Wednesday, March 22, 2000
Sweet 16 facts
• 1. Conference tournaments mean nothing in regards to NCAA success. Four teams in the Sweet 16 won their league tournaments; six lost in the quarterfinals.
• 2. How well a team plays approaching the tournament means little in regards to NCAA success. The average stretch-run record for the remaining teams: 7-3. Seton Hall, North Carolina and Syracuse were 5-5.
• 3. The average seed for the remaining teams is a No. 5, the same as in 1999.
• 4. Only two of the top 10 teams in the final Ratings Percentage Index rankings remaining in the tournament, along with only four of the top 10 in the final Associated Press rankings.
• 5. Duke's 13 players come from 13 different states.
• 6. California has 15 players on the rosters of the Sweet 16 teams; next in line are Indiana and Florida, both with 14.
• 7. Fourteen countries produced at least one player on a Sweet 16 roster, including the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Cameroon.
• 8. Iowa State forward Marcus Fizer, the NCAA's No. 4 scorer at 23.2 points per game, is the only player still in the tournament who ranks among the NCAA's top 50 scorers.
• 9. Wisconsin's Mark Vershaw averages 12.2 points; that's the lowest average to lead any Sweet 16 team.
• 10. The best statistical indicator of tournament success is field goal percentage. Eight of the top 20 shooting teams are alive, compared to four of the top 20 in field goal defense. Teams that get good shots and make them win.
• 11. Gonzaga is the first team to make consecutive Sweet 16 appearances from a mid-major conference since Tulsa did it out of the Missouri Valley in 1994 and 1995.
• 12. Seven of the Wooden Award's 22 finalists (Fizer, Michigan State's Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson, Oklahoma State's Desmond Mason, Duke's Chris Carrawell and Shane Battier and Etan Thomas of Syracuse) are still playing.
• 13. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has coached more games in the NCAA Tournament (65) than Gonzaga's Mark Few has coached, period (34).
• 14. Krzyzewski has won more tournament games (50) than Miami, Gonzaga, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Tulsa and Iowa State put together.
• 15. Duke's Carrawell, Battier and Nate James and Michigan State's Peterson, Cleaves, Andre Hutson, A.J. Granger and Charlie Bell and Purdue's Brian Cardinal, Jaraan Cornell and Michael Robinson will play in the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive year.
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