19
Ricky Grace	G	4	11	3	9	4	6	0	0	0	6	3	0	4	5	15
Terrence Mullins		2	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	5
Tony Martin		1	3	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	1	0	0	3	1	2
Andre Wiley		2	4	0	0	1	2	1	3	4	0	0	0	1	1	5
Mike Bell		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Art Pollard		0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0
Team										2
Totals		31	72	10	29	13	21	7	23	32	16	8	1	20	29	85
Player of the Game	Curtis Rowe

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
UCLA	58	55	113
Oklahoma	39	46	85

 

 

Siva’s Foul Shooting In Final Two Minutes Seals Victory For The Cardinals

 

5 Louisville 2013	74
12 North Carolina St. 1983	73

 

Boxscore
Louisville	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Gorgiu Dieng	C	2	4	0	0	1	2	3	6	9	0	0	1	1	2	5
Chane Behanen	F	2	5	0	0	3	6	4	5	9	0	0	0	3	1	7
Wayne Blackshear	F	4	9	1	3	2	3	1	6	7	1	2	0	2	3	11
Russ Smith	G	7	14	2	5	6	7	0	3	3	2	1	0	4	1	22
Peyton Siva	G	3	8	2	6	8	9	0	4	4	4	2	0	4	2	16
Luke Hancock		1	4	1	4	1	2	0	1	1	3	1	0	2	0	4
Montrezl Harrell		2	3	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	0	0	1	1	1	4
Stephan Van Treese		2	2	0	0	0	0	2	2	4	1	1	0	2	2	4
Kevin Ware		0	0	0	0	1	2	0	1	1	2	1	0	1	0	1
Team										3
Totals		23	49	6	18	22	31	11	30	44	13	8	2	20	12	74
N. Carolina St.	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Cozell McQueen	C	3	7	0	0	0	0	2	5	7	0	0	0	1	5	6
Thurl Bailey	F	6	12	0	1	2	3	2	6	8	1	1	3	2	3	14
Lorenzo Charles	F	3	6	0	0	0	0	1	4	5	0	0	1	1	4	6
Dereck Whittenberg	G	6	15	4	12	3	4	0	1	1	3	1	0	3	3	19
Sidney Lowe	G	3	9	2	7	3	3	0	1	1	6	2	0	2	4	11
Terry Gannon		2	5	2	5	2	3	1	2	3	2	0	0	1	3	8
Alvin Battle		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	2
Ernie Myers		3	7	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	1	4	7
Team										2
Totals		27	63	9	28	10	13	6	20	28	14	5	4	11	28	73
Player of the Game	Peyton Siva

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Louisville	43	31	74
N.C. State	30	43	73

 

 

Roy Williams’ Jayhawks Upset Roy Williams’ Tar Heels

 

14 Kansas 1997	92
3 North Carolina 2009	82

 

Boxscore
Kansas	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Scot Pollard	C	4	7	0	0	3	4	4	4	8	0	1	1	2	4	11
Raef LaFrentz	F	6	11	0	0	4	5	5	5	10	0	0	2	1	4	16
Paul Pierce	F	10	15	3	5	4	6	3	3	6	2	1	0	4	3	27
Jerod Haase	G	3	7	2	5	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	0	3	4	11
Jacque Vaughn	G	2	7	1	3	2	2	0	2	2	7	1	0	3	2	7
Ryan Robertson		1	3	1	3	1	1	0	1	1	3	0	0	1	3	4
Billy Thomas		4	9	2	5	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	2	2	10
T.J. Pugh		1	3	0	0	1	2	0	3	3	0	0	0	1	2	3
B.J. Williams		1	2	0	0	1	2	1	4	5	1	0	1	0	1	3
Nick Bradford		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
Team										4
Totals		32	65	9	21	19	26	14	25	43	18	5	4	17	27	92
North Carolina	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Tyler Hansbrough	C	7	10	0	0	8	10	2	7	9	1	1	0	2	3	22
Deon Thompson	F	3	6	0	0	2	3	0	8	8	0	0	1	1	5	8
Danny Green	F	4	10	2	4	1	2	2	4	6	5	0	1	3	2	11
Wayne Ellington	G	5	11	2	5	5	6	1	5	6	4	1	0	5	4	17
Ty Lawson	G	4	11	1	3	5	6	1	1	2	5	4	0	3	3	14
Ed Davis		2	4	0	0	1	2	1	6	7	1	0	1	2	3	5
Bobby Frasor		1	3	1	2	0	0	0	2	2	0	1	0	1	1	3
Larry Drew		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
Tyler Zeller		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	1	1	2
Team										3
Totals		27	58	6	14	22	29	7	35	45	17	7	3	18	24	82
Player of the Game	Paul Pierce

