Daniel Wilco | NCAA.com | March 14, 2018

The tallest teams in the NCAA tournament

These bracket busters can help your picks

What do Christ Koumadje and Demontrae Jefferson have in common? They’re both outliers.

Koumadje, a center from Florida State, stands at 7-4, making him the tallest player in the NCAA tournament. Jefferson, a 5-7 Texas Southern guard, is the shortest.

MARCH MADNESS SHOP

Second-seeded Duke plays No. 15 Iona in the first round and is the tallest team in this year's tournament. Radford is the shortest, which didn't stop the Highlanders from picking up their first-ever NCAA Tournament victory.

Here’s the full ranking of 2018’s field of 68 by height:

Rank	School	Average Height (in inches)
1	Duke	79.21
2	Florida State	78.59
3	Oklahoma	78.47
4	Kentucky	78.23
5	Kansas	78.17
6	Alabama	78.14
7	San Diego State	78.08
8	UCLA	78.00
8	West Virginia	78.00
10	Virginia	77.92
11	Purdue	77.92
12	Missouri	77.85
13	Texas Tech	77.79
14	Texas	77.69
14	Xavier	77.69
16	Michigan State	77.67
17	Providence	77.62
18	North Carolina	77.56
19	Arizona	77.47
20	Creighton	77.46
20	Gonzaga	77.46
22	Wichita State	77.25
23	TCU	77.23
24	Clemson	77.21
25	Loyola Chicago	77.20
26	Michigan	77.18
27	UNCG	77.17
28	Montana	77.08
28	Florida	77.08
30	Buffalo	77.07
31	Miami	77.00
31	Arkansas	77.00
31	Cincinnati	77.00
31	Houston	77.00
31	Kansas State	77.00
31	UMBC	77.00
37	Syracuse	76.93
38	Stephen F. Austin	76.92
39	NC State	76.92
40	Penn	76.89
41	Georgia State	76.85
42	Butler	76.83
42	Seton Hall	76.83
44	Charleston	76.77
44	Ohio State	76.77
46	Virginia Tech	76.75
47	Auburn	76.73
47	Marshall	76.73
49	Nevada	76.71
50	Murray State	76.67
51	Bucknell	76.64
52	CSU Fullerton	76.60
53	Davidson	76.57
54	Iona	76.50
54	Villanova	76.50
56	South Dakota State	76.45
57	St. Bonaventure	76.31
58	Texas A&M	76.14
59	Wright State	76.08
60	Lipscomb	76.08
61	Rhode Island	76.07
62	New Mexico State	76.00
63	Tennessee	75.94
64	Arizona State	75.58
65	Texas Southern	75.57
66	NC Central	75.47
67	LIU-Brooklyn	75.27
68	Radford	75.21

The Blue Devils’ players average 79.2 inches (just over 6-7). Duke has 10 players over 6-6, and their shortest player is 6-2. That may have something to do with why the Blue Devils are the fourth-best rebounding team in the country, and the second-best in the tournament.

Radford is on the other end of the spectrum, averaging just 75.2 inches per player (just over 6-3). Only four Highlanders breach 6-6, and just one player in Radford’s starting five is taller than 6-5 — the 6-8 Randy Phillips, who averages 6.9 points per game. But it’s 6-5 Ed Polite Jr. who pulls in the most rebounds for Radford, accounting for 23% of the Highlanders boards.

Seeing that difference between a 1 seed and a 16 seed is pretty common. Here's how average height breaks down by seed:

Seed	Height
2	77.89
9	77.71
10	77.70
1	77.54
5	77.54
8	77.24
4	77.22
3	77.08
6	77.08
11	77.03
13	76.93
14	76.69
15	76.51
7	76.47
12	76.41
16	75.98

None of the 2-seeds (Duke, Purdue, North Carolina, and Cincinnati) have an average height of under 6-5. The 1 seeds include the Nos. 5 (Kansas), 10 (Virginia), and 14 (Xavier) tallest teams, but are brought down by Villanova, which has an average height of 6-4.5, the 14th shortest in the field. Unsurprisingly, four of the 16 seeds come in at the first (Radford), second (LIU-Brooklyn), third (NC Central), and fourth (Texas Southern) shortest teams in the tournament.

In the past 10 years, no player under 6-0 or over 6-10 has won the Final Four Most Outstanding Player.

Year	School	MOP	Height (in inches)
2017	UNC	Joel Berry II	72
2016	Villanova	Ryan Arcidiacono	75
2015	Duke	Tyus Jones	73
2014	UConn	Shabazz Napier	73
2013	Louisville	Luke Hancock	78
2012	Kentucky	Anthony Davis	82
2011	UConn	Kemba Walker	73
2010	Duke	Kyle Singler	80
2009	UNC	Wayne Ellington	76
2008	Kansas	Mario Chalmers	73