In a microwave atmosphere of instant expectations, Gonzaga's Rui Hachimura (2.6 points per game in 2016-17) failed to generate national headlines in his freshman season before blossoming into an All-American. He is a textbook example why fans shouldn't put too much stock in freshman statistics.

Hachimura isn't the only All-American who endured growing pains. He joins the following alphabetical list of players who averaged fewer than three points per game as a freshman before eventually earning All-American acclaim:

Eventual All-American	Pos.	School	Freshman Scoring Average
Cole Aldrich	C	Kansas	2.8 ppg in 2007-08
Lorenzo Charles	F	North Carolina State	2.2 ppg in 1981-82
Rakeem Christmas	F	Syracuse	2.8 ppg in 2011-12
Keith Edmonson	G	Purdue	1.3 ppg in 1978-79
Aaron Gray	C	Pittsburgh	1.7 ppg in 2003-04
Erick Green	G	Virginia Tech	2.6 ppg in 2009-10
Tom Gugliotta	F	North Carolina State	2.7 ppg in 1988-89
Rui Hachimura	F	Gonzaga	2.6 ppg in 2016-17
Roy Hamilton	G	UCLA	1.2 ppg in 1975-76
Jeff Jonas	G	Utah	2.8 ppg in 1973-74
Frank Kaminsky	C-F	Wisconsin	1.8 ppg in 2011-12
Ted Kitchel	F	Indiana	1.7 ppg in 1979-80
Bob Kurland	C	Oklahoma A&M	2.5 ppg in 1942-43
Tom LaGarde	C	North Carolina	2.2 ppg in 1973-74
Jock Landale	C	Saint Mary's	2.1 ppg in 2014-15
Kenyon Martin	C	Cincinnati	2.8 ppg in 1996-97
Luke Maye	F	North Carolina	1.2 ppg in 2015-16
John Pilch	G	Wyoming	2.4 ppg in 1946-47
Thomas Robinson	F	Kansas	2.5 ppg in 2009-10
Steve Scheffler	C	Purdue	1.5 ppg in 1986-87
Russ Smith	G	Louisville	2.2 ppg in 2010-11
Earl Tatum	G-F	Marquette	1.5 ppg in 1972-73
Kurt Thomas	F-C	Texas Christian	0.8 ppg in 1990-91
Al Thornton	F	Florida State	2.8 ppg in 2003-04
B.J. Tyler	G	DePaul	2.9 ppg in 1989-90
Scottie Wilbekin	G	Florida	2.4 ppg in 2010-11
Jeff Withey	C	Kansas	1.3 ppg in 2009-10

NOTES: Oregon's Wally Borrevik (1.8 ppg in 1940-41), Wisconsin's Gene Englund (2.3 ppg in 1938-39), California's Darrall Imhoff (0.9 ppg in 1957-58), Kansas' Dean Kelley (0.8 in 1950-51), Purdue's Bob Kessler (2.3 ppg in 1933-34), Notre Dame's Leo Klier (2.7 in 1942-43), Oklahoma A&M's Gale McArthur (2.96 ppg in 1948-49), Notre Dame's Bob Rensberger (1.5 ppg in 1940-41) and Stanford's George Yardley (2.9 ppg in 1947-48) averaged fewer than three points per game as sophomores when freshmen weren't eligible to play varsity basketball before becoming All-Americans. . . . Tyler became an All-American with Texas after transferring to his home state. . . . Withey originally attended Arizona.

Villanova captured two NCAA championships in the previous three campaigns - one without star sixth man Donte DiVincenzo and one with him. His absence in 2016 offered a classic example depicting lame-stream media and so-called experts getting all bent out of shape while possessing little more than a rudimentary NCAA playoff perspective. They should brush up on their amateurish hoops history and go beyond "feeling" to "knowing" what in the world they are discussing. How about a little texture describing numerous teams boasting the resourcefulness to cope without a key player and go on to capture a national championship? Auburn (without Chuma Okeke/ACL surgery) or Michigan State (Joshua Langford/stress injury in left foot) could join the following titlists not fond of Chicken Little:

• Stanford '42 overcame the title game absence of flu-ridden Jim Pollard, who scored 43.4% of Stanford's points in its first two tourney contests.

• Kentucky '51 (sans Walt Hirsch) and San Francisco '56 (K.C. Jones) won NCAA titles although key players were ineligible for the tournament.

• Forward Edgar Lacey, the leading rebounder for UCLA's 1965 NCAA titlist when he was an All-Tournament team selection, missed the 1966-67 championship campaign because of a fractured left kneecap. Lacey dropped off the Bruins' titlist the next year in mid-season following a dispute with all-time great coach John Wooden after a highly-publicized defeat against Houston before 52,693 fans at the Astrodome when UH All-American Elvin Hayes erupted for 29 first-half points.

• All-American guard Lucius Allen missed the 1968-69 campaign because of academic problems but it didn't stop UCLA from winning its third of seven straight NCAA titles.