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Kansas	41	51	92
North Carolina	40	42	82

 

Blue Devils Pull Away In Final Three Minutes To Advance

 

6 Duke 1992	75
11 Connecticut 2014	68

 

Boxscore
Duke	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Christian Laettner	C	5	9	1	2	5	6	3	6	9	1	2	1	1	2	16
Brian Davis	F	2	6	0	0	3	4	1	2	3	0	0	0	0	3	7
Grant Hill	F	6	11	2	4	3	4	1	5	6	2	1	0	2	2	17
Thomas Hill	G	3	7	1	3	2	3	1	2	3	3	1	0	1	2	9
Bobby Hurley	G	4	7	2	4	3	4	0	1	1	6	0	0	1	1	13
Antonio Lang		2	4	0	0	1	1	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	2	5
Cherokee Parks		3	5	0	0	0	1	2	1	3	0	0	0	1	3	6
Marty Clark		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1	0	0	0	1	2
Team										2
Totals		26	51	6	13	17	23	8	20	30	15	4	1	6	16	75
Connecticut	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Phillip Nolan	C	2	4	0	0	2	2	2	4	6	0	0	0	0	3	6
DeAndre Daniels	F	8	14	0	0	0	0	0	7	7	1	0	1	1	1	16
Niels Giffey	F	2	5	1	3	0	0	1	4	5	1	0	0	0	2	5
Ryan Boatright	G	2	5	1	3	4	5	1	2	3	3	1	0	2	2	9
Shabazz Napier	G	8	17	3	8	3	4	2	8	10	5	1	0	4	2	22
Lasan Kromah		2	5	0	0	1	2	1	1	2	2	1	0	1	2	5
Amidah Brimah		1	2	0	0	1	2	1	3	4	0	0	1	1	3	3
Terrence Samuel		0	0	0	0	2	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	2
Team										2
Totals		25	52	5	14	13	17	8	30	40	12	3	2	9	16	68
Player of the Game	Grant Hill

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Duke	37	38	75
UConn	34	34	68

 

 

Balanced Gator Offense Offsets Incredible Game By Anthony

 

7 Florida 2007	82
10 Syracuse 2003	76

 

Boxscore
Florida	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Joakim Noah	C	5	9	0	0	3	4	2	6	8	1	0	1	2	4	13
Al Horford	F	6	11	0	0	7	9	5	8	13	2	0	3	1	1	19
Corey Brewer	F	4	9	3	7	3	3	3	2	5	1	3	0	2	2	14
Lee Humphrey	G	3	8	2	6	2	3	0	1	1	2	1	0	2	2	10
Taurean Green	G	4	9	3	7	3	5	0	1	1	6	0	0	4	3	14
Walter Hodge		2	5	1	2	1	2	0	1	1	2	1	0	1	1	6
Chris Richard		1	2	0	0	0	0	1	3	4	0	0	0	0	2	2
Dan Warner		1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1	0	0	0	1	2
Marreese Speights		1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	3	2
Team										3
Totals		27	57	9	22	19	26	11	24	38	15	5	5	13	19	82
Syracuse	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Craig Forth	C	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	0	0	2	1	5	2
Carmelo Anthony	F	12	22	2	6	5	7	4	7	11	2	1	0	3	2	31
Hakim Warrick	F	3	7	0	0	2	4	1	2	3	0	1	0	0	4	8
Kueth Duany	G	2	5	1	3	2	2	3	1	4	1	2	0	2	4	7
Gerry McNamara	G	6	15	3	7	4	4	0	1	1	5	0	0	3	1	19
Billy Edelin		2	5	0	0	3	4	0	1	1	3	2	0	1	2	7
Josh Pace		1	3	0	0	0	0	1	7	8	2	2	0	0	4	2
Jeremy McNeil		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	0
Team										3
Totals		27	60	6	16	16	21	10	21	34	13	8	3	11	24	76
Player of the Game	Al Horford

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Florida	37	45	82
Syracuse	40	36	76

 

 

‘Nova Opens Hitting 9 of First 11 Shots To Put Game Away Early

 

2 Villanova 2018	81
15 Illinois 2005	70

 

