Special Sub-Topic: Men's NCAA Bracket 2004 Click Here To Play: Men's NCAA Bracket 2004

Before the tournament even started, controversy ripped through the seeding of the tournament when teams like Illinois, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma State did not seem to be ranked as high as most people thought they should have been. What was the selection committee's reason for seeding these teams so low?

Their conference championship games were over too late to change their seedings. The Big 10 and Big 12 championship games were the final 2 games to be finished on Selection Sunday, and according to the selection committee, they were done too late. The committee only had one hour after the games were completed to release the seedings, and they did not feel like that was enough time to allow those games to make any impact on where those teams were placed.

How many upsets occurred within the tournament (seed wise)?

15. Seed wise, there were 15 upsets, which included some hardly anyone expected, such as Alabama over Stanford, Nevada over Gonzaga, Xavier over Mississippi State and Texas, and UAB over Kentucky.

Once again there was a #12 seed that upset a #5 seed in the tournament, except there were actually two. Which two #12 teams beat their opponents in the first round?

Manhattan and Pacific. In the first round, #12 Manhattan defeated Florida 75-60, and #12 Pacific took care of #5 Providence 66-58. While Nevada did pull off a first round upset, it was a #10 seed. Murray State lost by 19 to Illinois, and Brigham Young lost to Syracuse by 5.

Which team that made it past the first two rounds and averaged the greatest margin of victory (including losses)?

Duke. Duke won the margin of victory battle by a close one. Thanks to a 35-point win over Alabama State, and a 28-point win over Seton Hall, they averaged a 15 MoV. Kansas was close behind with a 14.5 MoV. Xavier came in with 13 1/3 and Illinois was 11.

Throughout the history of the NCAA tournament, there had been problems keeping the best four teams in each region to play each other. Was there a single region that had the 1, 2, 3, and 4 seeds, survive to be in the Sweet 16?

y. Strangely enough, the East Rutherford region had all of their top 4 seeds (St. Joe's, Oklahoma St., Pittsburgh, and Wake Forest) go to the Sweet 16. Then in the Elite 8, #1 St. Joseph's and #2 Oklahoma State played each other. However, an upset finally occurred when Oklahoma State won that game.

How many conferences were represented in the Elite 8?

5. Only 5 conferences were represented: the Big 12 (Kansas and Oklahoma State), ACC (Georgia Tech and Duke), Atlantic 10 (St. Joseph's and Xavier), SEC (Alabama), and Big East (Connecticut).

How many games in the tournament were decided by 5 points or less?

22. There were 22 games decided by 5 points or less, 4 of which were supplied by Georgia Tech.

What was the highest seed not to be in the Sweet 16 (1- highest, 16- lowest)?

11. Each of the top 10 seeds had at least one team in the Sweet 16. Nevada (10), UAB (9), Alabama (8), Xavier (7), Vanderbilt (6), and Illinois and Syracuse (5s), all had to pull off upsets in the second round in order for this to happen.

Who played in the most lopsided game in the tournament?

Duke v. Alabama State. Duke crushed Alabama State in the first round by 35 points, 96-61. Mississippi State defeated Monmouth by 33 (85-52), and Gonzaga beat Valparaiso by 27 (76-49). The best defensive performance (of these games) came by way of Stanford, who beat Texas-San Antonio by 26, 71-45.

Which team that made it out of the first round, averaged the most points per game?

Kentucky. Kentucky averaged 85.5 ppg, after scoring 96 against Florida A&M, and 75 in a losing effort against UAB. On the other hand, UAB scored 102 to beat Washington, 76 to beat Kentucky, and then 74 in a loss to Kansas to average 84 ppg. Duke, despite scoring 96 and 90 in their first two games respectively, were calmed down by Illinois, Xavier, and UConn, to get an average of 80.4 ppg. Connecticut had the lowest ppg (77.2) of any of the choices, since they won their championship on defense.

How many games involved a team scoring exactly 53 points?

6. While 6 games involved a team scoring exactly 53 points, only one of those was for a winning effort. Pittsburgh's won 53-44 over Central Florida. The other five averaged a 19.4 point margin of defeat.

Which SEC team pulled off the most wins, and went the farthest into the tournament than any other in its conference?

Alabama. After unseen victories over Stanford and Syracuse, Alabama was the only SEC team to taste the Sweet 16. Vanderbilt had their amazing run struck down by the same team as Alabamaand UConn. Kentucky and Mississippi State both lost in the second round. Florida lost in the first round to #12 Manhattan.

Which conference had the most wins in the tournament?

ACC. While a close race, the ACC edged out the Big East by two games. The ACC had Duke (4), Georgia Tech (5), UNC (1), NC State (1), Wake Forest (2), and Maryland (1), win for a total of 14. The Big East had only 12 with Connecticut (6), Syracuse (2), Pittsburgh (2), Boston College (1), and Seton Hall (1). The Big 12 had 10 wins, and the Atlantic 10 had 6.

In how many games was the losing team held below 50 points in the tournament?

5. Five different times was a team held to under 50 points- all of them in the first round. Those teams were Valparaiso (49 v. Gonzaga), Central Florida (44 v. Pittsburgh), South Carolina (43 v. Memphis), Texas-San Antonio (45 v. Stanford), and Princeton (49 v. Texas).

Who won the 2004 Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament?

Connecticut. By a score of 82-73 in a game that wasn't even that close, the Connecticut Huskies won the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament, and their counterparts in the Women's Tournament would do the same.