• Louisville '80 excelled with a freshman center Rodney McCray, who replaced his brother, Scooter, in the middle after Scooter suffered a season-ending knee injury.

• Kansas, riding the coattails of national player of the year Danny Manning, withstood the loss of regulars Marvin Branch (academic problems) and Archie Marshall (knee injury) to capture the 1988 NCAA title.

• In 1990, UNLV was without frontcourter George Ackles (medical redshirt because of a wrist injury) when the Rebels' 103-73 rout of Duke enabled them to become the only team to score more than 100 points in a championship game and establish a record for widest margin of victory in a final.

• Donte DiVincenzo, sixth man as redshirt freshman for top-ranked Villanova's defending NCAA titlist in 2016-17, missed majority of previous championship campaign because of a broken right foot.

Emphasizing a "one-and-only" theme for a "one-and-only" event, here is Day 19 of a treasure-trove of tantalizing NCAA Tournament trivia questions from CollegeHoopedia.com (10 per day from Selection Sunday through the championship game) tracking the only coach, conference, player or school to be linked to a distinguished or dubious achievement (click here for answers or conduct research digesting historical morsels in CollegeHoopedia.com's year-by-year highlights):

1. Name the only Final Four team to have a trio all average more than 20 points per game in the same season. Hint: The school won its conference tournament that year although none of threesome shot better than 50% from floor over the three games.

2. Name the only duo to twice reach the Final Four and both players average more than 20 points per game each season. Hint: Their team lost each year at the Final Four by same score. One of the pair is only player to score more than 25 points in Final Four defeats in back-to-back years.

3. Who is the only one of UCLA's eight first-team All-Americans from 1964 through 1975 to fail to earn a spot on an All-NCAA Tournament team when the Bruins won 10 national titles? Hint: He averaged more than 15 points per game in two of his three varsity seasons and went on to coach the Bruins' crosstown rival to a regional final.

4. Who is the only NCAA baseball championship coach to direct a basketball team from the same school to the Final Four? Hint: He is the school's all-time winningest basketball coach.

5. Who is the only championship team senior to average seven points per game or less entering the national semifinals before seizing the moment and averaging double digits in scoring in his last two games with an increase of at least six points per game from his pre-Final Four scoring mark? Hint: He was the seventh-leading scorer for the season on a team with only two seniors among its top eight point producers.

6. Who is the only player to score more than half of a championship team's points in a single NCAA Tournament? Hint: He was the team's only player to compile a double-digit season scoring average and no teammate scored more than seven points in either of two Final Four games.

7. Name the only school to lose three national championship games in a city where it enjoyed a distinct homecourt advantage. Hint: The school lost two of the three title games by one point before capturing title there in a season it became the only NCAA champion to lose four consecutive conference contests.

8. Name the only team to fail to have at least one player score in double figures in the championship game. Hint: It was the school's only NCAA Tournament appearance until university started appearing regularly in tourney since 1975.

9. Name the only Division II school to have three of its former head coaches go on to direct major-college teams to the NCAA Division I Tournament championship game. Hint: None of the three coaches compiled a losing record in any of the total of 11 seasons they coached at small school, which won Division II Tournament in 1984 and captured first two NAIA Tournament titles.

10. Who is the only one of the individuals named NBA Most Valuable Player, score more than 20,000 pro points or be selected to at least five All-NBA teams after participating in more than six NCAA Division I Tournament games and not compile a winning tourney record? Hint: He left college with eligibility remaining, but was involved in two NCAA playoff defeats when the tournament conducted regional third-place games.

Answers (Day 19)

Day 18 Questions and Answers

Day 17 Questions and Answers

Day 16 Questions and Answers

Day 15 Questions and Answers

Day 14 Questions and Answers

Day 13 Questions and Answers

Day 12 Questions and Answers

Day 11 Questions and Answers

Day 10 Questions and Answers

Day 9 Questions and Answers

Day 8 Questions and Answers

Day 7 Questions and Answers

Day 6 Questions and Answers

Day 5 Questions and Answers

Day 4 Questions and Answers

Day 3 Questions and Answers

Day 2 Questions and Answers

Day 1 Questions and Answers

Emphasizing a "one-and-only" theme for a "one-and-only" event, here is Day 18 of a treasure-trove of tantalizing NCAA Tournament trivia questions from CollegeHoopedia.com (10 per day from Selection Sunday through the championship game) tracking the only coach, conference, player or school to be linked to a distinguished or dubious achievement (click here for answers or conduct research digesting historical morsels in CollegeHoopedia.com's year-by-year highlights):

1. Who is the only major-college coach to finish his career with more than 500 victories and never participate in the NCAA playoffs? Hint: The coach spent his entire four-year school coaching career at one institution and had nine consecutive winning seasons at Division I level from 1972-73 through 1980-81.