Boxscore
Villanova	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Omari Spellman	C	3	7	1	3	1	2	2	6	8	0	0	3	2	3	8
Eric Paschall	F	3	6	2	5	2	3	2	4	6	3	1	0	1	2	10
Michael Bridges	F	8	14	2	4	4	5	1	4	5	2	2	1	2	1	22
Phil Booth	G	3	6	1	2	1	2	0	3	3	4	1	0	2	2	8
Jalen Brunson	G	7	15	1	1	4	4	0	2	2	4	0	0	2	2	19
Donte DiVincenzo		3	7	1	3	2	2	1	2	3	3	1	0	0	3	9
Collin Gillespie		1	3	1	3	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	1	2	3
Tim Delaney		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree		1	2	0	0	0	0	1	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	2
Jermaine Samuels		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Team										4
Totals		29	60	9	21	14	18	7	24	35	16	6	4	10	16	81
Illinois	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
James Augustine	C	3	6	0	0	4	6	2	7	9	1	0	1	2	3	10
Roger Powell	F	3	7	0	1	0	0	4	6	10	4	2	0	1	2	6
Luther Head	F	6	14	2	7	2	2	2	5	7	2	0	0	2	4	16
Deron Williams	G	5	11	2	4	1	2	1	3	4	4	1	0	3	3	13
Dee Brown	G	7	15	4	10	5	7	0	1	1	5	2	0	4	2	23
Jack Ingram		1	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	1	1	2	2
Richard McBride		0	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	0
Nick Smith		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0
Warren Carter		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Shaun Pruitt		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fred Nkemdi		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Team										2
Totals		25	60	8	24	12	17	11	25	38	17	6	2	15	16	70
Player of the Game	Jalen Brunson

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Villanova	48	33	81
Illinois	32	38	70

 

Saturday’s East & South Region Schedule

 

East

1 – Duke 2001 vs. 9 – Kentucky 1978

4 – North Carolina St. 1974 vs. 12 – Louisville 1980

3 – Virginia 2019 vs. 11 – Georgetown 1984

2 – North Carolina  2005 vs. 10 – Indiana 1987

 

South

1 – Kentucky 1996 vs. 8 – UCLA 1964

4 – UCLA 1970 vs. 5 – Louisville 2013

6 – Duke  1992 vs. 14 – Kansas 1997

2 – Villanova 2018 vs. 7 – Florida 2007

 

Coming Tomorrow: Second Round Action From The Midwest and West Regions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Greatest NCAA Tournament That Never Was–Tuesday, March 17 Results

Bonnies Prevail In The Paint

1970 St. Bonaventure	87
1984 North Carolina	79

 

Unassociated Press: The 1970 Saint Bonaventure Bonnies dominated in the paint and taking advantage of early 1984 North Carolina turnovers to take a 10-point lead in the first eight minutes, as they cruised to an 87-79 victory.  The Bonnies now advance to the East Region as the number 16 seed where they will face the top-seeded 2001 Duke Blue Devils.

Bob Lanier led Saint Bonaventure with 31 points and 18 rebounds, and in the process he drew five fouls on Tar Heel starter Brad Daugherty.

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
St. Bonaventure	44	43	87
N. Carolina	34	45	79

Boxscore
St. Bonaventure	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Bob Lanier	C	13	21	0	0	5	8	6	12	18	0	0	4	2	3	31
Matt Gantt	F	6	13	0	0	3	5	3	5	8	1	1	1	1	4	15
GregBubba Gary	F	4	11	0	0	2	4	2	2	4	1	2	0	3	3	10
Bill Kalbaugh	G	3	7	2	5	3	4	0	2	2	3	2	0	4	3	11
Paul Hoffman	G	4	10	3	8	7	8	0	1	1	2	0	0	3	4	18
Mike Kull		1	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	1	3	2
Tom Baldwin		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	1	0	1	1	0
Team										2
Totals		31	66	5	14	20	29	11	25	38	10	6	5	15	21	87
North Carolina	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Brad Daugherty	C	2	7	0	0	1	2	1	5	6	1	0	0	2	5	5
Sam Perkins	F	7	12	0	0	5	6	2	8	10	2	1	1	3	2	19
Matt Doherty	F	2	6	2	5	2	2	1	3	4	2	0	0	5	4	8
Michael Jordan	G	6	14	3	9	7	8	1	5	6	5	2	1	3	3	22
Kenny Smith	G	3	7	2	6	5	6	1	3	4	4	2	0	5	5	13
Steve Hale		1	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	1	2	2
Joe Wolf		2	5	0	0	1	2	2	5	7	0	0	2	2	3	5
Buzz Peterson		3	7	2	6	2	2	0	1	1	3	2	0	3	2	10
Cecil Exum		0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	1	1	0	2	3	0
Team										3
Totals		24	55	9	26	22	26	7	28	38	18	8	4	24	24	79
Player of the Game	C-Bob Lanier

 

 

Terps Ride Big Offensive Night From Lucas

 

1974 Maryland	95
1970 Florida St.	85

 

Unassociated Press: The 1974 Maryland Terrapins played 37 minutes of up-tempo basketball before slowing the game down during the final three minutes to hold off the 1970 Florida State Seminoles 95-85.  Star guard John Lucas was virtually unstoppable, leading Coach Lefty Driesell’s Terps with 25 points, while narrowly missing a double-double with nine assists.  His three steals led to seven Maryland points.

