An Unforgettable March Madness: The Her Hoop Stats Trivia Challenge
Try your hand at a supersized edition of the HHS Trivia Challenge and see how well you remember the top stories from this year's NCAA Tournament.
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Are you not entertained? Call it a moment. Call it a movement. Call it whatever you like, but the 2023-24 women’s basketball season, and particularly March Madness, has been must-see TV.
Before we dive into a supersized edition of the Her Hoop Stats trivia challenge, I feel the need to offer some commentary on last night’s instant classic between Iowa and UConn. If you prefer to skip down to the trivia fun, then have at it. However, it’s 3:52 a.m., I’ve just polished off a couple of Cokes, and my mind is racing a million miles per hour with thoughts on what I witnessed a few hours ago at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. So, please, bear with me.
First, congratulations to South Carolina and Iowa on their Final Four wins last night! Sunday afternoon’s rematch of last year’s national semifinal is poised to be a doozy.
Second, hats off to UConn on one of the more remarkable tournament runs in recent memory. When you wear a UConn jersey, fans expect greatness. It’s a blessing and a curse, but, above all else, a testament to the program’s championship pedigree. What’s perhaps underappreciated is how difficult that standard is to achieve when you are down to eight healthy players.
Third, let’s discuss the illegal screen call. The Huskies had the ball down one point with less than 10 seconds remaining and tried to spring Paige Bueckers free on the perimeter for a game-winning shot with an Aaliyah Edwards screen. Edwards was whistled for an illegal screen, a call that was the beginning of the end for the Huskies.
The problem that many viewers had with the call was not its correctness — replays indicate that it was a moving screen — but rather the situation in which the call was made. “Players should decide the ends of games, not officials” or “You just can’t make that call in that situation” were popular refrains following the game.
Such calls for situational officiating are common in sports. But why? Why should officials toss out the rule book or, better yet, enforce rules differently in the final minute of a game? Look, I would have much preferred to see whether Bueckers would have hit a game-winning shot. But just because the call resulted in an ending that wasn’t the most satisfactory, doesn’t mean it was the wrong call.
And lastly, credit to UConn’s players — Paige Bueckers, Nika Muhl, and Aaliyah Edwards — for how they handled themselves during last night’s press conference. Having your season (and, in Muhl’s and Edwards’ cases, collegiate career) end in such gut-wrenching fashion and facing a throng of reporters shortly afterward can’t be easy. But the trio handled the postgame presser, particularly questions about the illegal screen call, with poise, always taking the high road.
At long last it’s time for us to reflect on the major storylines from March Madness with a 15-question trivia challenge. Per usual, just a friendly reminder that Substack doesn’t have the functionality to display the correct answer after you respond (the checkmark simply denotes which option you chose), so you’ll have to scroll to the bottom to discover the correct answers. Good luck!
Question 1. Before the Elite Eight matchup between NC State and Texas, a fan discovered that one of the 3-point lines was shorter than the other (roughly nine inches short it turned out). Just in case any of you are charged with lining an NCAA court in the future, what is the current correct NCAA distance of the 3-point line at the top of the arc?
Question 2. The first round of this year’s tournament was the “chalkiest” in history, with 31 of the 32 higher (better) seeds advancing. Which No. 11 seed pulled off the lone upset?
Question 3. Things became slightly less chalky in the round of 32 – which team was the lowest (worst) seed in this year’s tournament to advance to the Sweet 16?
Question 4. Not only did the Elite Eight matchup between LSU and Iowa generate the biggest TV audience in women’s college basketball history, it had more viewers than the following events: every 2023 Power 5 football conference championship except for the SEC title game, the 2023 Orange Bowl, the 2023 Cotton Bowl, every regular-season college football game in 2023 except for Ohio State vs. Michigan, all but one game in the 2023 NBA Finals, and the clinching game in the 2023 World Series. Impressive, right? To the nearest million, how many viewers did LSU-Iowa draw Monday night?
Question 5. One of the more horrifying and eye-opening stories this season, what team’s players were subjected to alleged multiple racist incidents near their Idaho hotel while in town for the NCAA Tournament? Due to safety concerns following these encounters, the team in question moved to a different hotel the next day.
Question 6. One of the oodles of NCAA records broken by Caitlin Clark this season is the NCAA Tournament record for career 3-pointers. Clark, currently with 73 career triples during March Madness, broke whose record? The player in question, a 3-time national champion, hit 61 3-pointers during the tournament in her career that ran from 2001 to 2004.
Question 7. During a press conference on March 23, LSU head coach Kim Mulkey threatened legal action against what publication about a profile on her that had yet to be published at the time?
Question 8. This is the ridiculous shot chart this season (excluding last night’s game) for which player in this year’s Final Four? She is shooting at least 10 percentage points higher than the Division I average at every distance except for threes from 25+ feet away. Shot chart courtesy of CBB Analytics
Question 9. There have been three 40+ point performances in this year’s tournament – Caitlin Clark, Kiki Iriafen, and what third player?
Question 10. What coach was named Naismith Coach of the Year on Thursday – her fourth win in the last five years?
Question 11. What is the lowest (worst) seed to ever win an NCAA Division I women’s national championship?
Question 12. The following scatterplot shows the offensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions) and defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) for each of the 360 Division I teams this season. Which of the Final Four teams is represented by the point circled in red? Note: The upper left quadrant – fewer points allowed and more points scored – is where a team ideally would like to be.
