Answers (Day 8)

1. Ohio State reached the national semifinals from 1944-46 and 1960-62. Two of the Buckeyes' three consecutive national semifinal defeats from 1944 through 1946 were in overtime. After winning the national title in 1960, they lost in the championship game to in-state rival Cincinnati in both 1961 and 1962, with the '61 final also going into overtime.

2. Indiana and Rutgers reached the 1976 national semifinals with undefeated records. Indiana finished with a 32-0 record by whipping UCLA (65-51 in semifinals) and Michigan (86-68 in final). Rutgers finished with a 31-2 mark after bowing to Michigan (86-70 in semifinals) and UCLA (106-92 in national third-place game).

3. Bobby Joe Hill, 5-10, led 1966 champion Texas Western (now Texas-El Paso) in scoring with a 15-point average. He started and played all 40 minutes in the final against Kentucky with teammates Orsten Artis (6-1) and Willie Worsley (5-6). The only other season-leading scorer shorter than 6-0 for an NCAA champion was 5-11 Paul "Curly" Armstrong of Indiana in 1940.

4. Pete Newell was coach of the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic basketball team in Rome in 1960 after winning national titles with San Francisco (NIT in 1949) and California (NCAA in 1959).

5. Jack Gardner guided Kansas State (4th in 1948 and 2nd in 1951) and Utah (4th in 1961 and 4th in 1966) to the Final Four twice apiece.

6. Alvin "Doggie" Julian captured a national title in 1947 in the middle of his three seasons as coach at Holy Cross. He later compiled a 4-3 playoff record in three tournament appearances with Dartmouth from 1956 through 1959.

7. Branch McCracken compiled a 4-0 record in Final Four games with Indiana by winning championships in 1940 and 1953. The Hoosiers defeated Kansas in both finals. McCracken is also the only NCAA consensus All-American (1930) to later coach his alma mater to an NCAA championship.

8. The only time one of UCLA's 11 titlists trailed at halftime in 22 Final Four games was in 1975, when Louisville led the Bruins by four points in the national semifinals. The Cardinals were coached by Denny Crum, a former player and assistant coach under John Wooden.

9. Frank McGuire, coach of North Carolina's undefeated NCAA champion in 1957, compiled a 6-6 NBA playoff record in his only season with the Philadelphia Warriors (1961-62). Other coaches who either have a losing postseason record in the pros or never participated in the NBA playoffs after winning an NCAA title are Larry Brown, Ed Jucker, Doggie Julian, Rick Pitino and Jerry Tarkanian.

10. Illinois overwhelmed visiting UCLA (110-83) in their season opener before the defending champion Bruins lost just one more game the remainder of the year to finish with a 28-2 record and the 1965 title. In 1989, the Illini defeated Michigan twice in Big Ten competition (96-84 and 89-73) before bowing to the Wolverines (83-81) in the national semifinals at Seattle.