Florida State stayed within striking distance thanks to strong offensive rebounding, but the Seminoles committed 22 turnovers, 10 of them via steals and never could get within six points in the second half.

Maryland advances to the South Region as the 16-seed and will face top-seed Kentucky 1996 on Thursday.

 

Score By Halves
Team	1	2	Final
Mary	52	43	95
FSU	45	40	85

 

 

Boxscore
Maryland	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Len Elmore	C	7	13	0	0	5	8	3	9	12	1	0	3	1	3	19
Tom McMillen	F	9	16	2	5	3	4	1	6	7	2	1	1	2	2	23
Owen Brown	F	4	7	0	0	1	2	1	4	5	0	1	1	1	3	9
John Lucas	G	8	17	3	7	6	7	0	1	1	9	3	0	3	2	25
Mo Howard	G	4	11	3	8	2	3	0	2	2	4	2	0	2	2	13
Tom Roy		2	4	0	0	0	0	2	3	5	0	1	1	1	2	4
Jap Trimble		1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	0	1	2
Billy Hahn		0	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	1	2	0
	Team									3
	Totals	35	71	8	21	17	24	7	27	37	19	10	6	11	17	95
Florida St.	Start	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
Dave Cowens	C	8	15	0	0	3	4	4	12	16	0	1	2	2	3	19
Willie Williams	F	10	17	0	0	2	3	3	9	12	0	0	1	1	2	22
Vernell Ellzy	F	2	5	2	5	0	0	2	2	4	3	0	1	3	2	6
Ken Macklin	G	3	7	2	6	2	2	0	1	1	2	2	0	5	4	10
Skip Young	G	2	6	1	4	4	6	1	3	4	5	1	0	3	3	9
Ron Harris		3	7	2	5	2	3	0	1	1	3	1	0	2	3	10
Rowland Garrett		2	5	0	1	0	0	1	4	5	0	0	1	1	2	4
Randy Cable		1	4	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	3
Jan Gies		1	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	2
Team									2
Totals		32	69	8	26	13	18	11	34	43	15	5	5	19	22	85
Player of the Game	John Lucas

 

Wednesday’s Schedule From Dayton

 

Midwest Region: 2008 Memphis vs. 1973 Providence

West Region: 1972 North Carolina vs. 1983 Houston

 

 

The Greatest NCAA Basketball Tournament That Never Was

No, not 2020, but the National Champions Since 1960 with the 24 best non-champions

 

You are looking live at a website, your 2020 basketball simulation network.   During the 1981 and 1994 Major League Baseball seasons, simulated games replaced the real ones. In 1982, The Greatest Baseball Game Never Played featured all-stars from National League History playing all-stars from American League History.

 

This website will hold a simulated NCAA Basketball Tournament featuring 68 of the greatest teams between 1960 and 2019. We would have added the top team this year, the Kansas Jayhawks, but they didn’t rate as highly as other non-Tournament Champions.

 

How did we choose the 68 teams? We simulated our own Selection Committee. Okay, we quickly looked at the top ranked teams according to Simple Rating System and took the 26 best non-champions from this list. The remaining 42 teams are national champions. We did not choose any team that won the National Championship in consecutive seasons, so it eliminated Four UCLA teams and one team from Cincinnati and Duke.

 

How are we going to simulate these games? Actually, these games will not be simulated. They will be played on a tabletop board strategy game. In the 1960’s through the 1980’s, Avalon Hill and Sports Illustrated featured a professional basketball game called, “Statis-Pro Basketball.” The PiRate Captain cracked the code used to rate the players in all the basketball statistics–shooting, getting open for shots, drawing and committing fouls, passing, rebounding, committing turnovers, blocking shots, stealing the ball, defense against shots, and how many minutes players could play before having fatigue.

