It was an exciting and historic first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament over the weekend, with the blue bloods of college basketball reaching the second week of the tourney along with surprise teams including LaSalle, Wichita State and No. 15 seed Florida Gulf Coast.
But what did it really take for the teams to win two, and in LaSalle’s case, three, games last week?
We at Sheridan Hoops took over a dozen key stats from the 33 games won by the 16 teams still left in the 2013 version of March Madness and averaged them out to determine not only what it took to get there, but to indicate which teams are most likely to advance on to the Elite Eight and the Final Four in Atlanta. Here’s the first half of the statistical breakdown, mainly focusing on the offensive side of the ball:
| Team | Pts Scored | Pts Allowed | FG% | 3FG% | Top Scorer | Assists | TO |
| Louisville 1 | 79 | 48 | 57.4 | 25 | 23 | 14 | 16 |
| Louisville 2 | 82 | 56 | 56.4 | 55.6 | 27 | 14 | 9 |
| Oregon 1 | 68 | 55 | 39 | 36.4 | 17 | 12 | 18 |
| Oregon 2 | 74 | 57 | 52.8 | 72.7 | 23 | 18 | 18 |
| Michigan State 1 | 65 | 54 | 44.8 | 40 | 23 | 16 | 17 |
| Michigan State 2 | 70 | 48 | 50 | 25 | 23 | 14 | 18 |
| Duke 1 | 73 | 61 | 58.7 | 36.4 | 26 | 17 | 11 |
| Duke 2 | 66 | 50 | 38.8 | 35 | 21 | 9 | 9 |
| Wichita St 1 | 73 | 55 | 38.8 | 10 | 22 | 11 | 11 |
| Wichita St 2 | 76 | 70 | 50 | 50 | 16 | 16 | 15 |
| LaSalle 1 | 80 | 71 | 63.3 | 52.4 | 22 | 16 | 10 |
| LaSalle 2 | 63 | 61 | 42.9 | 38.9 | 21 | 12 | 8 |
| LaSalle 3 | 76 | 74 | 49.1 | 39.1 | 24 | 14 | 12 |
| Arizona 1 | 81 | 64 | 56.9 | 52.9 | 23 | 13 | 15 |
| Arizona 2 | 74 | 51 | 55.1 | 60 | 27 | 13 | 12 |
| Ohio State 1 | 95 | 70 | 47.9 | 46.7 | 24 | 25 | 10 |
| Ohio State 2 | 78 | 75 | 51 | 50 | 22 | 12 | 9 |
| Kansas 1 | 64 | 57 | 47.6 | 0 | 17 | 11 | 17 |
| Kansas 2 | 70 | 58 | 43.6 | 35.7 | 22 | 11 | 22 |
| Michigan 1 | 71 | 56 | 50.9 | 45 | 21 | 12 | 9 |
| Michigan 2 | 78 | 53 | 51.7 | 30 | 21 | 17 | 12 |
| Florida 1 | 79 | 47 | 47.5 | 33.3 | 18 | 13 | 8 |
| Florida 2 | 78 | 64 | 56.8 | 50 | 25 | 13 | 14 |
| FGCU 1 | 78 | 68 | 42.9 | 40 | 24 | 15 | 13 |
| FGCU 2 | 81 | 71 | 55.9 | 38.9 | 23 | 21 | 13 |
| Indiana 1 | 83 | 62 | 52.7 | 39.1 | 16 | 17 | 9 |
| Indiana 2 | 58 | 52 | 42.2 | 30.8 | 16 | 9 | 12 |
| Syracuse 1 | 81 | 34 | 51.9 | 45.5 | 20 | 21 | 8 |
| Syracuse 2 | 66 | 60 | 39.1 | 40 | 18 | 7 | 15 |
| Marquette 1 | 59 | 58 | 34.5 | 26.7 | 16 | 5 | 9 |
| Marquette 2 | 74 | 72 | 42.6 | 41.7 | 29 | 9 | 15 |
| Miami 1 | 78 | 49 | 46.2 | 54.5 | 21 | 12 | 11 |
| Miami 2 | 63 | 59 | 40 | 36 | 21 | 12 | 6 |
| AVERAGES | 73.8 | 58.8 | 48.5 | 39.8 | 21.6 | 13.7 | 12.5 |
The first thing that jumps out is that you have to score at least 70 points to win NCAA Tournament games. Every team in the Sweet 16 had at least one 70-point performance on offense. Ohio State, Louisville and Florida Gulf Coast had the highest scoring averages during the first weekend, while stalwarts Kansas, Michigan State and Duke had the lowest scoring averages.
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