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If you're watching college basketball expecting the blitzing, lightning-fast scoring barrages you could see in the NBA, you could be left disappointed. Even if NCAA D1 basketball players are likely the best college hoops players in the world, average final scores for college basketball games (specifically the March Madness Finals) are more modest than the pros.
What is the average score of the March Madness Finals?
According to the folks at Business Insider who did the math last year, 77-68 is the average score of a men's March Madness national title game.
As per the original report, they came upon the average by tracing back as far as the 1987 NCAA Tournament. That was the year that the 3-point line was first introduced in the men's college game – well after the NBA itself had implemented it. The numbers were computed as follows:
- Average point total: 145 points
- Average team total: 73 points
- Average point differential: 9 points
Notably, the average score for women's March Madness Finals is 73-61.
How common is the average March Madness championship game score?
Since 1987, teams in the national title game scored either 77 or 68 points six times. This happened in 1993, 1999, 2008, 2015, 2016 and 2019.
This perhaps doesn`t sound like much, but this also doesn`t count the number of times that teams scored within a basket or two of 77 or 68 points in total – going as far back as 1950 when CCNY defeated Bradley for the national championship.
It`s also worth noting that just one team was able to score over 100 points in the national title game. That honor goes to the 1990 UNLV Runnin' Rebels, who beat Duke 103-73. The score is also the highest-ever by a single team in the March Madness Finals, with the second-highest being a 98-83 win by John Wooden and UCLA over Duke in 1964.
For comparison's sake, women's college hoops games feature far more blowouts. A perfect example would be the last 10 NCAAW championship games, only four of which were determined by 10 points or less.
