Answers (Day 17)

1. Duke was a No. 2 seed in 1979 when the Blue Devils lost their East Regional opener against St. John's (80-78). Three Duke players who finished their college careers with more than 2,000 points (Gene Banks, Mike Gminski and Jim Spanarkel) each notched lower scoring averages in 1979 than they compiled the previous year, when the Devils finished national runner-up. In 1978, Banks, Gminski and Spanarkel became the only trio to each score at least 20 points in both Final Four games (total of 71 points in 90-86 victory over Notre Dame in the semifinals and 63 in 94-88 setback against Kentucky in the championship game). Gminski had exactly 20 points in the setback against Kentucky when Duke gained the distinction of being the only national runner-up to score more than 85 points in an NCAA final.

2. Memphis State supplied the only trio to each score more than 20 points in a Final Four game. Forward Larry Kenon (28), center Ronnie Robinson (24) and guard Larry Finch (21) combined for 73 points in a 98-85 victory over Providence in the 1973 national semifinals. Finch (29) and Kenon (20) each tallied at least 20 points in the championship game, but Robinson was held to six as the Tigers were defeated by UCLA, 87-66, in a final that was tied at intermission (39-39).

3. The only player to score 40 or more points in a Final Four game and not play in the NBA was St. Joseph's forward Jack Egan, who scored 42 points in a four-overtime, 127-120 triumph against Utah in the 1961 national third-place game. Egan, restricted to eight points in a 95-69 setback against Ohio State in the national semifinals, was a third-round draft choice of Philadelphia that year but forfeited the opportunity to play in the league when he was implicated in a game-fixing scandal.

4. Ray Meyer, who compiled a 14-16 record in 13 tournament appearances with DePaul, had the longest time between a coach's first and last appearance in the playoffs (41 years from 1943 until 1984). His son, Joey, compiled a 6-7 tourney record with the Blue Demons from 1985 through 1992.

5. Michael Jordan's 33.4-point NBA playoff scoring average in his 13 seasons with the Chicago Bulls more than doubled the NCAA Tournament scoring average he compiled for North Carolina. Jordan averaged 16.5 points per NCAA playoff game with the Tar Heels, scoring 20 or more in just two of 10 postseason games from 1982 through 1984. He had just six points against James Madison in his NCAA tourney debut.

6. The only player to lead a single tournament in scoring with more than 120 points and not eventually play in the NBA was guard Rick Mount, who scored 122 points in four games for Purdue in the 1969 playoffs before playing five seasons in the ABA with four different franchises.

7. The only player since 1957 to lead a tournament in rebounding and not eventually play in the NBA was forward Daryll Walker, who grabbed a total of 58 rebounds in six games for 1989 runner-up Seton Hall. He grabbed six rebounds in 20 minutes of playing time in two games for the Pirates the previous year when they made their tourney debut.

8. Dayton forward Roosevelt Chapman is the only non-guard to be the undisputed leading scorer of an NCAA Tournament and not participate in the Final Four (105 points in four games in 1984).

9. Connecticut's Jim Calhoun, making his 13th NCAA tourney appearance in 1999, was the first coach to make more than a dozen trips to the NCAA playoffs before reaching the Final Four.

10. Dwight "Bo" Lamar, who scored 3,493 points in his career with Southwestern Louisiana, became the only player to hoist more than 40 field-goal attempts in a Division I playoff game his team lost. Lamar was the nation's leading scorer with 36.3 points per game in 1972 when the guard connected on just 14 of 42 shots from the floor and one of three free-throw attempts in an 88-84 loss against Louisville in the Midwest Regional semifinals. In 1971, he led Division II with 36 points per game for the Ragin' Cajuns, who finished in third place in the College Division tourney that year after losing to eventual champion Evansville, the host school, in the national semifinals.