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Losing and more losing Under-.500 teams have painful times in NCAAs
Posted: Wednesday March 10, 1999 12:15 AM By Ryan Hunt, CNN/SI
ATLANTA -- The very thought that Florida A&M, which opened the season 1-13, is in position to be a 44-point underdog against the nation's best team is remarkable. If the Rattlers can keep their first-round game with omnipotent Duke competitive, it would be even more amazing. It sure isn't likely. After all, no No. 16 seed has ever beaten a top seed. Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, FAMU (12-18) is the 10th team with a losing record to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Only two, Montana State in 1986 and Fairfield in 1997, have kept the game within 10 points. On average, since '85, all No. 16 seeds have lost by an average of 24.3 points a game. The under-.500 teams, meanwhile, have been thumped by an average of 25.5 points. With time, the gap has grown. In the '90s alone, seven teams (not including FAMU) with under-.500 records have played tournament games, drawing the likes of Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, UCLA, and Massachusetts in the first round. Those five powerhouses won by average of 27.6 points. Little 13-16 Prairie View A&M received the rudest welcome of all, a 110-52 pounding by Kansas last year. This year, Duke (32-1) has won 20 more games than the Rattlers. Only the '98 Jayhawks had a bigger win differential (21 wins) over any first-round tournament opponent.
While the Blue Devils will not get that mark, they very well could attain another. The largest margin of victory in an NCAA Tournament game is 69 points, achieved in 1963 by eventual national champion Loyola (Ill.) in a 111-42 annihilation of Tennessee Tech. Duke led the nation in margin of victory this year, beating opponents by 25.4 points a game. In fact, Duke's biggest win was by 64 points (120-56) against South Carolina State, the team which the Rattlers upset in the MEAC Tournament championship game to advance to the NCAA Tournament. In a series of weird coincidences, Florida A&M is the third Florida school to enter the tournament with a losing mark in the last five years. All three teams had 18 losses. And both Central Florida and Florida International allowed 92 points in their first-round poundings. Duke certainly has the capability to score 92 against the Rattlers, but can it possibly hold them to 22? Look for a By the Numbers entry every weekday on the March to St. Pete throughout the NCAA Tournament.
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