NORTH CAROLINA, USA — With March Madness headed to the Sweet 16, people will start talking about the Elite Eight. Your friends and family might start speaking in basketball lingo and throw around acronyms, leaving you stuck. All this seed talk can be confusing when you're not talking about plants.
Maybe you haven't heard of any of these, or you might need a refresher. Check out this list of 15 terms or college basketball slang heard throughout the tournament.
Most of the following terms were provided and defined by the NCAA’s website.
March Madness Vocab:
Cinderella — Like a fairy tale, a Cinderella team is much more successful than expected. This is generally a low-seeded team, such as 10-16, beating a higher-seeded opponent. Some argue a team only needs to pull a first-round upset to be a Cinderella, while others say such a team needs to at least get to the Sweet Sixteen or farther.
Defensive efficiency — A simple statistic that calculates the points allowed per 100 defensive possessions. For example, if Team A’s opponent scored 80 points in a game with 75 possessions, Team A’s defensive efficiency would be 106.7.
Elite Eight — The fourth round of the tournament in which only eight teams remain. It’s traditionally also known as the regional championships. The winners move to the national semifinals, better known as the “Final Four.” Read NCAA's Elite Eight ultimate guide for more.
Final Four — The fifth round of the tournament, when just four teams remain, is known as the Final Four. This is the penultimate round of the tournament when the winners of each regional face-off for a chance to play in the championship game. Read NCAA's Final Four ultimate guide for more.
First Four — When the NCAA tournament was expanded to 68 teams, a new round was added to the format: The First Four.
First four out — When ranking all 68 teams in the NCAA tournament, the First Four Out fall in spots 69-72. These teams will not make the NCAA tournament but will be the top-seeded teams in the NIT Championship.
Offensive efficiency — Points scored per 100 offensive possessions. For example, if a team scored 95 points in a game with 85 possessions, their offensive efficiency would be 115.9.
Pace/Tempo — An estimate of the number of possessions a team has per regulation (40 minutes).
Regional — The NCAA tournament bracket is split into four regionals. The South, East, West, and Midwest. The first four rounds of the tournament are played in regionals, with the Elite Eight serving as the regional championship game. Teams are assigned a regional based on a combination of factors, such as overall seed, proximity to the regional, the other teams in that region, and more.
S-curve - a system of how teams are placed in the bracket for the 2022 tournament. Since all games are being played in one area, the NCAA has changed how it is seeding teams. So, the top No. 1 seed may not play the No. 2 seed in the Elite Eight.
SAG — On a team sheet, “SAG” stands for Sagarin rankings, from sagarin.com. The Sagarin rankings account for score differentials, the strength of schedule, and weights for how recent a game was (wins in February are worth more than wins in November). Sagarin rankings differ from KenPom rankings in that efficiency is not taken into account. View the current rankings here.
Seed — There are 68 teams that earn bids to the tournament and each one receives a seed (1-16) that determines where the team will be placed in each regional. The highest-ranked team faces the lowest-ranked team in each region of the bracket. The four lowest-seeded at-large teams and the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers go to the "First Four."
Selection committee —The NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Committee is responsible for how the entire tournament is organized. They choose the participating teams, their seeds and put the field into a bracket based on those seeds.
Selection Sunday — The day everyone finds out all 68 teams in the NCAA tournament.
Sweet 16 — The third round of the tournament in which only 16 teams remain. The winners move on to the “Elite Eight.” NCAA's Sweet 16 ultimate guide for more.
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