The tournament is crazy and the upsets are unpredictable, but the least you can do is fill out your bracket with some simple fact-based selections.
These are 10 things any researcher could have found out about these teams.
1. Marquette lives and dies by the 3
If you want to live and die by the three, Marquette is the team to pick. They made 10.5 threes per game – good for fifth in the nation and most of any team in the tournament. Their 43% success rate is also tops of any team in the tourney. Marquette shoots a solid 52.7% on shots inside the arc, too.
Marquette’s first-round opponent, South Carolina, has the fifth-best 3-point defense in the country. Opponents make just 29.6% of their threes.
2. Notre Dame plays the cleanest game
If you value low turnovers, Notre Dame is your team. They lead all tournament teams with just 9.42 turnovers per game. Right behind them is their first-round opponent, Princeton, which turns the ball over 9.9 times per game. Virginia is also very good with the ball, averaging just 9.53 turnovers per game.
3. Wisconsin can’t shoot free throws
Close games are often won at the free-throw line, and no tournament team is worse at the stripe than Wisconsin. The Badgers shoot a dismal 64.3% from the line. That ranks 338th out of 351 teams in the country. On the flip side, Notre Dame, Villanova, Oklahoma State, Marquette, Vanderbilt and South Dakota State are the best free-throw shooting teams in the country.
4. Bad idea to pick Arkansas over UNC
If you have Arkansas beating Seton Hall and advancing to play North Carolina in the Round of 32, pick Carolina. The Tar Heels are the best offensive rebounding team in the country and Arkansas is the worst defensive rebounding team in the tournament.
5. Virginia doesn’t draw fouls
Virginia dead last, ranked 351st, in the entire country in drawing fouls from opponents. They draw 14.7 fouls per game. Kentucky draws the most fouls at nearly 24 per game.
6. Duke could go all the way
Yes, the Duke Blue Devils. Despite a midseason slump, Duke was No. 1 in preseason polls and finished strong with an ACC Tournament title.
7. West Virginia brings the heat
They call them “Press Virginia” for a reason. The Mountaineers force more turnovers per game than any team in the country, and by a wide margin. South Carolina is No. 2 in the country with 17.4 forced turnovers per game, which is three fewer than West Virginia’s 20.4 per game.
8. Gophers block shots
Minnesota is the best shot-blocking team in the country, averaging 6.8 blocks per game. Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Reggie Lynch finished second in the nation in blocks per game.
9. Based on this stat, these teams won’t win
No team has entered the tournament ranked worse than 40th in per-possession defense and won the title, according to CBS Sports. If that holds true, top teams like UCLA, Iowa State, Butler and Notre Dame won’t win.
10. The luckiest teams
If you think luck will continue, Kansas is your pick. The Jayhawks were the 24th luckiest team in the country, according to KenPom.com. Among tourney teams, no team has less luck than Marquette.