 

The Captain made some improvements and did thorough research to determine the pace of play his favorite college teams played in certain seasons. Over the course of a couple years, The Captain refined his game until he felt good with the product he had. He made hundreds of teams from the 1960’s, 1970’s, and 1980’s, and played games by establishing game plans based on what the particular team’s coach might have planned.

 

Then, in 1986-1987, when the three-point shot and shot clock were both instituted in college basketball across the board for all teams, he began to estimate how teams in years before the three-point shot might have been able to score from behind the arc. Based on knowing who the top outside shooters were on these great teams and looking at available video, he was able to estimate the percentage and frequency with which these pre-three-point shot teams could use. FWIW, players like Pistol Pete Maravich, Rick Mount, Jerry West, Austin Carr, and Larry Bird would have made their teams considerably better had the three-point shot been in place when they played college ball.

 

How are we seeding the teams? There won’t be any 14-19 conference tournament champions from low-major conferences. So, the seedings will be true — 1 to 68. The bottom eight teams will all be #16 seeds and forced to play opening round games in Dayton for the privilege of playing the top four teams in the last 60 years!

 

We will debut the field of 68 on Sunday to help you have something to read and look forward to when there will be no real Selection Sunday.

 

Then, we will commence playing on Tuesday Night with the first two play-in games. Hopefully, you will be entertained enough. Maybe, when you see some teams before your time, you will read more about them from the past and discover new enlightenment.

PiRate Ratings Contingency Plans For College Basketball

Hello to all college basketball fans.  This is a little premature, but it is starting to become apparent that the 2020 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament might be postponed or cancelled.

 

It is our personal belief that the tournament should be re-scheduled for summer, maybe July, and then create a tournament where all 353 teams will be involved so that all fans can return to the game.  Have the bottom 194 teams play on the higher-rated home court to get from 353 to 256 teams and then play the next four rounds on the higher seeded teams’ home courts.  This will get the field down to the Sweet 16, and then the final four rounds could be played as the Sweet 16 was planned earlier this year.

If the tournament is postponed and not played in March, we are going to host our own March Madness of 68 of the best teams in modern college basketball history.  We will take all the great teams between 1960 and 2019 and pick our own 68-team bracket and then play the games with stats and post them here.

We have a college basketball strategy board game available (created by our captain), and he already has made cards for the great teams between 1960 and 1990.  He has the codes for rating the players and can even estimate the three-point shooting percentages for teams that played prior to 1987.

Included in this tournament would be all the great UCLA teams of the 1960’s and 1970’s, multiple Indiana, Duke, Kentucky, and North Carolina teams, and even a couple of greats that did not win the title, like UNLV in 1991, Houston in 1968, and Indiana in 1975.

So, if you don’t have real games to watch next week, come here for the next best thing.  John Wooden and Dean Smith are ready to come out of the old basketball court in rural Iowa to coach again!

PiRate Ratings Bracketology For March 9, 2020

Date	3/9/2020
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Kansas	Gonzaga	Dayton	Baylor
2	San Diego St.	Florida St.	Villanova	Creighton
3	Duke	Kentucky	Seton Hall	Maryland
4	Michigan St.	Louisville	Oregon	Wisconsin
5	Ohio St.	Auburn	Butler	BYU
6	West Virginia	Iowa	Penn St.	Illinois
7	Virginia	Colorado	Michigan	Arizona
8	Houston	Providence	LSU	Florida
9	Saint Mary’s	USC	Marquette	Oklahoma
10	Arizona St.	Rutgers	Texas Tech	UTAH ST.
11	East Tennessee St.	Indiana	Stanford	Xavier	Cincinnati
12	Yale	Stephen F. Austin	LIBERTY	Richmond	Wichita St.
13	Vermont	Akron	North Texas	New Mexico St.
14	BRADLEY	BELMONT	Hofstra	Colgate
15	UC-Irvine	Wright St.	Little Rock	E.  Washington
16	North Dakota St.	WINTHROP	Siena	Prairie View	St. Francis (PA)	N. Carolina A&T

Teams in all CAPS have earned automatic bids

 

The Bubble

 

Last Four BYES: Rutgers, Texas Tech, Indiana, and Stanford

Last Four IN: Xavier, Cincinnati, Richmond, and Wichita St.

 

First Four OUT: UCLA, Texas, North Carolina St., and Mississippi St.

Next Four OUT: Rhode Island, Northern Iowa, Arkansas, and Memphis

Comparison of Old & New R+T Ratings

We hope you read our piece earlier this week describing our updated R+T Rating for 2020.  If you didn’t, and if you are a new reader to the PiRate Ratings, after thanking you for stopping buy and remembering you are getting exactly what you paid for here, the following is a quick tutorial on what R+T Rating means.

