***Official 2021 NCAA Tournament Thread***

[HoopsTournament]

Top Single Game Performances of the Tournament through the Elite Eight

Category	Number	Player	Team	Opponent	Round
Points	36​	Luka Garza	Iowa	Oregon	Round of 32
Field Goals	14​	Luka Garza	Iowa	Oregon	Round of 32
Field Goals without a Miss	8​	Roman Silva	Oregon State	Tennessee	Round of 64
3-pt Field Goals	7​	Buddy Boeheim	Syracuse	San Diego State	Round of 64
	7​	Sean McNeil​	West Virginia	Syracuse	Round of 32
3-pt Field Goals without a Miss	5​	Jabari Walker	Colorado	Georgetown	Round of 64
Free Throws	15​	Ethan Thompson	Oregon State	Oklahoma State	Round of 32
Free Throws without a Miss	12​	Max Abmas	Oral Roberts	Florida	Round of 32
Rebounds	16​	Mezie Offurum	Mt. St. Mary's	Texas Southern	First Four
Defensive Rebounds	16​	Mezie Offurum	Mt. St. Mary's	Texas Southern	First Four
Offensive Rebounds	11​	Justin Smith	Arkansas	Oral Roberts	Sweet Sixteen
Assists	13​	McKinley Wright	Colorado	Georgetown	Round of 64
Blocks	7​	Neemias Queta	Utah State	Texas Tech	Round of 64
Steals	5​	Damien Daniels	Abilene Christian	Texas	Round of 64
	5​	Carlos Jurgens	Oral Roberts	Ohio State	Round of 64
	5​	Justin Smith	Arkansas	Colgate	Round of 64
	5​	Jared Butler	Baylor	Hartford	Round of 64
	5​	Cade Cunningham	Oklahoma State	Oregon State	Round of 32

 

[BigJCy]

Sweet 16 numbers were up but Elite 8 numbers way down:

 

[HoopsTournament]

Top Singe Game Team Performances Through Elite Eight

Category	Number	Team	Opponent	Round
Points	98​	Gonzaga	Norfolk State	Round of 64
Field Goals	38​	Oregon	Iowa	Round of 32
Field Goals Percentage	60.7%​	Colorado	Georgetown	Round of 64
3-pt Field Goals	16​	Alabama	Maryland	Round of 32
	16​	Colorado	Georgetown	Round of 64
3-pt Field Goal Percentage	64.0%​	Colorado	Georgetown	Round of 64
Free Throws	32​	Oregon State	Oklahoma State	Round of 32
Free Throw Percentage	100%​	Alabama	Maryland	Round of 32
	100%​	Drexel	Illinois	Round of 64
Rebounds	49​	Oregon State	Oklahoma State	Round of 32
Defensive Rebounds	41​	Oregon State	Oklahoma State	Round of 32
Offensive Rebounds	21​	Connecticut	Maryland	Round of 64
Assists	27​	Colorado	Georgetown	Round of 64
	27​	Gonzaga	Norfolk State	Round of 64
Blocks	11​	Oregon State	Oklahoma State	Round of 32
Steals	15​	Baylor	Hartford	Round of 64

 

[Cyched]

Sweet 16 numbers were up but Elite 8 numbers way down:

I blame the commercials

 

[cyclones500]

Top Singe Game Team Performances Through Elite Eight

Category	Number	Team	Opponent	Round
Points	98​	Gonzaga	Norfolk State	Round of 64
Field Goals	38​	Oregon	Iowa	Round of 32
Field Goals Percentage	60.7%​	Colorado	Georgetown	Round of 64
3-pt Field Goals	16​	Alabama	Maryland	Round of 32
	16​	Colorado	Georgetown	Round of 64
3-pt Field Goal Percentage	64.0%​	Colorado	Georgetown	Round of 64
Free Throws	32​	Oregon State	Oklahoma State	Round of 32
Free Throw Percentage	100%​	Alabama	Maryland	Round of 32
	100%​	Drexel	Illinois	Round of 64
Rebounds	49​	Oregon State	Oklahoma State	Round of 32
Defensive Rebounds	41​	Oregon State	Oklahoma State	Round of 32
Offensive Rebounds	21​	Connecticut	Maryland	Round of 64
Assists	27​	Colorado	Georgetown	Round of 64
	27​	Gonzaga	Norfolk State	Round of 64
Blocks	11​	Oregon State	Oklahoma State	Round of 32
Steals	15​	Baylor	Hartford	Round of 64

Thanks for compiling.

Jeepers, I didn't realize Oregon State made 32 FTs vs. Oklahoma State (I wasn't able to watch that full game) -- checked full-box, 32 of 35. (21 FGs). Wow.

 

[cyclones500]

I blame the commercials

Meh. If you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. Possibly 170 times each, during first 2 weekends.

 

[HoopsTournament]

Some Advanced Stats - Compiled from Sports-Reference.com. Here is a glossary of some of the terms:

Glossary | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Glossary of statistics used on Sports Reference College Basketball

www.sports-reference.com

Fastest Pace - Arkansas vs. Colgate - 79.4
Slowest Pace - Baylor vs. Villanova - 57.5
Highest Effective FG Pct - Colorado vs. Georgetown - 75%
Lowest Effective FG Pct - Appalachian State vs. Norfolk State - 30.6%
Highest Turnover Pct - Texas vs. Abilene Christian - 32.7% (Basically, they turned it over 1 out of every 3 possessions)
Lowest Turnover Pct - LSU vs. Michigan - 3.6%
Highest Offensive Rebound Pct - Houston vs. Cleveland State - 51.7%
Lowest Offensive Rebound Pct - Colorado vs. Georgetown - 5.0% (Good thing they had a very high eff FG Pct)
Best Offensive Rating - Alabama vs. Maryland - 145.4
Best Defensive Rating - Baylor vs. Hartford - 70.1

 

[HoopsTournament]

Advanced Stats for the Final Four Teams for their tournament games.

Team	Pace	eFG Pct	TO Pct	Off Reb Pct	Off Rating	Def Rating
Baylor	67.4​	50.6%​	8.8%​	30.8%​	110.9​	90.2​
Gonzaga	72.2​	61.4%​	14.3%​	32.7%​	122.2​	89.1​
Houston	63.3​	45.7%​	10.2%​	43.9%​	109.9​	88.3​
UCLA	64.2​	49.7%​	8.6%​	28.2%​	107.7​	92.9​

Some observations:

• Gonzaga has played at the fastest pace while Houston and UCLA have played at a much slower pace
• Gonzaga has by-far had the best effective FG Pct while Houston has had the lowest
• Gonzaga has turned it over the most while Baylor and UCLA have protected the ball the most
• Houston has been the best offensive rebounding team, UCLA the worst
• Gonzaga has by-far been the best offensive team
• All four have been very close defensively with Houston the best and UCLA the worst.

 

[cyclones500]

From what I call tell, this is the first time in NCAAT history that all Final Four schools are located west of Mississippi River.

Regardless of semifinal results, title game will involve two west-of-M-River schools for only the 4th time. Previous occurrences (champion listed first):

• 1995: UCLA vs Arkansas
• 1988: Kansas vs Oklahoma
• 1956: San Francisco vs Iowa

 

[Acylum]

I wonder if there’s ever been a 14 point spread for a semi final before.

 

[CycloneErik]

I wonder if there’s ever been a 14 point spread for a semi final before.

Probably the Larry Johnson-Stacey Augmon Vegas teams, if anyone relatively recently.

Or Kentucky, maybe.

 

[cyclones500]

I wonder if there’s ever been a 14 point spread for a semi final before.

According to article on Yahoo Sports:

Since 1996, only two other National Semifinal matchups with a double-digit spread.
1999: (1) Duke -11 vs. (1) Michigan State
2016: (1) North Carolina -10 vs. (10) Syracuse
(2013 was close, (1) Louisville -9.5 vs. (9) Wichita State)

There hasn't been a national championship game with a double-digit point spread since 1996, when Kentucky was -14 against Syracuse.

 

[cyclones500]

From the Minutiae Query File: F4 tip-off times are set for 5:14 an 8:34. Not 5:15 and 8:35. But 14 and 34.

Anyone know if there's a reason for that, from broadcast standpoint? Or is it a "because we can" type of thing?

PS: Get off my lawn!

 

[Acylum]

From the Minutiae Query File: F4 tip-off times are set for 5:14 an 8:34. Not 5:15 and 8:35. But 14 and 34.

Anyone know if there's a reason for that, from broadcast standpoint? Or is it a "because we can" type of thing?

PS: Get off my lawn!

I think they made all times earlier once West Virginia was eliminated.

 

[stormchaser2014]

Not liking the bright blue floor.

 

[cyclones500]

U.S. presidents in office the previous time each team was in Final Four.

Baylor: Truman
Gonzaga: Trump
Houston: Reagan
UCLA: G.W. Bush

 

[heitclone]

Thought I heard today that Sampson is 22-0 against Baylor...that's nuts. This should be a good one.

 

[Neptune78]

Mayer may be the key for Baylor tonight.

It will be interesting to see how many minutes Vital gets in this one.

 

[cyclones500]

@HoopsTournament might have posted something like this already in the thread and I overlooked, so SIAP.

From 1985 to current, Final Four without a team from either ACC or Big Ten (at the time games were played).*

2021: West Coast (Gonzaga); Big 12 (Baylor); American (Houston); Pac-12 (UCLA).
2006: Pac-12 (UCLA); SEC (2) (Florida, LSU); then-Colonial (George Mason).
2003: Big East (Marquette); then-Big East (Syracuse); Big 12 (2) (Kansas, Texas).
1996: SEC (2) (Kentucky, Mississippi State); then-Big East (Syracuse); A-10 (UMass).
1985: Big East (3) (Villanova, Georgetown, St John’s); then-Metro (Memphis State).

* If I missed any, please correct me.

 

[cyclones500]

I don't like the lean-into-imminent-contact foul thing.