The Saddest Stats From Day 1, Round 1 Of The 2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament
Madness is a simple molecule in structure. One part glad. One part sad. Without one, there is no other. But the energy it creates when it reacts is something to behold. Predictable only in it's unpredictability (unless you're Bijon Robinson evidently), the chaos of the fallout is what we all sit on our asses all day for a week to watch.
Hi. I'm Stathole. You might know me from my weekly NFL Sad Stats blogs. A weekly meeting for sad fans to vent about our shitty sad teams through sad stats that make us laugh so we don't cry. Just kidding. We still cry. Well, given just how much people love to watch their alma-mater take the biggest stage for NCAA glory, I think it's more than necessary to run this bit back for the NCAA tournament.
Little housekeeping note - my data source is only updated through day 1 so all you sad sack fans of teams like Wisonsin that watched their squad make shooting baskets look like an impossible carnival game will have to wait to wallow until tomorrow.
Here's just a few sad stats from day 1.
Sad Stat #1 - BYU might have taken abstinence a little bit too seriously even for them
No team remained as abstinent in scoring throughout Round 1 than BYU as they finally scored a monogomous point at the free throw line with 14:52 left in the first half. Good for them for staying true to their ideals. You might laugh at their ways but the quickest to give it up in Round 1 was Kentucky who scored just nine seconds into the game. Not shocked to see zero abstinence demonstrated from this team full of "one and dones".
Note - I'm pretty sure Grambling snuck in this graph from the play-in game.
Sad Stat #2 - Speaking of Kentucky, friendly reminder to John Calipari - the coach who makes like 9 million a year and another 30+ million on his contract - players only get ONE free throw after a made basket on a foul. Not two. That's why it's called an And-1.
Here's my theory on this play. Oakland figured they'd fuck with this young Kentucky team and not even line up anyone to rebound for the free throw. Then a purposeful miss knowing the Kentucky kid would bounce the ball to the ref out of bounds. BOOM. Free possession! Great job by the shooter to play the "wait don't I get another shot?" move.
Seriously though, what in the world? They even fooled the side ref who walked all the way up before slyly Homer Simpsoning into the bush when he figured it out. But there's really no excuse here for Kentucky or whiny Calipari. If he was arguing that the refs made it apparent another free throw was coming, then why the hell wasn't he giving them hell for that before the shot? The only thing that could make this situation funnier is if Calipari were wearing And-1 apparel while mistakenly yelling at the refs about how an And-1 works.
Don't worry Kentucky fans. He's only got what, five more years gauranteed left on his contract?
Sad Stat #3 - Let's ruminate on how rare it is to blow a 17-point lead with 7:36 remaining in the game
I'm pretty pissed at Nevada becuase this was my first loss on my bracket after two 11-seed pick upsets (one being Duquesne which I still don't even know how to pronounce). I crushed some play by play data going back to 2018 and found 5,053 D1 games in which a team led by 17 or more with 7:36 remaining in the game or less. Thats statistically a lot of games. And only nine teams blew the lead and lost the game. Well, that is until Nevada made #10 in Round 1.
Here's the full list for posterity.
The only other time a 17-point lead was blown in the 2023 season with 7:36 left was a November 29th catastrophe for Florida State vs. Georgia.
Whoops! Sorry guys. Wrong 2023 Florida State vs Georgia catastrophe.
This one.
Sorry Florida State. If you haven't read my NFL sad stats you should know that no team is safe from ridicule even if not featured in the sad stat description. But let's get back on track. This sad stat was about Nevada. Interestingly, Nevada was also the last team to win a tournament game after trailing by 17 or more at any point in a game, which they accomplished vs Cincinnati in 2018. So from gladness to sadness, Nevada fans now experience the other side of the madness molecule.
That's all I got time for tonight. I'll be working on day 2 sad stats for publish tomorrow morning.