1. The R+T Rating is a metric that applies only to the NCAA Tournament.

2. The R+T Rating attempts to estimate extra scoring opportunities by teams in NCAA Tournament games.

3. Over the last two decades when the needed statistics to calculate R+T Ratings, the National Champions and most of the Final Four teams rated near the top of the field in R+T Rating.  

4. The reason the R+T Rating is so important in the NCAA Tournament only is because the other metrics are better applied in an environment where half of the teams in Division 1 are below average offensively, while a separate half of the teams in Division 1 are below average defensively.  In the NCAA Tournament, almost all teams are above average offensively and defensively, so these extra scoring opportunities frequently are the difference.   It only takes one nice scoring spurt to win a tightly contested game in the Big Dance.

We used the same R+T Rating for almost two decades, only slightly tweaking the weighting for these stats.  The old R+T Rating, which we will continue to publish this year, is:

(R * 2) + (S * .5) + (6 – Opp S) + T

R = Rebounding Margin
S = Average Steals Per Game
T = Turnover Margin

This metric shows that rebounding margin is more important than turnover margin, but steals are more important than other types of turnovers.  The reason is that steals lead to the most potential points per possession.  When a team steals the ball, they are usually facing their own basket (whereas on a rebound, their backs are to their own basket).  The team committing the turnover by steal must do a 180° turn to defend, and the stealing team takes off on a fast break.

This R+T Rating helped us pick some big upsets for many years.  Teams with high R+T Ratings and adequate strengths of schedule advanced in the tournaments at the expense of teams with low R+T Ratings.  In multiple years, teams with negative R+T Ratings lost quickly in the Big Dance, even teams that were #2, 3, and 4 seeds.  We correctly picked two different Georgetown teams to be upset as heavy favorites, because those Hoya teams had negative or very low positive R+T Ratings.  For three years, we picked Vanderbilt to lose in the first game against underdogs because Vanderbilt also had negative or very low R+T Ratings.  At the other end of the spectrum, the team with the highest R+T Rating and a significantly strong schedule has cut down the nets multiple times.

If the R+T Rating has been an accurate predictor of potential NCAA Tournament success, why did we need to create a new version?  We did so, because the old version simply counted actual margins without concerning itself with possessions.  Rate stats are more accurate than counting stats.  As we have used as an example many times, a team that outrebounds its opponents 35-30 has done a better job than a team that outrebounded its opponents 43-37.  Strictly counting 43-37 is +6 and 35-30 is only +5, but 35-30 is 53.85% while 43-37 is 53.75%, so 35-30 is a tad better.  We want our stats to be as accurate as possible, so we switched to rate stats over counting stats.

But, we have an issue.  The variables now must change as well, because percentages are totally different from standard numbers.  We have tried to back-test the new variables and include a constant to try to make the outcome look the same but more accurate.

Here is the explanation for the new R+T Rating.

1. Use 4-Factors Rate Stats
A. Offensive Rebound %
B. Opponents’ Offensive Rebound %
C. Steal %
D. Opponents’ Steal %
E. Turnover %
F. Opponents’ Turnover %

2. Take the difference in each stat from the national average for each stat. There will be discrepancies in the offensive and defensive averages due to D1 vs. D2 games, so we set the national average from the mean of the offensive and defensive norms.
For example: O Reb% = 28.43 & D Reb% = 27.79, then the mean Reb% for Division 1 in 2020 is 28.1.

3. For Rebounding Rate Margin & Turnover Rate Margin take the sum of offensive and defensive rates and divide by 2.
Example: A team’s OReb Margin is +6.4% and DReb Margin is -1.2%. Reb Rate Margin would be +2.6%

4. We Keep Steal Rate Margins Separate as in original R+T.

5. The New Formula Now Becomes:

((R*8)+(S*2+((5-Opp S)*2)+(T*4)))/2.75

 

Here’s how we calculate a sample new R+T Rate.

The Big State University Pumas have these stats

Offensive Rebounding % = 34.8.  With a national Rebound % mean of 28.1, Big State’s offensive rebound rate margin is +6.7% (34.8-28.1)

Opponents’ Offensive Rebounding % = 28.6.  With a national Rebound % mean of 28.1, The defensive margin or Big State’s opponents offensive rebound margin is -0.5 (28.1-28.6)

Now we add the two margins and divide by 2  (+6.7 – 0.5) / 2 = 3.1

3.1 would be the new R number in the equation.

Big State has a steal rate of 10.6% and a defensive steal rate of 9.6%.  The national average steal rate is 9.2%.  

