Several Powerhouse Teams Already Sent Packing
There has been an unprecedented number of top teams that have already exited the NCAA Tournament. Today, I will be looking at teams in the top two seed lines who have suffered an early defeat. I want to see if we can find any common weaknesses in these teams or common strengths in the foes that knocked them out of the big dance.
Iowa (No. 2 West), Ohio State (No. 2 South), Illinois (No. 1 Midwest)
I group these three teams together because all of them are Big Ten juggernauts who are among the top 8 overall teams. Briefly looking at Torvik's ranking page, there will be a lot of advanced statistics laid out in front of you. Naturally these teams would be at the top of most rankings, however all three of these teams really struggled in one category: defensive turnover efficiency. All three of these teams ranked outside the top 300 in this statistic, but what's interesting is that top-seeded Michigan also had a terrible defensive turnover rate, yet they advanced to the second weekend despite appearing more vulnerable than any team that was a top two seed.
Oregon (No. 7 West), Oral Roberts (No. 15 South), Loyola Chicago (No. 8 Midwest)
There were a couple statistics that all three of these teams shared a similarly high ranking, both of which involving shooting percentage. All of these teams were among the top 65 in 3-point shooting percentage, and were more importantly inside the top 50 in effective field goal percentage. LSU, on the other hand, were ranked 74 in EFG% and 122 in 3P%. It seems as if the aforementioned teams took advantage of their opponents not being able to consistently force turnovers, and converted that into points with their impressive shooting percentage marks.
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