Second to None: First For Knowledge About NCAA Tourney Groundbreakers

Iowa State became the first school to earn a seed as high as #2 after going winless in conference competition only three years earlier (0-18 in in 2020-21). Any time you're the first to do something, it's a thrill. Truism is especially accurate when it comes to the following achievements in the NCAA playoffs:

• The first NCAA Tournament game was on March 17, 1939, when Villanova defeated Brown, 42-30, in Philadelphia.
• The first player and only one in first 11 years of the event to score more than 30 points in a playoff game was North Carolina's George Glamack, who supplied 31 points in a 60-59 loss against Dartmouth in the 1941 East Regional third-place game.
• Kentucky's first game in an NCAA Tournament resulted in a 46-44 triumph against Big Ten Conference champion Illinois in 1942.
• DePaul's Ray Meyer became the first individual to reach the national semifinals in his initial season as a head coach in 1942-43.
• In 1944, Dartmouth became the first school to participate in four consecutive NCAA tourneys. The Big Green won at least one playoff game each of those years.
• The first time two members of the same league earned invitations to the NCAA playoffs occurred when Iowa State and Missouri of the Big Six Conference competed in the 1944 Western Regional.
• Oklahoma A&M, which won the Cotton Bowl, became the first school to win a football bowl game and the NCAA basketball tournament in the same academic year (1945).
• Oklahoma A&M was the NCAA's first repeat national champion (1945 and 1946).
• The only one of the first 18 NCAA playoffs through 1956 where North Carolina won a tourney game came in 1946.
• George Kaftan, a forward-center with an 11.1-point average for Holy Cross' 1947 NCAA champion, became the first player to score 30 points in a Final Four game (60-45 victory over CCNY in East Regional final before tossing in a team-high 18 in 58-47 triumph over Oklahoma in national final).
• In 1947, Navy's Ben Carnevale became the first coach to guide two different schools to the NCAA playoffs in back-to-back seasons. He directed North Carolina to the 1946 championship game.
• In 1948, Michigan's Ozzie Cowles became the initial coach to direct two different schools to the NCAA playoffs for the first time. He guided Dartmouth to its initial tourney appearance in 1941.
• In 1949, Wyoming's John Pilch became the first and only All-American to go winless in more than three NCAA Tournament games (0-6).
• In 1950, CCNY was the first NCAA champion to have black players in its starting lineup - Floyd Layne and Ed Warner.
• UCLA made its first NCAA playoff appearance in 1950. The Bruins lost their initial tourney game (73-59 decision against Bradley).
• The first year of automatic qualification was in 1951.
• In 1952, North Carolina State finished in second place in the Southern Conference but won the league postseason tournament to become the first automatic qualifier for the NCAA playoffs instead of the regular-season champion.
• In 1952, St. Louis' Eddie Hickey became the first coach to direct two different schools to NCAA playoff victories in their initial tourney appearances. He guided Creighton to the 1941 NCAA Tournament.
• In 1952, Elmer Gross became the first individual to coach his alma mater in the NCAA playoffs after playing in the tourney (Penn State in 1942).
• Games were televised regionally for the first time in 1952.
• The first player to reach the 40-point barrier in a playoff game was Kansas' Clyde Lovellette, who supplied 44 points in a 74-55 triumph against St. Louis in one of the two 1952 West Regional finals.
• Branch McCracken is the first and only NCAA consensus first-team All-American (1930) to later coach his alma mater to an NCAA championship (1953).
• In 1953, Kansas' B.J. Born became the first Final Four Most Outstanding Player not to play for the national champion.
• The first championship game televised nationally in 1954 was for a broadcast rights fee of $7,500.
• San Francisco was the first team to start three African-American players in a championship game (1955).
• In 1955, Bradley (7-19) became the only school to enter the tourney with a won-loss record more than than 10 games below .500.
• In 1955, Oklahoma City's Gerald Bullard became the first player to appear in four consecutive NCAA Tournaments. He scored a total of seven points in five playoff games.
• In a 1955 West Regional third-place game, Utah became the first school to reach triple digits in a playoff contest by defeating Seattle, 108-85.
• In 1956, San Francisco became the first undefeated champion in NCAA history.
• In 1956, UCLA posted its only NCAA Tournament triumph in coach John Wooden's first 13 years as coach of the Bruins (94-70 over Seattle in Far West Regional third-place game). Later, Wooden won 10 NCAA championships in a 12-year span including record seven in a row.
• Temple's Fred Cohen became the first player to grab at least 25 rebounds in a tourney game by retrieving 34 missed shots in 1956 East Regional semifinals against Connecticut.
• In 1957, North Carolina's Frank McGuire became the first coach to take two different schools to the NCAA championship game. He guided St. John's to a second-place finish in 1952.
