Stats' Sheet February Mailbag
In this edition, we look at how age affects performance in the NCAA, pairwise ranking corresponds to championship performance, and jerseys
Welcome to the Stats’ Sheet February Mailbag. After taking January off, we’re back to answer your questions.
How does the age of the team compare to teams of the past, and how well does a team this young usually perform season/tournament wise? — Sean
This year’s team is the 15th oldest BU team since 1930, and the oldest BU team since 1971-72. Below is a chart of the average age of every BU team since 1970-71 vs. their winning percentage, with national champions marked with stars.
What’s the lowest rank (via pairwise) a team has been going into the NCAA playoffs that went on to win the championship?
We’ll just go back to 2013-14, since that is the first year of our current selection process (i.e., no TUC and the addition of Quality Win Bonus and Home/Away weighting). Only twice has a team below the 1 seeds—in that span—won the National Championship, Providence in 2015, the 15th overall seed and Minnesota-Duluth in 2018, the 12th overall seed. In that span, a #1 seed has won 7 of 9 national championships. Below is a table of the finish of each seed and seed band from 2013-14 to 2023-24.
Do you have any insight into the jersey game this year? I’m curious if they plan on bringing back the red 1950 threads, or if any other throwbacks are planned for the future. Always love your jersey stat breakdowns! — BParner
I don’t have any specific insight on the jersey selection for the season. BU does tend to break out the “Garrity Era” throwback for the NCAA tourney. However, the last time they wore them was the disastrous 2024 Hockey East Championship game, so there is a chance they’re kept in the closet for the bit longer. The Terriers have yet to wear the white version of their 70s throwback with the Terrier on the front, so that could potentially make an appearance.