College Basketball
2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Final Four: By the numbers
College Basketball

2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Final Four: By the numbers

Updated Mar. 30, 2023 4:25 p.m. ET

And then there were four!

The 2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has been one for the ages, with 4-seed UConn, 5-seeds Miami (Fla.) and San Diego State and 9-seed Florida Atlantic the last teams standings in one of the most unpredictable Final Fours in tourney history.

With that, we've rounded up the numbers you need to know before the action gets underway Saturday in Houston.

View the full bracket here.

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GAMBLING NOTES

All stats using data from FOX Bet.

4-0: UConn, Miami and SDSU are perfect against the spread (ATS) in this tournament thus far. 

3-1: FAU's record ATS in this tournament, as the Owls didn't cover in their second-round win against Fairleigh Dickinson.

12-9-1: Underdogs' record ATS in the Final Four since 2012. Underdogs are 6-16 straight-up (SU).

17: The number of times in the past 18 Final Fours that one of the two favorites entering the weekend went on to win the national championship. UConn is currently favored to win it all, followed by SDSU. (The one exception was in 2014, when UConn won it all despite being a 6.5-point underdog against Florida in the Final Four.)

+34,600: Each of the Final Four teams’ national title odds combined entering the tournament, which is the third-highest total since 1976. With a title win, FAU — listed at 200-1 entering the tournament this year — would be the team with the longest pre-tournament odds to have ever won.

4: Only four teams with greater than 20-1 odds entering the tournament have won the title: 95-1 UConn (2014), 25-1 UConn (2011), 35-1 Villanova (1985) and 25-1 North Carolina State (1983).

0: This will be the first Final Four without a single McDonald’s All-American since 1979, the same year seeding began.

1954: The last time two teams (La Salle and Penn State) from the same state made their Final Four debut.

9-2: Miami's record ATS this season when an underdog. The Hurricanes are 20-5 ATS as underdogs over the past two seasons and 33-12 ATS as underdogs in the past three seasons.

14-1: UConn's record ATS against nonconference opponents this year. However, the Huskies are 15-0 SU.

OVERALL NOTES

All stats are in the seeding era (since 1979).

3: This year marks the first time three teams will be making their first-ever Final Four appearance (Miami, FAU, San Diego State)

0: There is no 1-, 2- or 3-seed in the Final Four for the first time ever, and it is just the fourth Final Four with no 1-seed. The previous three Final Fours without a 1-seed were won by UConn (2011), Florida (2006), Louisville (1980).

23: This is the second-highest seed total of any Final Four (23). In 2011, No. 3 UConn, No. 4 Kentucky, No. 8 Butler and No. 11 VCU had a seed total of 26.

1: This is the first time that two teams from Florida have made the Final Four in the same tournament. University of Miami’s campus, located in Coral Gables, and FAU’s campus, located in Boca Raton, are separated by a mere 52 miles.

2: This will be the second Final Four in the seeding era to feature two 5-seeds. The first came in 2010, with Michigan State and Butler both making the Final Four as 5-seeds.

1: A 4- and 5-seed have met once prior in the Final Four, in 1996, with No. 4 Syracuse defeating No. 5 Mississippi State. On the other side, a 5- and 9-seed have never met in the Final Four. 

1-2: Conference USA teams are 1-2 all time in the Final Four.

1: SDSU will be the first team from the Mountain West to play in the Final Four.

No. 9 Florida Atlantic (35-3) vs. No. 5 San Diego State (31-6), 6:09 p.m. ET, CBS

Matchup overview: Both FAU and SDSU will be making their first appearance in the Final Four in their program's history. With a win, the Owls would be first 9-seed to win in the Final Four and therefore be the first 9-seed all-time to make the national championship game. However, entering Saturday's game, 9-seeds are 0-2 all-time in the Final Four.

2: FAU would become just the second Conference USA team to make it to the national championship game, joining Memphis (now in American Athletic Conference) in 2008, with a win in the Final Four.

6: With a win, FAU would make it to the national championship game with just six games played in the tournament all time, which would be the fewest tournament games played by a team that makes the national championship since Indiana State, which made its tournament debut in 1979 having won four games en route to playing for the national title (fifth game).

4: San Diego State would be the fourth 5-seed all-time to win in the Final Four, joining Butler (2010), Indiana (2002) and Florida (2000).

57.3: The number of points the Aztecs are allowing this tournament, which is the second-best among all teams and best among the Final Four teams. (Tennessee allowed 56.3 PPG in three tournament games this year.)

No. 4 UConn (29-8) vs. No. 5 Miami (29-7), 8:49 p.m. ET, CBS

Matchup overview: UConn is making its sixth Final Four appearance and first since winning it all in 2014. The Huskies are 4-1 all time in the Final Four, with the lone loss coming in 2009. On the other side, Miami is making its Final Four debut.

5-1: With a win, UConn would improve to 5-1 all-time in the Final Four, breaking a tie with Georgetown (4-1) for the second-best record among teams with minimum five appearances. Michigan is 7-1 all time in the Final Four.

4: UConn would be fourth 4-seed all-time to win in the Final Four, joining Michigan (2013), Arizona (1997) and Syracuse (1996). What's more, a win would make UConn the first 4-seed to make national championship game in a decade.

81.8: The number of points per game UConn is averaging this tournament, which is the third-best among all teams and best among the Final Four teams. (In two tournament games, Arizona State posted 84 PPG and Kansas posted 83.5 PPG.)

41.8: The percentage that the Huskies are shooting from the 3-point line, which is the highest among the Final Four teams.

3: Miami's Jim Larrañaga is just the third coach in NCAA history to take two programs (Miami and George Mason) to the Final Four, joining Forddy Anderson (Bradley and Michigan State) and Hugh Durham (Florida State and Georgia).

81.3: The number of points per game Miami is scoring this tournament, which is the fifth-best among all teams and second-best among the Final Four teams. 

3: Of the remaining four teams in the tournament, the Hurricanes have three of the top-six leading scorers: Nijel Pack (18.5 PPG), Isaiah Wong and Jordan Miller (16.5 PPG). UConn has two in Adama Sanogo (20.0 PPG) and Jordan Hawkins (17.3 PPG), and FAU has one in Johnell Davis (17.3 PPG).

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