Major Update to Men’s NCAA Tournament Box Scores

We have recently made significant improvements to nearly 200 men's basketball NCAA Tournament box scores at College Basketball Reference, filling in many previously missing categories in our collection of every box score in the history of the tournament. These improvements, which span from 1947 through 1984, are most heavily concentrated between 1958 and 1984 on categories such as starting lineups, minutes played, turnovers, assists, blocked shots and steals. As you can see on our data coverage page, our coverage of every statistical category in men's NCAA Tournament games is now nearly complete all the way back to 1973-74. The main 'missing' stats are 3-pointers (which simply didn't exist) and offensive rebounds (which were not tracked). Additionally, most of the rare games for which we're missing blocks, steals, turnovers or assists were games where those categories were simply not tracked. It was up to the discretion of whichever crew was scoring games at a given site to decide what statistics they would track. So much of what is "missing" is not missing in the sense that it exists and we haven't found it, so much as it is "missing" in the sense that no one bothered to track it and it is therefore unknowable (and in a sense, not even really "missing" since it would need to have once existed in order for it to be missing). All of that is to say that we now feel like we are very close to having every NCAA tournament statistic that was actually recorded.

Some highlights on our coverage in the wake of this update:

• Previously we only had ~50% of blocks, steals and turnovers in the 1984 tournament. Our coverage is now 98.1% (steals), 99.1% (blocks) and 100% (turnovers). The missing data is not data that was recorded that we were unable to find. Rather, the official scorer neglected to include these statistics in the official scorer's report.
• Our coverage of minutes played has risen accordingly:
  • 1977: 77.5% to 96.1%
  • 1976:89.3% to 97.4%
  • 1975: 79.2% to 88.7%
  • 1974: 76.5% to 86.2%
  • 1973: 64.4% to 73.5%
• Our coverage of assists has risen accordingly:
  • 1977: 93.1% to 100%
  • 1976: 96.1% to 100%
  • 1975: 92.4% to 97.4%
  • 1971: 85.3% to 100%
  • 1968: 48.0% to 66.4%
  • 1966: 56.8% to 66.4%
  • 1958: 3.6% to 18.3%
• Our coverage of blocked shots has risen accordingly:
  • 1984: 57.4% to 99.1%
  • 1981: 95.9% to 100%
  • 1980: 90.9% to 98.0%
  • 1978: 92.9% to 100%
  • 1977: 81.8% to 100%
  • 1976: 80.1% to 87.2%
  • 1975: 84.2% to 92.0%
  • 1974: 79.4% to 94.6%
• Our coverage of steals has risen accordingly:
  • 1984: 57.4% to 98.1%
  • 1981: 95.8% to 99.9%
  • 1980: 91.0% to 98.1%
  • 1979: 95.6% to 98.9%
  • 1978: 90.5% t0 100%
  • 1977: 81.8% to 100%
  • 1976: 80.1% to 87.2%
  • 1975: 84.2% to 91.0%
  • 1974: 79.4% to 94.6%
• Over coverage of turnovers has risen accordingly:
  • 1984: 55.2% to 100%
  • 1981: 95.8% to 99.9%
  • 1980: 90.9% to 98.0%
  • 1979: 93.8% to 99.9%
  • 1978: 90.3% to 100%
  • 1977: 79.2% to 93.6%
  • 1976: 77.6% to 87.2%
  • 1975: 84.2% to 91.0%
  • 1974: 76.% to 98.7%
  • 1971: 54.3% to 64.5%
  • 1970: 55.6% to 71.1%
  • 1969: 36.9% to 46.3%
  • 1968: 38.8% to 48.7%

In addition to the above, we have made numerous smaller improvements in other categories and seasons, while managing to fix errors that originated in newspaper box scores. The most notable of these fixes were to blocks and steals for many games from the early 80's Phi-Slama-Jama Houston Cougars.

We hope you enjoy this significant update.