Answers (Day 22)
1. Steve Hamilton, the leading scorer and rebounder for Morehead State's 1957 NCAA Tournament team, is the only athlete to play in an NBA Finals (Minneapolis Lakers rookie in 1959 when they were swept by the Boston Celtics) and a World Series (pitcher with New York Yankees in 1963 and 1964) after participating in the NCAA playoffs.
2. Gail Goodrich (21.5 points per game) and Walt Hazzard (18.6 ppg) of UCLA '64 represent the only backcourt twosome to be the top two scorers on the season for an NCAA championship team. UCLA is the only school to win an NCAA title one year after appearing in the playoffs and losing its tournament opener by a double-digit margin (93-79 to Arizona State in 1963).
3. Tom Thacker, a 6-2 swingman who averaged nine rebounds per game for Cincinnati's back-to-back titlists in 1961 and 1962, is the only individual to play for an NCAA champion, NBA champion (Boston Celtics '68) and ABA champion (Indiana Pacers '70). He averaged 3.2 points per game in seven pro seasons after entering the NBA in 1963 as a territorial draft choice of the Cincinnati Royals.
4. Northeastern, coached by Jim Calhoun, finished with a 27-5 record after losing against Virginia Commonwealth, 70-69, in the first round of the 1984 East Regional. The Huskies lost despite hitting 75% from the floor (33 of 44), including 15 of 17 by freshman Reggie Lewis.
5. Herb Wilkinson is the only player to hit a game-winning basket in an NCAA final one year and become a consensus All-American for another university the next season. Wilkinson was a freshman swingman in 1944 when he hit a desperation shot from beyond the head of the key with three seconds remaining in overtime to give Utah a 42-40 victory over Dartmouth. He became an NCAA consensus second-team All-American the next season for Iowa, where he played for three years. Freshman forward Arnie Ferrin was the Utes' leading scorer in the 1944 final (22 points) and for postseason play (14 ppg). Ferrin became a consensus first-team All-American in 1945 and second-team All-America in 1947.
6. Arizona '97 is the only team to defeat three #1 seeds in a single tourney (top-ranked Kansas/Southeast Regional semifinal, North Carolina/East Regional champion in national semifinals and Kentucky/West Regional champion in national final). The Wildcats had finished in fifth place in the Pacific-10 standings with an 11-7 league record.
7. Utah '44 is the only NCAA championship team to have four freshman starters - Arnie Ferrin, Bob Lewis, Fred Sheffield and Herb Wilkinson. Sheffield, a center although he was only 6-1, was the first athlete to place four consecutive years in the high jump at the NCAA track and field nationals. Sheffield was first in 1943 with a best jump of 6-8, second in 1944, tied for first in 1945 and tied for second in 1946. Lewis played doubles in the 1944 NCAA tennis championship. After World War II, Lewis enrolled at Stanford, where his claim to fame was defeating tennis legend Pancho Gonzales in a singles match. Wilkinson, who transferred to Iowa and became a three-time Helms All-American after hitting the game-winning shot in the 1944 final, tied for fourth place in the high jump in the 1945 NCAA track and field championships.
8. Terry Holland is the only Final Four coach to previously lead the nation in a statistical category as a major-college player. Holland's 63.1% field-goal shooting as a senior at Davidson paced the country in 1963-64. He directed Virginia to the Final Four in 1981 and 1984 after guiding his alma mater to the NCAA Tournament in 1970.
9. Weber State is the only school to appear in the NCAA Tournament under two coaches who later became NBA coaches of the year - Dick Motta (1970-71 with the Chicago Bulls) and Phil Johnson (1974-75 with the Kansas City-Omaha Kings). Motta guided Weber State to the NCAA playoffs in 1968 before Johnson directed the Wildcats to the tourney the next three seasons.
10. Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell is the only player to average more than 20 points and 10 rebounds for an NIT semifinalist one year and an NCAA semifinalist the next season.