2014 NCAA Basketball Championship: Facts and Notes
- The 7th seeded UConn Huskies and the 8th seeded Kentucky Wildcats is the highest combined seeds in a national championship game.
-The only other 8 seed to win the NCAA Title was Villanova in 1985. No 7th seed has ever played for a title.
-Kevin Ollie is looking to become 1st coach to win national title within first 2 seasons as Division 1 head coach since Steve Fisher, 1989 Michigan.
-If John Calipari wins the title he will become just the 15 coach to win multiple titles.
- Calipari is 18-2 in the NCAA Tournament over the last 2 years.
-Shabazz Napier, Niels Giffey and Tyler Olander could become the 1st players ever to win the National Championship as freshmen and as seniors.
-11 out of the last 16 winners have won their conference tournament. That will not be the case this year as both teams lost in their conference tournament.
- Kentucky or UConn both didn’t win their regular season league also. They will be the 1st team not to win the regular season or conference tournament since Arizona in 1997.
-Kentucky could become 4th team (1st since 1988) to win national championship despite being unranked in the final AP Poll before the NCAA tournament.
- UConn has never lost a national championship.
- Kentucky has 8 National Titles, while UConn had 3.
-UConn could join 2002 Maryland as the only teams since 1979 to win the National Championship without a McDonald’s All American on its roster. Kentucky has 7 on its roster.
- These 2 teams have meant 4 times before, UConn has won 3 out of 4.
-During the 1999-2000 NBA season John Calipari was an assistant on the 76ers, and Kevin Ollie was the backup point guard.