Best Tournament Ever?

I used the tag besttournamentever to refer to the 2010 March Madness bracket. 

So I wanted to check in on the last two years to see if that truly holds up. 

- - - 

Let's start by looking at the Sweet 16.

Sweet 16 History
2001: 6 upsets, 1 perfect region
2002: 6 upsets, 0 perfect regions
2003: 7 upsets, 0 perfect regions
2004: 7 upsets, 1 perfect region
2005: 8 upsets, 0 perfect regions
2006: 6 upsets, 0 perfect regions
2007: 5 upsets, 1 perfect region
2008: 5 upsets, 1 perfect region
2009: 2 upsets, 2 perfect regions
2010: 8 upsets, 0 perfect regions
2011: 6 upsets, 0 perfect regions
2012: 5 upsets, 0 perfect regions

Just looking at this one measure, 2010 was pretty darn special. Especially coming after the chalk-heavy 2009.

Let's dig a little deeper.

First Round Upsets

2005: 8
2009: 10
2010: 10
2012: 10

That's a little surprising. 2009 had more upsets in the first round than 2005.

Let's go deeper. This a little ambitious. I'm going to add up all the values of the seeds for the entire bracket, excluding the round of 64. The higher the total, the more upsets. (All chalk in a region would be a 48)

Upset Values

2005
Chicago: 71
Alberquerque: 65
Syracuse: 80
Austin: 67
Final Four: 14
Total: 297

2009
Midwest: 82
West: 55
East: 57
South: 59
Final Four: 11
Total: 264

2010
Midwest: 84
West: 66
East: 81
South: 66
Final Four: 20
Total: 317

So there you go. Best Tournament Ever.

best tournament ever?

Best tournament ever.

In recent memory, the tournament has been mildly disappointing. Last year only one seed outside the top 5 made it to the Sweet 16. Two years ago the final four was all #1 seeds. (And the two Saturday games still stunk.) Three years ago more chalk. The last really good tourament was 2006, where we had LSU over Duke, the fantastic Gus Johnson-called UCLA over Adam Morrison's Gonzaga, and George Mason's run to the Final Four, capped off by an overtime win over #1 UConn.

But this. Blows it out of the water.

Here's a time capsule so we don't forget all the great games we've had.

1st Round Thursday

The first game out of the gate, #7 BYU over Florida in double overtime with big shots by a guy named Jimmer.

Next up #11 Old Dominion upsets Notre Dame 51-50 after trailing the whole way.

At the same time, #2 Villanova has to send it to overtime to hang on against Bobby Morris.

And then #13 Murray State knocks off Vandy with a true buzzer-beater jump shot.

Northern Iowa was tied with UNLV until Ali Farokhmanesh hit a 3-ball with 4.9 seconds left.

#11 Washington beats Marquette on a clutch drive to the hole by Pondexter at the buzzer.

#14 Ohio crushes Georgetown by 16.

Tennessee and New Mexico won close games over SDSU and Montana.

And Wake Forest beat Texas by 1 in overtime, on a 17-footer with 1.3 seconds left.

1st Round Friday

#12 Cornell upsets Temple easily, proving the sexy upset pick can pull it off.

Wisconsin holds off Wofford by 4.

After being up 35-19 in the first half, Michigan State holds on to beat New Mexico State by 3.

2nd Round Saturday

#2 seed falls to a better team, #10 St. Mary's.

Butler edges Murray St. by 2.

NORTHERN IOWA knocks out consensus-favorite overall #1 Kansas in a thrilling win by 2, because Ali Farokhmanesh has monster balls.

#11 Washington shrugs off the conference criticism and gets the Sweet 16 by knocking off #3 New Mexico.

2nd Round Sunday

#5 Michigan State and #4 Maryland had one of the most exciting finishes I've ever seen. In the final 40 seconds there were 4 lead changes and only one timeout. Just up and down running and 4 consecutive made shots.

#3 Pitt falls to #6 Xavier by 3.

And Purdue wins in overtime by 2 without Hummel, on a body-crashing lay-up with 4 seconds left.

Sweet 16 Thursday

Butler! The #5 seed knocks off #1 Syracuse! Willie Veasley hits a 3-pointer that went in, came out, and then fell in again. And then moments later got a tip-in basket to seal the deal. Gus Johnson announcing!

Another instant classic called by Gus! K-State vs Xavier with a trip to the Elite 8 against Butler on the line. Best game I've seen in a long, long time. Had more unbelievable moments that I can count. K-State hits a 4-point play. Xavier hit a 3 FROM THE RIBBON with 4 seconds left. All with Gus Johnson. Just watch the highlights...