Yes, we will be missing a pretty big component of what a by-the-numbers article typically analyzes. But no, we won't let that keep us from forging ahead with all the numbers we can think to crunch pertaining the 2020 NCAA Tournament that never was. 

Previous NCAAs' By-the-Numbers: 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014

We've already done some preliminary data slog, based off the list of entries and seeds, which is, unfortunately, all we are going to get in 2020. Kyle tallied the number of qualifiers by school, as well as creating these nifty best lineups based on home states. And your humble blogger got to work on his heat map game as soon as possible, which you can check out here. 

My personal favorite heat map from this year's qualifiers is below, but do revisit the article for more details. 

Let's start the new analysis by calculating the team scores based on projected tournament points from the seeds, excluding bonus points. 

Tournament Points From Seeds Per School

The story all year long was that it was Iowa's title to lose. That assumption is supported by the seeding committee.

Incidentally, 69 different schools qualified a wrestler in the field of 330 total competitors. 

How did this year's teams do compared to their recent historical average? We took the average points scored (based on tournament finish with no bonus points factored in. Apologies but we don't have the precise tournament scores handy) from the years 2016-2019 and compared to the expected points based on the 2020 seeds. The final column is the difference between this year and the previous four-year average. 

Every team was disappointed the NCAAs got canceled, but this illustrates just how painful it must have been for the Hawkeyes and their fans. Purdue, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Princeton, and UNI aren't too far behind on the heartbreak scale.

And just for fun, I made this conditionally formatted table of the top 15 teams in average points scored per weight class over the last five years (still using the NCAA placement and 2020 seeds for point total approximations). 

Now's let's break things down by conference. And going forward, when we discuss "points" it will be tournament points derived from the seeds. 

National Qualifiers per Conference

Top 8 Seeds per Conference

Points per Conference

The Big Ten dominated but if you divide those points by the number of teams in each conference, you can see how much power the ACC packs into just 6 programs. 

Points per Conference per Team

Now let's do home states. 

Qualifiers per Home State

40 different states (plus two foreign countries!) had 2020 NCAA qualifiers. That's too many states for a pie chart, so a simple bar graph will do. The numbers are in the table below.

Top 8 per Home State

Points per Home State

A strong year for Pennsylvania no double. Illinois and Indiana had better than usual seasons as well. Now let's compare the points-based off seasons from 2020 to how these top 10 states did at the NCAAs in the previous four seasons. 

Ohio was ready to rebound after an off 2019, Illinois was poised to have perhaps their best season in many years, and New York and Florida both looked ready to have banners years as well. New Jersey was likely to regress back to their mean, while California did not look like they would reach their typical level. 

Iowa and Missouri were in the top 10 cumulative tournament points (simulated, not actual) from 2015-2019 but did not crack the top 10 in 2020. 

And now, because I am a fan of the per capita calculations, here are the number of 2020 national qualifiers per state per million inhabitants (as of the 2019 census estimates).

2020 National Qualifiers per State per Capita 

And now, because of the numbers right in front of me, here's the same calculation but over the last five years.

Just by the by, Virginia Tech's Cody Hughes is the first national qualifier from Maine that I can find any information about. If someone knows of other Maine qualifiers, let us know!

Four-Time Qualifiers

30 total qualifiers were invited to their fourth NCAA tournament (but let us know if we missed anyone). They are, in reverse alphabetical order, because that's what the spreadsheet wats to give me, below:

Three-time Qualifiers

29 wrestlers qualified for their third NCAAs in three attempts by earning bids to the 2020 tournament. They will all have a chance to join the four-timers club next year. Worth noting that there are others who have qualified for three NCAAs and still have a year of eligibility that did not wrestle this postseason.

Most Returning Points per School

Note: this does not take into account wrestlers that scored points in previous tournaments and have eligibility remaining.

Looks like Iowa is well-positioned for another run at a championship in 2021.

And finally, let's look at qualifiers by class, by typing those words out again, only this time in really big letters.

Qualifiers by Class