So, Big State’s S Rating would be +1.4 (10.6-9.2).  Their opponents’ S would be +.4% (in this case the higher the number, the worse off it is for the team).

Big State has a turnover rate of 16.8% and a defensive turnover rate of 18.2%.  The national average for turnovers is 16.9%, so Big State’s turnover rate margin would be 0.1%, and their defensive turnover rate margin would be 1.3%.

So Big State’s T Rating would be 0.7,  (.1+1.3)/2

Now we have all the numbers we need to plug into the calculation.

((R*8)+(S*2+((5-Opp S)*2)+(T*4)))/2.75

For Big State, the equation becomes:

((3.1 * 8) + (1.4 * 2 + ((5 – .4) *2) + (0.7 * 4)))/2.75 = 14.4

Big State’s R+T Rating would be 14.4, which is about average for an NCAA Tournament Team.  We must at this point look at their schedule strength to see if it merits worthiness against teams most likely to advance into additional NCAA Tournament rounds.

So, by now you are maybe wanting to see some real R+T Ratings?  We are going to show you both the old and new R+T Ratings for the current top 20 teams in the nation.

Here is the old R+T list with the schedule strength.  For schedule strength, 50.0 is average.  55.0 and higher means the team has played a tough schedule.  Below 45.0 means the team has played a weak schedule.  Usually national champions have a strength of schedule between 56 and 62, and most Final Four Teams have strengths of schedule between 52 and 62.

Old R+T

Team	R+T No.	SOS
Gonzaga	24.6	53.9
Houston	23.0	55.8
West Virginia	20.6	60.4
Kansas	17.0	62.3
Baylor	17.0	59.4
Duke	16.5	58.6
San Diego St.	15.9	53.6
Louisville	15.3	57.6
Colorado	14.4	57.6
Maryland	13.1	59.9
Florida St.	12.8	57.9
Butler	11.9	59.7
Kentucky	11.9	56.7
Penn St.	10.3	59.8
Dayton	9.4	54.4
Iowa	9.4	60.8
Marquette	8.1	59.8
Villanova	7.5	60.0
Seton Hall	4.9	60.4
Creighton	2.2	60.3

 

Looking at the old R+T, the Big East appears to be a bit overrated this year.  The four Top 20 teams with the lowest R+T Ratings are all Big East teams.

Until last night, Duke had a much more impressive R+T than they do today, but losing by 22 to North Carolina State, and getting outrebounded and committing more turnovers and having the ball stolen more against the Wolf Pack led to the Blue Devils dropping down to sixth.

Gonzaga’s R+T is about where it was when the Bulldogs advanced to the National Championship Game against North Carolina a few years back.  At the moment, their schedule strength is a tad too low, but GU has games remaining against Saint Mary’s and BYU and likely another game against one of the two in the WCC Championship Game.  The Zags’ SOS could move up a little.

 

 

New R+T Rating

 

Team	R+T Rate	SOS
West Virginia	26.5	60.4
Gonzaga	21.5	53.9
Houston	20.9	55.8
Baylor	18.7	59.4
Duke	18.3	58.6
Colorado	15.3	57.6
Kansas	14.4	62.3
Florida St.	12.7	57.9
San Diego St.	12.7	53.6
Louisville	11.9	57.6
Maryland	10.7	59.9
Iowa	9.6	60.8
Penn St.	8.6	59.8
Butler	7.6	59.7
Villanova	5.7	60.0
Marquette	4.1	59.8
Kentucky	3.8	56.7
Seton Hall	3.1	60.4
Dayton	1.6	54.4
Creighton	-5.5	60.3

 

The new R+T gives a little more credit to three of the Big East teams.  Obviously, lower possessions per game in the Big East are partly to blame for lower counting stats, but on the whole, this does not look like a great potential year for the Big East.

Look at the top four teams here.  All four are teams that are west of the Mississippi River.  There hasn’t been an NCAA Champion from west of the Mississippi River since Kansas in 2008.  There hasn’t been an NCAA Champion from west of the Rockies since Arizona in 1997.  Did you know that the last 11 NCAA Champions came from the Eastern Time Zone?  And, did you know that the last NCAA Champion from the Pacific Time Zone was UCLA in 1995?

PiRate Ratings NCAA Tournament For Sunday, March 31, 2019

 

Home	Rating	HCA	Visitor	Rating	Spread
Kentucky	118.3	0.0	Auburn	116.5	1.8
Duke	122.1	0.0	Michigan St.	121.2	0.9

Today’s Schedule

Team	Team	TIME (EDT)	TV	LOCATION
Kentucky	Auburn	2:20 PM	CBS	Kansas City
Duke	Michigan St.	5:05 PM	CBS	Washington, D.C.

