Crunching the numbers from thrilling 2nd weekend of tourney
The NCAA Tournament has its Final Four after this weekend’s bout of March Madness.
On Saturday, the No. 1-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs blew away eleventh-seeded Xavier Musketeers, 83-59, while No. 3-seeded Oregon Ducks toppled top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks, 74-60.
On Sunday, the seventh-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks bested the No. 4-seeded Florida Gators, 77-70, and the top-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels beat the No. 2-seeded Kentucky Wildcats, 75-73.
South Carolina will face Gonzaga and North Carolina will face Oregon on April 1.
Here’s a statistical look at this weekend’s games:
0: Previous times South Carolina has made it to the Final Four.
0: Previous times Gonzaga has made it to the Final Four.
1: Elite Eight wins in Oregon coach Dana Altman’s career.
2: Straight trips the Tar Heels have now made to the Final Four.
3: Straight games the Gamecocks have won after trailing at half time.
4: Number of times North Carolina and Kentucky have met in a regional final.
4: NCAA Tournament wins the Gamecocks had in their history until this year.
7: Losses as a No. 1 seed for Kansas coach Bill Self.
8: Straight points Sindarius Thornwell scored for the Gamecocks. 8: Times the Zags have made the Sweet 16.
10: Ties in the Gamecocks-Gators game.
12: Straight points for the Tar Heels in the final five minutes of their encounter.
14: Lead changes in the South Carolina-Florida game.
16: Times the Zags have won the West Coast Conference Tournament.
17: Points the Tar Heels’ Luke Maye scored, a career high.
18: Points the Gators’ Justin Leon scored, a team high for the game.
20: National semifinals that have included North Carolina.
23: Points Nigel Williams-Goss scored for Gonzaga against Xavier.
26: Points the Gamecocks’ Sindarius Thornwell scored in the rout of Florida, a game high.
27: Points Oregon’s Tyler Dorsey scored in the rout of Kansas.
33: Elite Eights in which the Wildcats have played.
45: Years since South Carolina won a tournament game (1972).
51: Percent Oregon shot from the field vs. Kansas.
60: Years since a WCC team reached the Final Four.
78: Years since Oregon has reached the Final Four.
121: Tournament wins for North Carolina.
124: Tournament wins for Kentucky.
657: Tournament bracket challenges had the correct Final Four out of 18,797,085 entrants