We’re down to sixteen! As you’ve seen in earlier posts, assists, FG %, and total offense are common themes for teams in each round of the tournament. Those remain the same but rebounding margin has also been popular. Weirdly enough, how many points you allow per game has not been important. The lone team in the Top 15 in Points Defense is South Carolina. They rank 11th in the country and allow 55.4 points per game. How? Well they block roughly 8 shots per game, good enough for the number 1 spot in the country, they’re 8th in 3FG% defense, #1 FG% defense, #2 Def RPG, and #3 in Rebound Margin. So yea, defense matters but you need to be well rounded defensively. There are only 2 Sweet 16 teams in the TOP 50 in scoring defense(UCONN, Texas).

Offense still matters! Maybe it didn’t 15 years ago but the game is changing(we knew this). Last night the best offense in the country, Iowa, only scored 64 points. That’s 28 points below their average. Yes, they still won because the other team, West Virginia who averages 74ppg only scored 54. West Virginia is a defensive minded team, and yeah if you watched it, that was easy to tell. Iowa has only scored under 70 points three times this season, last night being one of them. You know why West Virginia lost? Okay, maybe the referees gave Iowa some calls and allowed them 30 FTA. West Virginia lost because they couldn’t score with Iowa, even in a game this low scoring. West Virginia didn’t get the pleasure of enjoying the free throw line as much as Iowa. 5 attempts compared to Iowa’s 30. West Virginia just didn’t have enough scorers. Watson and Quinerly were fantastic but when you only have two, you’re easy to guard. Iowa chose just to guard two, playing a Triangle and 2 over the course of the game. Watson and Quinerly shot 6/13 combined, which a coach would take every single day. The problem…. Hemingway and Fields combined for 2-17 from 3. They didn’t take or make enough shots, Iowa did. Yes, Free Throws count as made shots here. You still have to make them and Iowa did that at a 83% clip.

We mentioned rebounding right? Well Iowa finished with 33 defensive rebounds. West Virginia missed a total of 41 shots.

When we look at the table as whole, a few things stand out.

Bench Points can only mean two things. Your team is stacked, or your team stinks and you rely on your bench.

Making more shots in the most important thing.

When the other team doesn’t make shots, you need to rebound them.

The game is simple..

	Roundof 64	Round of 32	Sweet 16	Elite 8	Final Four	Final	Champ
ASSIST/TO RATIO	14	10	6
ASSISTS PER	15	11	7
BENCH POINTS PER	4	1	1
BLOCKS PER	10	6	5
FG %	14	9	6
FG % DEFENSE	10	6	4
FOULS PER	2	1	1
FTA PER	3	1	1
FT %	5	2	1
FTM PER	5	2	2
REB MARGIN	12	8	6
DEF REB PER	11	7	5
OFF REB PER	6	3	2
REB PER	10	6	5
SCORING DEF	5	2	1
SCORING MARGIN	15	10	10
SCORING OFF	11	7	7
STEALS PER	5	1	0
3 FGA PER	6	2	1
3FG %	9	6	4
3FG % DEF	5	3	2
3FGM PER	9	5	2
TO MARGIN	7	3	1
TO FORCED PER	4	2	0
TO PER	8	3	1