34 intriguing numbers about this year’s Sweet 16 teams (2024)

Many different kinds of teams have shown up in the Sweet 16. Many different numbers, too. Here are a few:

6— Previous national champions still playing. Arizona, Connecticut, Duke, Marquette, North Carolina and North Carolina State.

1— Previous champions from the past five NCAA Tournaments still playing. Only defending champion Connecticut. Kansas, Baylor, Virginia, Villanova – all gone.

6— Teams with no titles but Final Four experience still playing: Gonzaga, Houston, Illinois, Iowa State, Purdue and San Diego State. All but Iowa State have played in the national championship game. The other five are 0-7 there. Iowa State’s lone Final Four trip was 80 years ago.

4— Teams in the Sweet 16 who have never been to a Final Four. Alabama, Clemson, Creighton and Tennessee.

90 — Tournament appearances for the four teams never to get to the Final Four.

❓16 questions for the Sweet 16

1— Teams in the top final Associated Press top-10 who are not in the Sweet 16. Auburn.

3— Teams that did not get a single vote in the AP pre-season top-25 who are in the Sweet 16: Clemson, Iowa State and North Carolina State.

1937— The last time Creighton and Tennessee met in basketball until Friday night in Detroit. Tennessee won the first time.

23— Combined Final Fours in the past 60 tournaments for Friday night opponents in Dallas, Duke and Houston.

0— Previous meetings between Duke and Houston.

22— Connecticut’s average winning margin in its past eight NCAA Tournament games.

⛹️ 2024 MARCH MADNESS:Men's 2024 tournament schedule, dates

31— Minutes the Huskies have trailed in those eight games out of 320, and never by more than eight points.

12-for-46 – Connecticut’s 3-point shooting in the tournament so far, so maybe opponents can draw some hope from that.

7-0 — Purdue’s record this season against teams who are now in the Sweet 16. The Boilermakers have beaten Gonzaga, Tennessee, Marquette, Arizona, Alabama and Illinois twice.

4 — Teams who were ranked No. 1 at some point this season and are still playing. Arizona, Connecticut, Houston and Purdue.

1 — Teams who were ranked No. 1 at some point this season and are no longer around. Kansas.

13 — Tournament games won so far by the lower-seeded team. The biggest gap was No. 14 Oakland over No. 3 Kentucky.

53 — Total of all the seeds added up in this year’s Sweet 16.

78 — Total of all the seeds added up in last year’s Sweet 16.

6 — Teams ranked in the top 11 scoring offenses this season who are still playing. No. 1 Alabama, No. 3 Arizona, No. 7 Gonzaga, No. 9 Illinois, No. 11 Purdue.

2 — Teams ranked in the top 11 scoring defenses who are still playing. No. 1 Houston and No. 4 Iowa State.

7 — Teams from last year’s Sweet 16 who returned. Alabama, Connecticut, Creighton, Gonzaga, Houston, San Diego State, Tennessee.

2 — Sweet 16 teams that weren’t even in the tournament last March. North Carolina and Clemson. The Tigers won 23 games, finished tied for third in the ACC and didn’t get a bid.

2016 — The last time a defending champion — Duke — made it back to the round of 16 the next season, until UConn this week. Six consecutive champions had not been able to do that.

MEN'S BRACKET CHALLENGE GAME:Check your bracket here

5 — Teams to score at least 100 points in a game the past weekend.

6 — Teams to score at least 100 points in a game in the previous 10 tournaments.

1 — Overtime games in the entire 2023 NCAA Tournament.

5 — Overtime games in the first week of 2024 the tournament.

45 — Years the NCAA has been seeding the tournament.

41— Years a double-digit seed has advanced to the Sweet 16. This year, it’s No. 11 North Carolina State.

3— Teams from the Mountain and Pacific time zones in the Sweet 16. Arizona, Gonzaga and San Diego State.

0— National champions from the Mountain and Pacific time zones for the past 26 years.

✍️Tracking 2024 March Madness men's records by conference

4— Players in the top 20 nationally in scoring this season who are still playing. No. 1 Zach Edey from Purdue, No. 3 Terrence Shannon Jr. from Illinois, No. 10 Jaedon LeDee from San Diego State, No. 11 Mark Sears from Alabama, No. 13 RJ Davis from North Carolina, No. 18 Dalton Knecht from Tennessee.

1— Schools with both men and women in the Sweet 16 so far. Duke, But Connecticut, Creighton, Gonzaga, North Carolina State and Tennessee, have a chance to join the list Monday night.