• In 1957, Oklahoma City became the first school to participate in six consecutive NCAA playoffs.
• The first player to reach the 50-point barrier in a playoff contest was Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson, who supplied 56 points in a 97-62 triumph against Arkansas in 1958 Midwest Regional third-place game.
• Kentucky clobbered Marquette, 98-69, in the 1959 Mideast Regional consolation game to become first school to post at least one victory in five consecutive NCAA Tournaments.
• In 1959, Navy's Ben Carnevale became the first coach to oppose a school in the tourney he previously guided to the playoffs (2-1 mark with North Carolina in 1946).
• In 1960, Idaho State became the only school to make as many as eight consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from the year it participated in event for first time.
• Duke posted its first NCAA tourney victory in 1960 after going winless in the first 21 years of the event.
• In 1962, Cincinnati's Ed Jucker became the only individual to win an NCAA title in his first two seasons as head coach for a major university.
• Ohio State became the first school to reach the Final Four three consecutive years on two separate occasions (1944 through 1946 and 1960 through 1962).
• In 1962, Wake Forest became the only school to win back-to-back tourney games by double-digit margins in overtime (10-point victory against Yale and 11-point triumph against St. Joseph's in East Regional).
• Loyola of Chicago was the first team to defeat an opponent by at least 50 points in a tournament game (111-42 over Tennessee Tech in first round of 1963 Mideast Regional).
• In 1966, Texas Western became the first school with an all-black starting lineup, despite three of them 6-1 or shorter, to win the NCAA championship. The Miners stunned top-ranked and all-white Kentucky, 72-65.
• Notre Dame guard Austin Carr became the only player to score more than 60 points in a single playoff game (61 against Ohio University in first round of 1970 Southeast Regional). The only playoff game in history when each squad supplied a player scoring more than 40 points was Kentucky (Dan Issel 44) beating Notre Dame (Carr 52) in 1970 regional semifinals.
• Dwight "Bo" Lamar collected 35 points and a tourney-high 11 assists and Roy Ebron contributed 33 points and 20 rebounds in Division I newcomer Southwestern Louisiana's 112-101 victory over Marshall in the opening round of 1972 Midwest Regional when the Ragin' Cajuns scored the most points in tourney history for a school in its first playoff game.
• In 1972, Hawaii coach Ephraim "Red" Rocha became the only individual to play and coach in both the NCAA and NBA playoffs. Rocha played for Oregon State in the 1947 NCAA Tournament before appearing in 39 NBA playoff games (including '56 champion Syracuse Nationals) and coaching the Detroit Pistons in the 1959 NBA playoffs.
• In 1974, the NCAA Tournament bracket rotation changes for the first time, eliminating East vs. West bracketing in effect since the event's inception.
• A 32-team bracket is adopted for the 1975 NCAA Tournament allowing teams other than the conference champion to be chosen on an at-large basis from same league for first time.
• Syracuse, the first and only school to play in as many as three overtime games in a single tournament, reached the 1975 Final Four for the only time in first 47 years of NCAA playoffs.
• The 1976 championship game pitting unbeaten Indiana against Michigan was the first intra-conference matchup in NCAA playoff history.
• Fred Snowden-coached Arizona opposed John Thompson Jr.-coached Georgetown in 1976 West Regional first round in the first NCAA playoff game where both coaches were African-Americans. Snowden defeated Thompson to earn distinction as initial black coach to win an NCAA playoff contest.
• In 1979, California became the only state to have at least five schools represented in a single tourney before the field expanded to at least 48 teams (Pacific, Pepperdine, San Francisco, Southern California and UCLA). USC became the first power-conference member in the seeding era to go from winless in league competition (0-14 in 1975-76) to participate in the tourney in fewer than four years.
• In 1979, DePaul forward Mark Aguirre became the first freshman named to an NCAA All-Tournament team.
• In 1981, the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), a computer ranking system, was used for the first time as an aid in evaluating teams for at-large selections and seeding.
• In 1983, North Carolina State became the first titlist with a double-digit defeat total.
• In 1984, Georgetown's John Thompson Jr. became the first and only person to play for an NBA championship team (Boston Celtics '65) before coaching an NCAA titlist. He was the first African-American mentor to guide his team to the title. Two years earlier, Thompson had become the first black coach to advance his club to the Final Four.
• In 1985, Villanova became the first title team to have a coach with a son on his roster, although guard R.C. Massimino played sparingly under his father (Rollie).
• In 1987, Indiana became the first school to win an NCAA championship in four different decades (previous titles were in 1940, 1953 and 1976).
• In 1987, Florida's 82-70 first-round victory over North Carolina State enabled Norman Sloan to become the first coach to post an NCAA playoff victory against a school he previously guided to the national title. Sloan directed the Wolfpack to the 1974 crown. The Gators were appearing the tourney for the first time.
