7 Fun Facts about This Year’s Final Four
This year’s Final Four is filled with two teams that are making their first Final Four appearance ever (Texas Tech and Auburn), another team that hasn’t been to a Final Four since 1984, and only one true basketball blueblood.
So who’s going to win it all? There’s no way to know for sure, even though Virginia is the current betting favorite, but here are 7 fun facts to prepare you for this year’s Final Four and to give you some fun facts to talk about as this weekend’s Madness unfolds.
#1: Tom Izzo’s March Madness Magic
Did you know that Tom Izzo has led his Michigan State Spartans to an impressive EIGHT Final Fours? It’s true. He’s been to 8 Final Fours in 24 seasons, which means he’s been to the Final Four an astounding 33% of his time at Michigan State (8/24).
But before you get too impressed with that stat, keep in mind he’s only cut down the nets once in his 7 previous trips (14.2%). As a comparison, Coach K (sorry, it’s too much work to look up how to spell his name) has been to 12 Final Fours in his 38 seasons at Duke (32.5% of his seasons as head coach) while winning 5 titles (42% of his trips to the Final Four). John Wooden went to 12 Final Fours in his 26 seasons at UCLA (46%), winning 10 national championships (an astounding 83% of the time he made the Final Four).
But making the Final Four more often than Bryce Harper gets a base hit is still an impressive feat for Coach Izzo, who has a chance to raise his winning percentage to 25% with a win this year. Here are a few other coaches who’ve accomplished the same feat:
- John Calipari has been to the Final Four 3 times in the 9 seasons he’s been at Kentucky bringing him in at 33%.
- Roy Williams has been to the Final Four 5 times in his 15 seasons at North Carolina which also comes out to an even 33%.
Surprisingly, Bill Self, with all the amazing success he’s had at Kansas has ONLY been to the Final Four 3 out of the 15 seasons he’s been at Kansas (20%). This makes you wonder why Kansas even bothers to keep him around. Just kidding, Bill Self is a boss and every school in the country not named Duke, North Carolina, or Michigan State would love to have him (we’re looking at you, UCLA).
Before we move on, guess who else just booked a ticket on the 33% train? That’s right, Chris Beard.
In only his third season at Texas Tech, he’s led the Red Raiders to their first Final Four, keeping him on pace with Tom Izzo, Coach K, John Calipari, and Roy Williams. The only difference is that he’s done it at Texas Tech which isn’t exactly known as a basketball blueblood. At least not yet.
#2: Virginia’s First Final Four Since 1984
The last time Virginia made the Final Four was 1984 when they were led by co-captain Rick Carlisle who’s now better known as the current head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. So how did Carlisle’s squad fare?
The Cavaliers ended up losing the 1984 Final Four 49–47 to a talented Houston team led by the Dream himself — Hakeem Olajuwon.
Speaking of losing 49–47, that’s roughly the score everyone expects from this year’s national championship game if Virginia ends up playing Texas Tech. We’ll see, but that might end up being optimistic with the first team to 40 winning it all.
#3: The State of Texas’s Final Four Drought
The state of Texas has been in and out of drought’s the last 15 years, but one drought they couldn’t get through until this year is reaching the Final Four because no team from Texas has made it to the Final Four since Rick Barnes took the Longhorns there in 2003.
That team was led by a scrappy point guard named TJ Ford who ended up losing his Final Four matchup to freshman Carmelo Anthony and eventual national champion Syracuse.
#4: The Last Texas Team to Win It All
The only Texas team to ever win a National Championship in basketball was Texas Western in 1966. They were also the first team to win a national championship with an all-black starting lineup, inspiring the book and film Glory Road.
Texas Western is now better known as (gasp) UTEP, which means UTEP is the only school in Texas with a national title in basketball. That’s hard to believe, but maybe Texas Tech will change that story this year.
#5: Top 100 Talent
Every team in this year’s Final Four has AT LEAST five Top 100 recruits, except for Texas Tech. Michigan State has 7, Auburn has 5, Virginia has 5, and Texas Tech has…0.
It’s clear that no one has done more with less than Chris Beard. We also know which school hasn’t been paying Top 100 players to play for their program.
Too soon? It’s OK, the NCAA will figure the pay for play issue out soon. Probably. Hopefully. Maybe?
#6: Defense Wins Championships…or Does It?
Texas Tech has the #1 ranked defense in the nation per KenPom.com, which means we can hand them the title now since defense wins championships, right? Well, hold that thought.
In the last 17 years, the #1 defense has only won the national championship once while the #1 offense has won three times, including last year’s dominant run by Villanova. This year’s #1 offense was Gonzaga, and we all know that they got wrecked in the Elite Eight.
So what about Texas Tech’s offense? They came into the tournament ranked #30 which doesn’t bode well for winning a title since 9 of the last 11 national champions had top 7 offenses. HOWEVER, UConn won in 2011 ranked #19 (we’re looking at you Kemba Walker) and again in 2014 ranked #39 (we see you Shabazz ). Texas Tech’s offense has also improved to #10 since February 2, which has made them a much more dangerous matchup in the tournament. Just ask Northern Kentucky, Buffalo, Michigan (especially Michigan), and Gonzaga if you don’t agree.
#7: How Good Is Texas Tech’s Defense?
Not only is Texas Tech’s defense really good, it’s also historically good. Let me explain.
Texas Tech has an adjusted defensive efficiency rating of 84.0 points per 100 possessions per KenPom.com. That’s 2.2 points better than Michigan’s #2 defense and 4.7 fewer points per 100 possessions than Virginia’s #5 ranked defense. But it gets even better.
Texas Tech has the #1 ranked defense since KenPom has been measuring defensive efficiency in 2001. That includes the dominant 38–1 Kentucky team that ended up losing to Wisconsin in the 2015 Final Four. Kentucky’s defensive efficiency ranking was 84.4 points per game.
Texas Tech’s defense also forces turnovers on 23% of possessions, which could pose problems for Michigan State which already turns it over on 18% of possessions.
So yes, this year’s Texas Tech defense is really, really good, not just 2019 good.
Who’s Going to Win It All?
So again, who’s going to win it all?
The current betting favorite is Virginia at 8/5 followed by Michigan State at 7/4, Texas Tech at 4/1, and Auburn 7/1.
Texas Tech’s motto also happens to be 4:1 because as coach Beard says, “The mental is to the physical as four is to one — mental toughness in basketball just like in life, overcoming adversity.”
We’ll see if Texas Tech’s mental toughness and defensive efficiency will win out, if Michigan State will continue basketball royalty’s reign, if Virginia can win their first ever national championship, or if Charles Barkley’s alma mater will stay hot and do something he couldn’t do by winning it all in their first trip to the Final Four.
Here’s to close games, good basketball, and hopefully someone besides Michigan State winning it all!
About the Author:
Joe Putnam is the owner of ConversionEngine, a performance marketing agency that helps eCommerce stores “win it all” by growing from 6 to 7 figures and 7 figures to 8. Visit ConversionEngine.co now to learn more.
