- Numbers to know for all 68 tourney teams
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- John GasawayESPN Insider
Now, with the pool of national championship contenders down to 68 aspirants, here's what I think we know about each of those remaining teams.
1. Villanova Wildcats
Number to know: 60.7
Villanova is possibly the best example we've seen of the team that makes an incredibly high percentage of its 2s (60.7 in Big East play) by shooting a ton of 3s. Jay Wright has been building and working in this direction for four seasons now. This current team might not represent the culmination -- who can say what we'll see next season? -- but in the here and now, Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson and Kris Jenkins are certainly making the system hum to perfection. Somehow, we keep acting like the Wildcats' smooth transition into continued success after a national title is the norm, but one fact bears repeating: We haven't seen a defending champion named the No. 1 overall seed since Florida earned that honor in the 2007 tournament. That worked well for the Gators that year. Keep an eye on Nova.
2. Kansas Jayhawks
Number to know: .861
Just because Bill Self's Kansas teams have won Big 12 regular-season titles for 13 consecutive years doesn't mean we can't still be impressed by the coach's latest exploits. In the past two seasons in particular, KU has recorded an .861 winning percentage in Big 12 play. This season's 16-2 mark was achieved in what statistically was the strongest conference in the nation, and the Jayhawks got the job done despite losing then-starter Udoka Azubuike to injury. True, Kansas had to pull off some close wins to achieve those impressive numbers, but even if a couple of those results had flipped, there would still be the raw materials for a clear No. 1 seed. Namely: Frank Mason III, Josh Jackson, great perimeter shooting and interior defense that have been good enough. Well done, again, Coach Self.
3. North Carolina Tar Heels
Number to know: 7
I realize that March is no time to be worrying about individual achievement. But what about cases in which an individual breaking a record would really help the team? Justin Jackson is just seven made 3s from tying Shammond Williams' school record for most treys in a season at North Carolina. Breaking that record would indicate that (A) UNC has made a deep run (B) Jackson has had an amazing game or (C) possibly both. Those are all good possibilities for Tar Heels fans to contemplate. The junior's remarkable year-to-year improvement in both volume and accuracy has catalyzed an offense that already had Joel Berry II and the dominant offensive rebounding of Kennedy Meeks, Isaiah Hicks and Tony Bradley. All in all, seeing Williams' record broken is likely to be good news for Carolina.
Gonzaga Bulldogs
Number to know: 20.8
I'm not sure we've seen a team in recent years that dominated its league inside the arc the way the Bulldogs did. In West Coast Conference play, the Zags converted 61.2 percent of their 2-point attempts. (Give a lot of the credit there not only to Przemek Karnowski and Nigel Williams-Goss but also to Johnathan Williams.) Meanwhile, at the other end of the floor, the WCC shot just 40.4 percent on their 2s against Mark Few's team. (We see you, Zach Collins.) That 20.8 percentage-point gap is unheard of, and while the league was no match top-to-bottom for the Big 12 or ACC, we've seen such conferences before, and no team has done something like this to one of them in recent memory. That doesn't guarantee Gonzaga its long-awaited trip to the Final Four, but it's one feature about this team to bear in mind.
5. Kentucky Wildcats
Number to know: 76.2
Earlier in the season, when John Calipari was concerned about his defense, he met with each player individually and asked him if he could be a stopper. Those meetings must have worked because the Wildcats finished the SEC season holding opponents to less than a point per trip. Maybe Calipari was really asking each of his players if he could be a defensive rebounder. UK's outstanding work on the defensive glass was indeed a significant factor behind this team's success on that side of the ball. With Bam Adebayo, Derek Willis and Wenyen Gabriel leading the way, Kentucky hauled in 76.2 percent of its SEC opponents' missed shots. Do that on defense, and let Malik Monk, De'Aaron Fox and Isaiah Briscoe do what they do on offense, and you'll win some games.