• The ACC became the first league to have two Final Four teams in back-to-back seasons - 1990 (Duke and Georgia Tech) and 1991 (Duke and North Carolina).
• In 1991, Duke forward Greg Koubek became the first player to participate in four Final Fours.
• In 1991, North Carolina's Dean Smith became the first coach to direct teams to Final Fours in four different decades.
• In 1993, Dean Smith became the first coach in NCAA Tournament history to reach the 50-win plateau in playoff competition when he raised his record of playoff appearances to 23 and North Carolina won its opening game for the 13th consecutive year.
• Nolan Richardson Jr. became the only coach to win national championships in junior college (1980 with Western Texas), the NIT (1981 with Tulsa) and the NCAA (1994 with Arkansas).
• In 1994, Arkansas celebrated its third season in SEC by becoming the first league member other than Kentucky to win a Final Four game.
• In 1994, Skip Prosser of Loyola (Md.) became the only active coach to engineer a turnaround including an NCAA playoff appearance in his first full year at a new job although the school registered a record of more than 20 games below .500 the previous season. The Greyhounds, 2-25 in 1992-93, improved by 13 1/2 games when Prosser assumed control and compiled a 17-13 mark.
• Gary Williams, leading Maryland to the 1994 Midwest Regional semifinals, became the only individual to win games while coaching schools from the three conferences with the best winning percentages in NCAA Tournament history reflecting actual membership - ACC, Big East and Big Ten. He is also the only coach to win games with as many as three different schools (Boston College, Maryland and Ohio State) although they were seeded ninth or worse.
• In 1994, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski became the only coach to win his first seven NCAA regional finals.
• In 1995, the Big Ten Conference didn't have a representative among the Sweet 16 for the first time since the NCAA field expanded to at least 16 entrants in 1951.
• In 1996, first-year Georgia mentor Tubby Smith became the only coach to guide three consecutive clubs to regional semifinals despite failing to be accorded a top four seed during the span. His two previous tourney teams were with Tulsa.
• In 1996, San Jose State's Stan Morrison became the only coach to guide three different schools to the NCAA playoffs but never post a 20-win season. He previously coached Pacific and Southern California.
• In 1997, Arizona's Mike Bibby became the first freshman point guard to lead a team to a crown since the NCAA made freshmen eligible in the 1972-73 campaign.
• In 1998, Kentucky's Tubby Smith became the first coach to win an NCAA title only two years after his predecessor (Rick Pitino) achieved the feat.
• Texas' turnaround in 1998-99 (19-13 record after going 14-17 in 1997-98 under Tom Penders) enabled Rick Barnes to become the only active coach to guide two different schools to the NCAA playoffs in his maiden voyage with them after they posted a losing mark the previous campaign. He previously achieved the feat with Providence in the late 1980s.
• In 1999, Connecticut's Jim Calhoun became the first coach to make more than a dozen NCAA playoff appearances before reaching the Final Four.
• In 2001, Duke became the first school in history to earn a No. 1 seed in four consecutive years and Gonzaga became the first school to advance to regional semifinals three consecutive years despite having a double-digit seed each time.
• In 2002, Missouri became the first #12 seed to reach the Elite Eight. Mizzou became the first school to appear in the NCAA Tournament at least 20 times and never reach the Final Four.
• In 2002, the state of California set a record with as many as seven different entrants (Cal, UC Santa Barbara, Pepperdine, San Diego State, Southern California, Stanford and UCLA).
• In 2005, Rick Pitino became the first coach to guide three different schools to the Final Four after directing Providence, Kentucky and Louisville to the Promised Land.
• In 2008, Coppin State (16-20) became the first school entering the tourney with as many as 20 defeats. Liberty (15-20) matched the setback total five years later.
• UMBC became the first #16 seed to defeat a #1 seed (74-54 over Virginia in 2018). This year also marked the first time four schools entered a single tourney with at least 15 defeats - Alabama (19-15), LIU (18-16), North Carolina Central (19-15) and Texas Southern (15-19).
• In 2022, Mike Krzyzewski became the first coach to reach 100-win plateau in playoff history and broke tie with John Wooden to set record for most Final Four appearances with 13.
• In 2022, Iowa State became the first school to reach the Sweet 16 the year after going winless in a power conference (0-18 in Big 12 in 2020-21).
• In 2022, Big Ten became the first conference securing at least nine entrants in single tournament and have none of them advance to a regional final.
• In 2022, Jim Larranaga of #10 seed Miami (Fla.) became the first coach to direct two different programs with double-digit seeds to a regional final. He guided #11 George Mason to 2006 Final Four.