 

Bracketnomics 2019: Picking The Elite 8

Team	SOS	TS Marg	OReb%	DReb%	TOV%	DTOV%	R+T
Gonzaga	56.36	17.3	30.7	73.6	12.9	16.5	15.0
Texas Tech	59.03	10.2	27.6	72.0	16.0	20.0	4.2

Texas Tech enjoys a slight SOS edge, but Gonzaga’s exceptional R+T Rating is a major factor in this game.  Gonzaga will enjoy a modest rebounding advantage at both ends of the court, while the Bulldogs will be able to withstand the Red Raiders’ ball-hawking ability.  Thus, turnover margin should be close to even.  Gonzaga’s TS% Margin is somewhat better here, and the SOS advantage by TTU is mostly negated.

Prediction: Gonzaga by 6 to 11 points

 

Team	SOS	TS Marg	OReb%	DReb%	TOV%	DTOV%	R+T
Virginia	59.89	12.3	29.7	75.0	12.9	15.8	10.2
Purdue	61.14	3.6	34.0	74.0	13.5	16.6	11.5

Purdue’s SOS and R+T Rating are marginally better, while Virginia holds a commanding TS% Margin advantage.  Purdue should grab a few additional offensive rebounds in this game, while turnovers should be relatively close.  This has the makings of an exciting close game, just like so many others in this year’s tournament.  In this game, the Bracketnomics cannot pick a conclusive winner, so other factors must be included.  Virginia has been a little more consistent in matching their statistical data, while Purdue has been a little more varied.  I will go with the more consistent team.

Prediction: Virginia by 2 to 7 points

 

Team	SOS	TS Marg	OReb%	DReb%	TOV%	DTOV%	R+T
Kentucky	60.76	9.8	36.6	74.7	15.8	16.0	16.2
Auburn	60.34	1.9	32.2	67.8	14.6	21.8	2.7

The effect of the Chuma Okeke injury can only be estimated for Auburn, while Kentucky’s P.J. Washington appears to be close to 100% for this game after playing well against Houston.

You would expect conference rivals at this point of the season to have similar SOS’s, and these two teams do.  Kentucky’s R+T Rating is so superior in this game, and their TS% Margin is considerably better, so this makes it a potential blowout game.  Auburn will force the Wildcats into a few extra turnovers, but the rebounding edge could be scary in this game, as the Big Blue might be able to win the boards by more than a 60-40% advantage.  

During the regular season, Kentucky beat Auburn both times.  It was a close game in Auburn, but the Wildcats breezed to an easy win in Lexington.

Prediction: Kentucky by 10 to 15 points

 

Team	SOS	TS Marg	OReb%	DReb%	TOV%	DTOV%	R+T
Duke	62.63	9.8	35.5	71.0	14.7	17.0	12.1
Michigan St.	61.29	14.0	33.8	74.1	16.4	12.7	12.3

This game has the makings of another classic.  The data predicts a close contest.  Duke’s SOS advantage is minimal, and the R+T Ratings basically wash.  Michigan State’s TS% Margin mostly comes from a better 3-point shooting ability, and only slightly better defense.  Duke’s big advantage comes in turnover margin.  The Blue Devils have the ability to exploit the Spartans’ real liability, as Sparty is prone to turning the ball over, while Duke is a competent team when it comes to forcing turnovers.  Michigan State’s normal rebounding strength will be somewhat negated if not totally negated in this game.

It isn’t a slam dunk win for Coach K over Coach Izzo, but the Blue Devils have more going for themselves in the data for this one.

Prediction: Duke by 5 to 10 points

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings NCAA Tournament For Friday, March 29, 2019

Home	Rating	HCA	Visitor	Rating	Spread
Michigan St.	121.0	0.0	LSU	114.5	6.5
North Carolina	121.4	0.0	Auburn	115.9	5.5
Duke	122.4	0.0	Virginia Tech	115.4	7.0
Kentucky	118.3	0.0	Houston	116.0	2.3

 

Tonight’s Schedule

Team	Team	TIME (EDT)	TV	LOCATION
LSU	Michigan St.	7:09 PM	CBS	Washington, D.C.
Auburn	N. Carolina	7:29 PM	TBS	Kansas City
Va. Tech	Duke	9:39 PM	CBS	Washington, D.C.
Houston	Kentucky	9:59 PM	TBS	Kansas City