Youngest NCAA teams?
Watching the Fab 5 special, and knowing that Morris is a sophomore, with Morgan, Hardaway, and Smotz freshmen, and Novak a Junior, I was pondering what the youngest teams ever in the NCAA tourney were. Obviously, the Fab 5 are the youngest ever. But iirc, Kentucky has had some very young teams too. Our current team averages 1.6 (with a Freshman being a 1, and a senior a 4.) A quick Google search did not prove helpful.
Edit: I am focusing on starters, and assumed for this purpose Smotz as a starter, which isn't necessarily true.
On an unrelated topic, I was fascinated to see Izzo, Beilein, and Fisher (in that order) having the highest success vs. seeding expectation rating of teams in the tourney. All have a significant winning record for teams they brought to the tournament. (umhoops.com had a link to this at http://www.bracketscience.com/articles/_navTop10.asp?i=1.)
March 15th, 2011 at 11:51 AM ^
It's possible that this team is the youngest in the country this year in the dance
March 15th, 2011 at 12:04 PM ^
us at 335th nationally with avg experience .93 years. D-1 Average is 1.73
March 15th, 2011 at 12:08 PM ^
Are we the youngest team in the tournament?
March 15th, 2011 at 12:15 PM ^
We are the second youngest team in the tourney, behind Memphis
March 15th, 2011 at 12:19 PM ^
Only 10 teams younger than M in Div-I
March 15th, 2011 at 12:37 PM ^
UConn is only slightly more experienced than M - they have .96 average years experience.
This is notable because they are one of 3 tourney teams with < 1 average years exp, but they happen to be a 3 seed & conference tourney champions.
They also have Kemba Walker (NBA Lottery Pick) and a coach who cheats his ass off...
March 15th, 2011 at 12:05 PM ^
If you count Metrics as a starter, we have the be the youngest team in the tourney, I would bet a lot of money on it. Even if you could Douglass in his place, we have to be close. We have no senior starters, and I bet almost every team in the tourney has at least one senior starter.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:10 PM ^
and a few other schools have had such young teams on occasion is because they occasionally put together an entire class of one and dones. The problem is, it doesn't perpetuate.
I'm much more excited about having one of the youngest teams in the tourney that in two years will be one of the oldest teams in the tourney. (But then no more Novak grit. :( )
March 15th, 2011 at 12:23 PM ^
I believe I heard Memphis is the only team younger than us somewhere...
I know its a younger team, but the big difference between UM and basically every young team other than Memphis is that they have at least a couple of older/experienced players on the roster who play a major role in the team's success. UConn is young, but Kemba Walker is an older starter with some experience. Outside of Morris, there really isn't a starter/top-8 player who has experience and is not best described as "gritty."