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With Villanova, St. Joe’s and Temple all getting set to play in the NCAA Tournament Friday, let’s take a look at the Wildcats, Hawks and Owls inside the numbers.
(And thanks to the fabulous sports-reference college basketball data base for helping us come up with many of these!)
1. Let’s start just by thinking how lucky we are to live in a city with six NCAA Division I basketball programs. Four of which have reached at least one Sweet 16 since 2001. The last time no Big 5 school reached the NCAA Tournament was 1977. That means March Madness has meant something extra to Philadelphia hoops fans for 39 consecutive years. Going back even farther, the Big 5 has been represented in the NCAA Tournament 56 of the last 58 years since 1958, with 1976 and 1977 the only exceptions. And since 1969, Philly has had at least two teams in the bracket 40 of 48 times. That’s a remarkable testament to Philly college basketball.
2. Villanova has the best won-loss record in Division I over the last three years at 91-13, an .875 winning percentage. Next-best: Stephen F. Austin (.871), Wichita State (.864), Arizona (.844) and Gonzaga (.841). Only Villanova has won 29 or more games in each of the last three seasons.
3. Villanova is 0-6 in its last six NCAA Tournament games against teams not seeded 15th or 16th.
4. There are only 28 players in Division I averaging at least 17 points and 7 rebounds per game, and St. Joe’s is the only school with two of them. Isaiah Miles is at 18.4 and 8.1, and DeAndre' Bembry is 17.3 and 7.7.
5. How rare is that? St. Joe’s is the first Division I school in 11 years with two players averaging 17 and 7. The last was Oakland in 2004-05, with Cortney Scott (18.1, 7.3) and Rawle Marshall (19.9, 7.7).
6. Miles is one of only 11 players in Division I averaging 18 and 8. He’s the first Philly player to average 18 and 8 since another St. Joe’s Hawk — Ahmad Nivins — averaged 19.2 and 11.8 per game in 2008-09.
7. The last Philly school that had two guys at 17 and 7? It was actually Drexel in 2000-2001, with Joe Linderman (17.8, 7.0) and Mike Kouser (17.6, 8.9).
8. Here’s an oddity: All four of Villanova’s three-point shooters who were on the team last year have been less accurate from three this year than last year. Josh Hart dropped from 46.4 percent to 36.5, Phil Booth from 48.5 to 28.8, Ryan Arcidiacono from 37.2 to 36.5 and Kris Jenkins just a tad, from 37.2 to 37.1. As a group, that quartet dropped from 41.1 percent to 35.2 percent. As a team, Villanova dropped from 26th in Division I last year (38.9 percent) to 187th this year (34.4 percent).
9. The flip side of that is that Villanova has improved from to 53.0 percent to 56.4 percent from two-point range. They were 25th-best in Division I a year ago but this season they’re seventh-best from inside the arc.
10. Villanova is one of only two D-I schools shooting better than 56 percent from two and worse than 35 percent from three. The other is Marshall (57 percent, 34 percent).
11. There is actually no Philly school ranked among the top 150 in Division I in three-point shooting. Villanova ranks 187th, Temple 213th, La Salle 214th, Drexel 260th, St. Joe’s 271st and Penn 324th.
12. St. Joe’s Bembry is the first Big 5 player in at least 20 years to average 17.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.
13. In its last 11 NCAA Tournament games against teams seeded 14th or better, Villanova is shooting 62 for 231 (26.8 percent) from three-point range.
14. And UNC Asheville, Villanova’s opponent on Friday, allowed only three of its 33 opponents to shoot better than 38 percent from three-point range this year: Winthrop twice (52.9 percent, 41.7 percent) and Coastal Carolina once (43.8 percent). Eighteen of them shot below 30 percent.
15. Asheville is No. 1 in Division I in three-point defense at 28.4 percent (192 for 677).
16. St. Joe’s is the top Philly team on that list. The Hawks are 20th-best in Division I in three-point defense at 30.7 percent. Temple isn’t far behind in 33rd at 31.4 percent. The Hawks held 24 of 34 opponents under 35 percent. Only three schools — UNC Asheville (27), Akron (25) and James Madison (25) held more opponents under 35 percent three-point shooting.
17. St. Joe’s has 514 assists and 344 turnovers. Their ratio of 1.49 assist per turnover is 13th-best in Division I.
18. Villanova freshman Mikal Bridges has made 51 of 71 two-point attempts. His .718 field goal percentage from two-point range is sixth-best in Division I among players who’ve attempted 50 or more shots. That’s the best two-point shooting by any Big 5 player since Michael Bradley of Villanova shot .727 from two-point range in 2001. (More on Bridges' vast improvement here.)
19. Temple is No. 1 in Division I with just 9.2 turnovers per game, tied with Central Michigan, both with 293 turnovers in 32 games. St. Joe’s (12th at 10.1) and Villanova (40th at 11.1) are also in the top 40.
20. The last Big 5 player to score 30 points in an NCAA game was Khalif Wyatt of Temple, who had back-to-back 31-point games — against NC State and Indiana — during the 2013 tourney. Over the last five years, the only other players with back-to-back 30-point games in the NCAA Tournament are Jimmer Fredette of BYU and Kemba Walker of UConn.
21. Villanova has held 25 of 34 opponents under 70 points. Only seven Division I teams have held more opponents under 70 points this year.
22. The Wildcats shot just 32.8 percent from three in their first 28 games. But in the last six, they’re at 42.7 percent. In the span of those six games, 'Nova improved from 259th to 183rd in three-point accuracy.
23. As of Feb. 19, Villanova’s Kris Jenkins had scored 20 points in three of 96 career games. He’s scored 20 in five of eight since.
24. Villanova is fifth-best in Division I in foul shooting at 77.7 percent. That’s the best by any Philly school since Villanova shot 78.1 percent in 2007.
25. Arcidiacono is one of eight current Division I players with 500 or more assists and 250 or fewer turnovers.