2015 March Madness Sweet 16 Fun Factoids and Matchups

Updated 3/25/2015

From the cluttered Sports Desk of Ribbie’s Weblog, here are some fun factoids about the 2015 NCAA Sweet 16 and some intriguing matchups to consider for the Final Four and Finals.

• 5 of the 16 teams or 31% are from the ACC:  Louisville, NC State, Notre Dame, Duke and UNC.
• There could be an all ACC final four: UNC (West), Duke (South), Notre Dame (Midwest) and either NC State (East) or Lousiville (East)
• If UNC, Duke and NC St. make it to the Final Four, there’d be three North Carolina teams from the ACC.
• All NC Final: UNC v Duke, UNC v NC State
• All people mascots/nicknames Final Four: Sooners (East), Fighting Irish (Midwest), Musketeers (East), Utes (South)
• PAC 12 Final: Arizona v. Utah or Arizona v. UCLA
• Big 12 Final: Oklahoma v. West Virginia
• 7 of UCLA’s 11 losses this year were to Sweet 16 teams including a loss to Gonzaga by 13 and a 39 point loss to Kentucky.
• 7 of North Carolina’s 11 losses this year were also to Sweet 16 teams including a 14 point loss to Kentucky.
• Utah went 0-2 against Arizona and was 1-1 against UCLA.
• 2 of Duke’s 4 losses were to Notre Dame.
• Michigan State lost to Wisconsin twice, including an overtime loss by 11 points.
• Oklahoma lost to Wisconsin earlier in the season and went 1-1 against West Virginia.
• 6 of Louisville’s 8 losses were to Sweet 16 teams including going 1-2 against North Carolina and losing to NC State in their only meeting during the year.
• Two ACC teams face off in the Sweet 16:  Louisville and NC State
• ACC Finals:  ND v Duke, ND v Lou, ND v NC St; UNC v Duke, UNC v Lou, UNC v NC St
• Underdogs Final Four: UCLA (11), North Carolina State (8), Wichita State (7), Xavier Musketeers (6)
• Underdog Final:  UCLA v Wichita State
• Straight Final Four – 1234:  Kentucky (1), Gonzaga (2), Oklahoma (3), North Carolina (4)
• Straight Final Four – 4567:  Louisville (4), Utah (5), Xavier Musketeers (6), Wichita State (7)
• Two Pairs Final Four – Duke (1) Wisconsin (1) Michigan State (7) Wichita State (7)
• Number of players on Kentucky’s Roster from Kentucky: 3
• Number of players on West Virginia’s Roster from West Virginia: 4
• Homegrown talent: North Carolina – 9 players on roster from NC
• Importers:  Arizona – 9 players from California
• Gonzaga has two 7-1 players and 5 players from 4 different countries: Canada, Poland, Lithuania, Brazil