
Numbers to know for each of the 16 teams remaining in March Madness
The smaller the number, the larger the impact at this year's NCAA Tournament.
Arkansas, the No. 10 seed in the West Region, is the only double-digit seed still alive heading into the regional semifinals. All four No. 1 seeds and three of the four No. 2 seeds are still standing.
But the seeds aren't the only numbers that bear watching as the tournament enters its second week. Here's a look at a notable statistic for each of the remaining 16 teams, starting with the two regions playing Thursday. East
Alabama: The Crimson Tide score a Division I-leading 90.8 points per game. The 90-81 first-round victory over Robert Morris marked the DI-leading 19th time this season they've scored at least 90 points.
BYU: The Cougars outrebounded each of their first two tournament opponents by nine boards, and they have a plus-6.2 rebound margin this season that ranks 19th in Division I. They now face Alabama, which ranks 20th nationally with a plus-6.1 rebound margin. The Tide beat Robert Morris despite getting outrebounded.
Arizona: Caleb Love scored 28 points when North Carolina beat Duke 81-77 in the 2022 Final Four. He hasn't been as successful the four times he's faced Duke since that game, twice with North Carolina and twice with Arizona. Love has averaged 10.5 points in those four games while shooting a combined 14 of 50 overall and 4 of 27 from 3-point range. Love's teams went 1-3 against Duke in those games. Love faces Duke again in a regional semifinal.
Duke: The Blue Devils have a net rating of plus-39 according to kenpom.com. That represents the highest net rating for any team since Duke in 1998-99 had a rating of plus-43.01. Net rating is calculated by subtracting a team's defensive efficiency from its offensive efficiency. The resulting number – 39 in Duke's case – measures its expected margin of victory over an average team. West
Florida: Walter Clayton Jr. has gone 22 of 43 from 3-point range over his last five games (13 of 26 in the Southeastern Conference Tournament and 9 of 17 in the NCAA Tournament). The former Iona guard has gone 16 of 33 from 3-point range in four career NCAA games.
Maryland: Derik Queen, who made a buzzer beater against Colorado State in the second round, puts up 16.2 points per game for the highest scoring average of any Maryland freshman since 1947-48. Queen is actually behind only Joe Smith, who had 19.4 points per game in 1994-95 before getting taken first overall in the 1995 draft.
Arkansas: John Calipari is the third coach to take four different schools to the Sweet 16. He got here eight times with Kentucky, four times with Memphis and three times with UMass. The other coaches to accomplish this feat were Eddie Sutton (six times with Oklahoma State, four with Arkansas, two with Kentucky and once with Creighton) and Lon Kruger (twice with Oklahoma and once each with Kansas State, Florida and UNLV).
Texas Tech: The Red Raiders play in the Big 12 and Arkansas is in the SEC, but they used to be rivals in the old Southwest Conference. They've faced each other 80 times before, and the series is tied at 40-all. Midwest
Houston: The Cougars have the nation's longest active streak with six straight Sweet 16 appearances. Gonzaga had the longest streak with nine straight regional semifinal berths before losing 81-76 to Houston in the round of 32.
Purdue: Trey Kaufman-Renn has made 287 baskets this season to lead all Division I players. Zach Edey, Kaufman-Renn's former Purdue teammate, led Division I last season with 336 baskets.
Kentucky: Not a single player on Kentucky's roster scored a point for the Wildcats last season. The only other power conference team that didn't return any of its scoring production from last season was Louisville, which lost to Creighton in the first round.
Tennessee: Chaz Lanier has gone 7 of 12 from 3-point range in the first two rounds and has a school-record 120 3-pointers this season, the sixth-highest total in Southeastern Conference history. The SEC record is held by Auburn's Bryce Brown with 141 in 2018-19. Lanier went a combined 3 of 17 from 3-point range in Tennessee's two regular-season losses to Kentucky, its Sweet 16 opponent. South
Auburn: Johni Broome is the only player in Division I men's basketball history to have 2,500 points, 1,500 rebounds plus 400 blocks in his career. Broome, a fifth-year senior who spent two seasons at Morehead State and three at Auburn, is averaging 18.4 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.2 blocks this season.
Michigan: Tre Donaldson came to Michigan after spending two seasons at Auburn, the Wolverines' Sweet 16 opponent. After averaging 6.7 points, 3.4 assists and 2.4 rebounds at Auburn last season, the 6-3 guard averages 11.5 points, 4.2 assists and 3.6 rebounds for Michigan.
Mississippi: Sean Pedulla has scored at least 19 points in each of his three career NCAA games. He scored 19 points in just 19 minutes while playing for Virginia Tech in a first-round loss to Texas in 2022, and he has collected 20 points in each of the first two rounds this season.
Michigan State: The Spartans have outscored their first two NCAA opponents 96-66 in the second half. That includes a 71-63 victory over New Mexico in which they trailed by two points at halftime. Now they face an Ole Miss team that has outscored its first two tournament opponents 84-55 in the first half.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.
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