When it comes to college hoops, neither a historic tsunami in Japan, nor a ballooning budget deficit, nor rising food and gasoline prices, not even with the Dow Jones plunging more than 200 points, and with regional upheaval in Libya and a war in Afghanistan still brewing- could keep President Obama from filling out his NCAA Tournament bracket with ESPN’s Andy Katz for the third year in a row.
But with gloom and doom all around him, how can anyone possibly blame the president for tearing away from his daily chores and pressing schedule to concentrate on his real passion: college basketball. After all, didn’t President Nixon try to call in a play to the Miami Dolphins head coach, Don Shula a week before Super Bowl VI?
It case you haven’t heard by now, Mr. Obama, staying in character with his measured well thought out temperament, isn’t picking any Cinderella’s-in fact he has all four number one seeds advancing to the Final Four with Ohio State falling to Kansas in the Finals. ``Kansas has more firepower," Obama told Katz.
And for the record, the president is 1-1 when it comes to picking championship winners; he correctly picked North Carolina in 2009, but neglected to take Duke last year.
So as we put the final touches on our own brackets, here are some feats, facts, and historic firsts to chew over while waiting for the opening tipoff of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
• Kentucky has had the most tournament appearances with 50 from 1942-2010.
• North Carolina holds the record with most consecutive tournament appearances at 27, from 1974 through 2001.
• UCLA holds the most consecutive tournament wins at 38 from 1964-1974.
• Seattle’s Elgin Baylor holds the record with the most rebounds (91) over five games during the 1958 tournament, averaging 18.2 rebounds a game.
• Joakim Noah of Florida has the most tournament blocked shots with 29 in 2006; although Navy’s David Robinson batted down 26 over just four games in 1986.
• Villanova entering the tournament as the number 8 seed in 1985 was the lowest seed (since 1979) to have gone on to win the NCAA Championship.
• Only four no. 15-seeds have advanced to the second round: Coppin St in 1987, Richmond in 1991, Santa Clara in 1993, and Hampton in 2001.
• North Carolina has entered the tournament as the number one seed a record 13 times from 1979-2009, followed by Duke with 11 from 1986-2010.
• From 1985-2010, the number one seeds are a perfect 104-0 after the first round. The number one seeds are then 91-13 after the second round.
• Some early knockdown punches have included: no 10-seed St John’s (NY) upsetting no. 2 seed Duke in 1979, 80-78 during the 2nd round ; no 12-seed Princeton knocking off no. 5-seed Oklahoma St in the 1st round in 1983; no. 11 seed Boston College just getting by no. 3 seed Duke, 74-73 during the 2nd round in 1985; no 14 seed Cleveland State stunning Bobby’s Knight’s no. 3 seeded Indiana Hoosiers during the first round in 1986, 83-79; no. 14 seed East Tennessee State advancing over the no. 3 seed Arizona in the 1st round in 1992; and no. 10 seed Kent State blowing by no. 2 seed Alabama, 71-58 during the 2nd round in 2002.
• UNLV in 1992 was 26-2 during the season with a .929 winning percentage, but still didn’t make the tournament, an NCAA record for teams who didn’t qualify since 1985.
• The only Independent team to win the NCAA tournament was Marquette in 1977.
• The Pac 10 Conference has won the championship a record 15 times, followed by the Atlantic Coast with 12 championships.
• California in 2002 and Texas in 2010 are tied at 7 with having the most teams qualify for the tournament from the same state.
• The highest-rated college basketball game came back in 1979 when two no. 33’s, Larry Bird of Indiana St. and Magic Johnson of Michigan State went head to head on March 26, 1979, in which 38 percent of the country who owned television sets had their station set on NBC for the first prime time NCAA Championship on national television.
• The most watched NCAA championship was broadcast by CBS on April 6, 1992 between Duke and Michigan, which was seen by 20,910,000 viewers.
• In the very first tournament game, Villanova defeated Brown 42-30 on March 17, 1939 in Philadelphia, while in the second game of the doubleheader; Ohio State defeated Wake Forest 64-52
• Tournament games were televised regionally for the first time beginning in 1952.
• Net income for the entire tournament exceeded $500,000 for the first time in 1966.
• A 32 team bracket was adopted in 1975.
• The term ``Final Four’’ first shows up in the 1975 Official Collegiate Basketball Guide on page five of in the National Preview Section, written by Plain Dealer writer Ed Chay. The term Final Four was officially capitalized in the NCAA Basketball Guide beginning in 1978.
• In 1979, the bracket was expanded to 40 teams and eligible teams were seeded for the first time.
• Beginning in 1985, the tournament was expanded to 64 teams, eliminating first-round byes.
• In 1994, Bill Clinton became the first sitting U.S President to attend a tournament game when he attended the Midwest Regional Championship game in Dallas
• In 2008, for the first time in tournament history, all four no. 1 seeds advanced to the Final Four.
• Beginning in 2011, the tournament has been expanded to 68 teams.
-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
March 17, 2011
Source: National Collegiate Athletic Association
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