NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament: By The Numbers

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The most wonderful time of year for college basketball fans has arrived.

March Madness is here, as 68 teams get set to take the court in one of the top spectacles on the sports calendar: the NCAA Tournament.

As the tournament gets underway Tuesday evening with a pair of First Four matchups, here is a number to keep in mind: 9,223,372,036,854,775,808. 

Alright, maybe that's not exactly a number one can "keep in mind," but it is a number that provides hope to anyone filling out an NCAA Tournament bracket this year. That's because there are 9.2 quintillion possible bracket outcomes.

Brandon Miller and the Alabama Crimson Tide are the No. 1 overall seed heading into this year's tournament. The Crimson Tide finished the regular season with 29-5 record and cruised to an SEC Tournament title this past weekend. Nate Oats' team also received the No. 1 ranking in the pre-tournament AP Top 25 Poll, which was released on Monday.

Alabama will be a popular tournament champion pick, but before inking the Crimson Tide as this year's national champion, keep this stat in mind: It has been 11 years since the top-ranked team in the AP Poll has won the national title, as John Calipari's Kentucky squad was the least to accomplish that feat back in 2012.

Here are the important numbers to know ahead of the Big Dance.

[View the full bracket here]

84: This will be the 84th NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament played, with a tournament being held every year from 1939-2019 and 2021-23. The tournament was not played in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

61: Former Notre Dame standout Austin Carr holds the record for the most points in an NCAA Tournament game, posting 61 back in 1970.

34: Temple's Fred Cohen recorded an NCAA Tournament-record 34 rebounds in the 1956 tourney.

33: Kansas has made 33 straight NCAA Tournament appearances (including this season), which is the most all-time among Division I programs.

29: There have been 29 national champions from 1993-2022. All 29 of those teams made it to at least the semifinals of their conference tournament (if they played in one).

26: Since NCAA Tournament seeding began in 1979, 26 No. 1 seeds have won the national championship – the most of any seed. 

25: Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo will appear in his 25th consecutive NCAA Tournament, which is a Division I record.

23: Former Duke standout Christian Laettner holds the record for the most NCAA Tournament games played in a career with 23.

22: In the last 23 NCAA Tournaments, 22 of the eventual national champions were a top-three seed. The lone exception in this span was UConn in 2014, winning the title as a 7-seed.

21: The North Carolina Tar Heels hold the record for most Final Four appearances with 21.

18: Former UNLV standout Mark Wade holds the record for the most assists in an NCAA Tournament game with 18.

17: North Carolina has been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament a record 17 times.

11: UCLA holds the record for the most national championships of any Division I program with 11.

10: A team seeded 7-or-lower has reached the Elite Eight in 10 of the past 11 NCAA Tournaments.

9: A 5-seed-or-lower has made the Final Four in nine straight NCAA Tournaments.

8: The lowest seed to ever win the national championship game is the 8-seed, with Villanova taking down No. 1 seed Georgetown in 1985.

7: The top-two teams in the AP Top 25 Poll have met seven times in the national championship game, with the most recent instance coming in 2005 when No. 2 North Carolina defeated No. 1 Illinois.

5: A 14-seed has beaten a 3-seed in five of the past nine NCAA Tournaments.

2: Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, there have only been two years in which a double-digit seed did not make the Sweet 16: 1995 and 2007.

1: Only one 16-seed has defeated a 1-seed in the Round of 64, with UMBC doing so against Virginia in 2018.

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