2019 NCAA Tournament Cheat Sheet: Using Stats To Pick The Perfect Bracket

The main measure of overall team strength at barttorvik.com is called T-Rank. Each of the past 11 national champs was in the top 23 in T-Rank, based on their performance prior to the NCAA Tournament. The 2014 Connecticut team, which won the title as a No. 7 seed, is the one that was No. 23. Plenty of this season’s longshots can look to those Huskies for inspiration.

So let’s start our exercise by listing the current top 23 in T-Rank — our initial list of national title contenders: Virginia, Gonzaga, Duke, Michigan, North Carolina, Michigan State, Texas Tech, Kentucky, Tennessee, Purdue, Virginia Tech, Houston, Auburn, Wisconsin, Louisville, Florida State, Kansas State, Iowa State, LSU, Kansas, Mississippi State, Clemson and Maryland.

Cross Clemson off the list for failing to make the tournament.

Jeremy Brevard Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports