Each of the regional writers will give you in-depth match by match analysis over the coming days and I’m totally pumped for Indoors Draft Kings, but I wanted to kick off Indoors week with a “fast facts” article. I looked at all Indoors results over the past eight seasons (2008-2015) and recorded 20 interesting things that I saw in the trends. In the coming days, please follow my Twitter @d3tennis for additional, more team-specific statistics. To begin, let’s review the Indoors records of this year’s teams over the past eight years.
#8 Case: 2-4
#7 CMU: 3-6
#6 Kenyon: 10-8
#5 Trinity TX: 13-8
#4 Chicago: 0-3
#3 Emory: 18-6
#2 Pomona-Pitzer: 1-2
#1 Wash U: 14-7
I find several of the facts below particularly interesting since #4 seed Chicago is stealing the show as far as attention is concerned headed into this year’s tournament.
20) Trinity TX has won three consecutive first rounds. Prior to 2013, they were 0-4 in first rounds.
19) If you look at average year-end finish, the 2015 tournament was the strongest field since 2009. The average finish for the eight teams was 10.1.
18) The eventual NCAA champion has played in Indoors only three out of eight years.
17) In the last five years, California teams are a combined 9-15 at Indoors.
16) In the last six years, no host team has won more than one match at Indoors. Gustavus won the tournament as the hosts in 2008.
15) The #8 seed has never finished better than sixth.
14) For the first 12 years of Indoors between 2001 and 2012, the tournament only had three different champions: Emory, Cruz and Gustavus. In the past three years, the tournament has had three different champions: Kenyon, Wash U and Trinity TX.
13) The last three Indoors champions have lost in the quarterfinals of NCAAs.
12) If you look at average ranking coming into the tournament, the 2016 field is the strongest since 2009 with an average ranking of 7.6.
11) In the last five years, 14 of the 20 first round matches have finished 6-3 or 5-4. There has not been a 9-0 result in any match in any round during the last six years.
10) In the last three years, Indoors has only had a total of two of the twelve eventual Final Four teams: Wash U in 2015 and Trinity TX in 2014. In 2012, Indoors had three of the Final Four: Emory, Kenyon and Wash U.
9) No team that has finished top three at Indoors has ever finished worse than ninth in the country.
8) No team that has finished third at Indoors has ever finished worse than seventh in the country.
7) Emory is 7-1 in Indoors first rounds and 5-2 in Indoors semifinals. In the last seven years, Emory has won at least two matches in every Indoors.
6) No team that has finished seventh or eighth at Indoors has ever finished top 10 in the country. In the past five years, no team that has finished sixth or worse has finished top 10 in the country.
5) Every year of Indoors, at least one team participating has had a year-end finish of 18th or worse in the country.
4) Wash U is 7-0 in Indoors first round matches.
3) Referencing Fact #15, A #8 seed has never won a first round match. #7 seeds are 1-7 in the first round.
2) Only one team seeded outside the top three has ever made the finals. Hopkins was a #6 seed in 2014 when they made it.
1) The top seed has made it to the final every year. The top seed has won the tournament five of the past six years with the exception being Kenyon in 2013 when they were seeded second. No team outside the top three seeds has ever won the tournament.