Question 13. Entering the second weekend of the tournament, teams this season were a combined 2-34 when committing at least 21 more turnovers than their opponent. What team bucked this trend and overcame a -21 turnover deficit in its Sweet 16 matchup?
Question 14. In Sunday afternoon’s national championship game, we’ll see a rematch of last year’s Final Four classic between South Carolina and Iowa. In that game, Caitlin Clark famously waved off Raven Johnson, not deeming her to be a threat from beyond the arc. What did Johnson shoot from three in that game?
Question 15. Consider the following five statistical categories: points per game, assists per game, rebounds per game, blocked shots per game, and steals per game. Who is the only player in NCAA Division I history to lead the country in any of these categories and win a national championship in the same season?
Answers
1. D – 22 feet, 1.75 inches – The mistake by a contractor hired by the NCAA was noticed only after five games had been played on the court in Portland.
2. B – Middle Tennessee – Not only was it the only upset in the round of 64, but the Blue Raiders’ 18-point comeback win over No. 6 Louisville is tied for the fourth-biggest in NCAA Tournament history.
3. C – Duke – The Blue Devils rallied from a 16-point deficit to knock off Big Ten regular champion Ohio State on the Buckeyes’ home court in the round of 32. Reigan Richardson led all scorers with a career-high 28 points in Duke’s upset win.
4. B – 12 million – 12.3 million to be exact. The 60 NCAA Tournament games this year (excluding First Four games) have averaged 1.5 million viewers, a 127% increase over last year.
5. A - Utah - While the team played its games at Gonzaga in Spokane, Washington, the Utes’ hotel was located 35 miles away in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. While the investigation into the alleged incidents is ongoing, police recently indicated that they have an audio recording in which the use of a racial slur is audible.
6. A – Diana Taurasi – Taurasi knocked down 61 of her 157 triples (38.9%) during her NCAA Tournament career. Clark, who has hit 73 of her 188 attempts from long distance during her March Madness career, is shooting a nearly identical 38.8%.
7. D – The Washington Post – The profile by Kent Babb ultimately came out on March 30. There has been no further word from Mulkey on whether she will pursue legal action.
8. A – Paige Bueckers – Due to the Caitlin Clark effect, the UConn phenom has somehow flown under the radar despite one of the more impressive and efficient seasons in recent memory. Her 2024 NCAA Tournament was off the charts. Per our own Calvin Wetzel, before last night’s game, her average stat line during this year’s tournament was 28.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 3.3 steals, and 1.5 blocks. No one in the past 15 tournaments, besides Bueckers herself, has even posted these numbers in a single tournament game.
9. B – Audi Crooks – The Iowa State freshman’s 40-point effort, in which she shot a video-game-like 18-for-20 (90%), fueled a 20-point comeback against Maryland in the round of 64.
10. A – Dawn Staley – In the four years that Staley has won the honor, her teams have gone a combined 140-4.
11. A – No. 3 seed – Perhaps parity hasn’t extended past the country’s top 10-15 teams just yet, as no seed below a No. 3 has ever won the national championship. North Carolina in 1994, Tennessee in 1997, and last year’s LSU team captured the national title all as No. 3 seeds.
12. A – South Carolina – The Gamecocks have ranked in the top three in both offensive rating and defensive rating this season and last season. This year, the Gamecocks have averaged 114.9 points per 100 possessions and allowed only 75.9 points per 100 possessions.
13. D – Oregon State – As a result, the Beavers had 25 fewer field-goal attempts than their Sweet 16 opponent, Notre Dame. However, Oregon State still had more makes on the strength of shooting over 60% from the field, the highest field-goal percentage in a game in the Sweet 16 or later in nearly seven years.
14. D – 3-for-6 (50%) – Lost in the hubbub surrounding the wave-off moment was the fact that Johnson actually shot 3-for-6 from long distance in last year’s national semifinal. She did shoot 14-for-58 (24.1%) during the 2022-23 campaign; however, kudos to Johnson who worked on her outside shot during the offseason and has knocked down a very respectable 28 of her 76 shots (36.8%) from beyond the arc this season.
15. C – Brittney Griner – Griner led the country with 5.2 blocks per game during the 2011-12 season when Baylor also took home the national championship. Of course, Caitlin Clark, who leads the country in scoring and assists, has a chance to add her name to this exclusive list on Sunday.
So, how’d you do? Let us know in the comments below and thanks so much for playing. Hope you all enjoy tomorrow afternoon’s national title game!
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
While I love Audi’s game, she plays for Iowa State, not Iowa. We are very lucky here in Iowa to have such fantastic women’s basketball to follow either live or in print. Kirkwood won Community College Division II championship, Dordt the NAIA championship, and Drake/ISU/Iowa all made the big dance. If UNI hadn’t had so many injuries, they might have made the dance too. Also, Clarke won championship last year and in case you didn’t know, this is ring #9 for Coach Muhl at Kirkwood. Great time to be alive and love women’s basketball if you are from the state of Iowa!!! PS. Love reading this newsletter!!! Keep up the great work!!!
Thank you for your refreshing post!
You write: "The problem that many viewers had with the call was not its correctness — replays indicate that it was a moving screen — but rather the situation in which the call was made. “Players should decide the ends of games, not officials . . .”
I so agree with your post. Let's not forget that if the ref HAD NOT called the moving screen, she would have just as easily decided the end of the game in the opposite way.
The idea that refs should "let the players play" late in the game is one of those so-called unwritten rules. Some refs may believe that and call the game accordingly, but IT'S NOT A RULE. It's unwritten for a reason; IT'S NOT A RULE!