National Champions - combined margin of victory

[SWC75]

This is a ranking of national champions since the tournament went to 64 teams in 1985 by adding their margins of victory in the 6 games they had to win to secure the title.

Kentucky ’96 129
Villanova ’16 124
North Carolina ’09 121
UNLV ’90 112
Villanova ’18 106
Duke ’01 100
Louisville ’13 97
Florida ’06 96
North Carolina ’93 94
Duke ’15 93
Michigan State ’00 92
Duke ’10 87
UCLA ’95 86
Florida ’07 85
Kansas ’08 85
Duke ’91 84
Maryland ’02 84
North Carolina ’05 83
Connecticut ’04 80
Kentucky ’98 80
Duke ’92 75
Connecticut ’11 72
Connecticut ’99 71
Kentucky ’12 71
Louisville ’86 71
Arkansas ’94 67
North Carolina ’17 67
Indiana ’87 63
Michigan ’89 59
Syracuse ’03 54
Kansas ’88 53
Connecticut ’14 47
Arizona ’97 31
Villanova ’85 30

(But they’re all champs.)

 

[SWC75]

Strength of NCAA tournament schedule

(16 points for beating a #1 seed, 15 for a #2 seed, etc. Shortcut: If you played 6 #1 seeds in a row, you’d get 96 points. So add the actual seed numbers and subtract from 96 for the net total.)

Villanova ’85 76
Connecticut ’14 68
Villanova ’16 67
North Carolina ’93 63
North Carolina ’17 62
Syracuse ’03 62
Duke ’92 61
North Carolina ’09 61
Florida ’07 60
Kentucky ’96 60
Kentucky ’98 60
Maryland ’02 60
Michigan ’89 60
Kentucky ’12 59
UCLA ’95 59
Villanova ’18 59
Arizona ’97 58
Duke ’10 58
Connecticut ’11 57
Duke ’15 57
Kansas ’88 57
Connecticut ’04 56
Duke ’01 56
Duke ’91 55
Indiana ’87 54
North Carolina ’05 54
Michigan State ’00 53
Arkansas ’94 52
Connecticut ’99 51
Louisville ’86 51
Florida ’06 50
Louisville ’13 45
Kansas ’08 48
UNLV ’90 42

 

[SWC75]

Since we won our only championship, every team that has won it was winning their second title or better except Florida '06, who won their second the next year.

2004 Connecticut #2
2005 North Carolina #4
2006 Florida #1
2007 Florida #2
2008 Kansas #3
2009 North Carolina #5
2010 Duke #4
2011 Connecticut #3
2012 Kentucky #8
2013 Louisville #3
2014 Connecticut #4
2015 Duke #5
2016 Villanova #2
2017 North Carolina #6
2018 Villanova #3

We're due.

 

[omniorange]

Since we won our only championship, every team that has won it was winning their second title or better except Florida '06, who won their second the next year.

2004 Connecticut #2
2005 North Carolina #4
2006 Florida #1
2007 Florida #2
2008 Kansas #3
2009 North Carolina #5
2010 Duke #4
2011 Connecticut #3
2012 Kentucky #8
2013 Louisville #3
2014 Connecticut #4
2015 Duke #5
2016 Villanova #2
2017 North Carolina #6
2018 Villanova #3

We're due.

Interesting. And in terms of this century so far, only three won their first - Maryland (02), SU (03), and Florida (06).

The last two decades of the previous century, that number was eight - Louisville (80), Georgetown (84), Nova (85), Michigan (89), UNLV (90), Arkansas (94), Arizona (97) and UConn (99). And of those 8, only three Louisville, Nova, and UConn went on to win multiple.

So it seems to me the next most likely to go from 1 NC to two will come from the grouping of SU, Michigan, and Arizona.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[UnknownOrange]

For you Vegas people - Villanova went 6-0 ATS in 2016 and 6-0 ATS in 2018 in the tournament. Incredible