Answers: Day 14

1. Cincinnati, compiling a 5-7 Metro Conference mark and 12-16 record overall in the 1985-86 season, overcame a 13-point, second-half deficit to win at Louisville (84-82) before the Cardinals wound up capturing the NCAA championship. Cincinnati, national titlist in 1961 and 1962, had just one winning record in Metro competition from 1978-89 (8-6 mark in 1985).

2. Perennial cellar dweller Northwestern, which never has participated in the NCAA Tournament, was one of four Big Ten Conference second-division teams to defeat Magic Johnson-led Michigan State in 1979. The Wildcats, 2-16 in the Big Ten and 6-21 overall, defeated Michigan State, 83-65, before the Spartans caught fire and won the NCAA Tournament.

3. Wake Forest erased a 46-36 halftime deficit in the first round of the 1961 East Regional and whipped St. John's by 23 points (97-74). The Demon Deacons rallied despite a 1 of 10 field-goal shooting performance by All-ACC first-team selection Billy Packer. The next year in the tourney, Packer collected a total of 32 points and 10 assists in back-to-back overtime victories against Yale (92-82) and St. Joseph's (96-85).

4. Lute Olson guided Arizona to the 1997 NCAA title. The Wildcats were a #2 seed in 1993 when they were upset by #15 Santa Clara, 64-61. In 1992, UA was a #3 seed when it bowed to #14 East Tennessee State, 87-80.

5. Prior to VCU in 2011, the worst-seeded team to reach the Final Four and defeat a top seed was No. 11 LSU, which edged No. 1 seed Kentucky (59-57) in the 1986 Southeast Regional final. The Tigers lost to the Wildcats a total of three times during the regular season and SEC Tournament. The next year, LSU became the only school to advance to back-to-back regional finals as a double-digit seed (No. 10 seed Tigers lost to Indiana, 77-76, in the Midwest Regional final).

6. UNLV trailed Iowa at halftime in the 1987 West Regional final (58-42) before rallying to win 84-81. The Rebels lost their national semifinal game against Indiana, which had succumbed at Iowa, 101-88, in a Big Ten Conference contest. Three years later, UNLV demolished Duke (103-73) in the NCAA final.

7. Elvin Hayes, averaging 37.7 points per game entering a 1968 national semifinal contest against UCLA, was restricted to 10 when the previously unbeaten Cougars were clobbered by the homestanding Bruins, 101-69. The decisive victory avenged a 71-69 defeat at the Astrodome when Hayes poured in 39 points to help end UCLA's 47-game winning streak. The Big E lead the 1967 and 1968 tourneys in scoring and rebounding. He wasn't named to the 1968 All-Tournament team despite outscoring Final Four Most Outstanding Player Lew Alcindor of champion UCLA by a wide margin (167 points in five games to 103 points in four games). Hayes became the only player in tournament history to collect more than 40 points and 25 rebounds in the same game when he had 49 points and 27 rebounds in a 94-76 decision over Loyola of Chicago in the first round of the Midwest Regional.

8. Ohio State '60 is the only squad to lead the country in scoring offense (90.4 points per game) and win the NCAA title in the same season. The Buckeyes' top four scorers were sophomore center Jerry Lucas (26.3 ppg), junior guard Larry Siegfried (13.3 ppg), sophomore guard Mel Nowell (13.1 ppg) and sophomore forward John Havlicek (12.2 ppg). Their smallest margin of victory in the 1960 NCAA Tournament was 17 points (86-69 over Georgia Tech in the Mideast Regional final).

9. The only school to play in as many as three overtime games in a single tournament was Syracuse, the national fourth-place finisher in 1975 when the Orangemen lost to Louisville (96-88 in OT). In earlier rounds, Syracuse won overtime games against La Salle (87-83) and Kansas State (95-87).

10. UCLA's Sidney Wicks, the 1970 Final Four Most Outstanding Player, was scoreless as a sophomore the previous season in two tournament victories - opener of West Regional against New Mexico State and at the national semifinals against Drake. After averaging 24.5 points per game as NBA Rookie of the Year with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1971-72, his scoring average decreased each of his next nine seasons to a career-low of 6.7 with the San Diego Clippers in his final NBA season in 1980-81.