2. Who is the only player to average more than 26 points per game for an undefeated NCAA champion before averaging less than five points per game in his NBA career? Hint: He averaged the same number of points in NCAA Tournament as he did for entire season.

3. Who is the only coach to win three national third-place games? Hint: No coach accumulated as many different All-Americans as he did (16) in his first 20 campaigns at a single school.

4. Who is the only former major-college player to score more than 23,000 points in the NBA after never participating in the NCAA Tournament or NIT? Hint: His alma mater returned to small-college status after being at the Division I level for more than 50 years but never appearing in NCAA playoffs or NIT.

5. Of the 10 different players to compile season scoring averages of more than 23 points per game for a national champion, who is the only individual in this group to tally fewer than 40 points in two games at the Final Four? Hint: His team won both Final Four games that year by a minimum of 20 points.

6. Who is the only individual to coach a team to the Final Four after becoming an NCAA consensus first-team All-American and NBA first-round draft choice? Hint: He joined Chet Walker and Bob Love as 20-points-per-game scorers for the Chicago Bulls in 1969-70 after becoming the first African-American to earn a league MVP while attending Southern school.

7. Who is the only national player of the year to score less than 10 points when his school was eliminated in a Final Four contest the same season? Hint: He averaged more than 25 points per game in his four previous playoff contests that year.

8. Name the only Final Four team to have as many as six players still on its roster with double-digit season scoring averages. Hint: All six individuals played in the NBA as did another player on squad who averaged eight points per game.

9. Who is the only All-Tournament selection to finish his college playing career at another major university? Hint: His brother was a wide receiver for a Super Bowl champion.

10. Who is the only leading scorer for a Final Four team to also play for the school's football squad in a New Year's Day bowl game and win a silver medal in the Olympics as a high jumper? Hint: The Olympics climaxed a superb academic school year for the versatile athlete who won NCAA high jump crown and led his school's football and basketball teams in scoring. He also appeared in the first two NBA All-Star Games.

Answers (Day 18)

Day 17 Questions and Answers

Day 16 Questions and Answers

Day 15 Questions and Answers

Day 14 Questions and Answers

Day 13 Questions and Answers

Day 12 Questions and Answers

Day 11 Questions and Answers

Day 10 Questions and Answers

Day 9 Questions and Answers

Day 8 Questions and Answers

Day 7 Questions and Answers

Day 6 Questions and Answers

Day 5 Questions and Answers

Day 4 Questions and Answers

Day 3 Questions and Answers

Day 2 Questions and Answers

Day 1 Questions and Answers

Extra! Extra! As a new season unfolds, read all about memorable major league baseball achievements, moments and transactions involving former college basketball players! Numerous ex-college hoopsters had front-row seats to many of the most notable games and dates in MLB history.

Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only four percent of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is an April 2 calendar focusing on such versatile MLB athletes:

APRIL 2

• In 2001, San Diego Padres RF Tony Gwynn (All-WAC basketball second-team selection with San Diego State in 1979-80 and 1980-81) became the fifth player in N.L. history to spend 20-plus years playing his entire career with one franchise.

• New York Mets manager Gil Hodges (hooper for St. Joseph's IN in 1943 and Oakland City IN in 1947 and 1948), two days shy of his 48th birthday, suffered a fatal heart attack in 1972 after playing a round of golf in West Palm Beach with his coaches on Easter Sunday.

• RHP Bobby Humphreys (four-year hoops letterman for Hampden-Sydney VA in mid-1950s) traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Washington Senators in 1966.

• LF David Justice (led Thomas More KY in assists in 1984-85), debuting with the Cleveland Indians, whacked a tie-breaking two-run homer in the seventh inning in a 9-7 decision over the Oakland A's in 1997.

Loyola of Chicago was in transition this season after reaching the Final Four last year. The Ramblers became the 35th school since the NCAA Tournament field expanded to at least 48 teams in 1980 to fail to qualify for the NCAA playoffs the ensuing season after advancing to the national semifinals. Despite the disappointment of not participating in the NCAA playoffs, the last 19 schools in this category averaged 20 victories.

Final Four Team	Record Next Year	League Finish
Indiana State '79	16-11 in 1979-80	T5th in MVC
Michigan State '79	12-15 in 1979-80	9th in Big Ten
Purdue '80	21-11 in 1980-81	4th in Big Ten
Louisiana State '81	14-14 in 1981-82	T4th in SEC
Georgia '83	17-13 in 1983-84	T7th in SEC
North Carolina State '83	19-14 in 1983-84	7th in ACC
Houston '84	16-14 in 1984-85	T5th in SWC
Virginia '84	17-16 in 1984-85	8th in ACC
Louisville '86	18-14 in 1986-87	1st in Metro
Providence '87	11-17 in 1987-88	8th in Big East
Kansas '88	19-12 in 1988-89	6th in Big Eight
Seton Hall '89	12-16 in 1989-90	T7th in Big East
UNLV '91	26-2 in 1991-92	1st in Big West
Duke '94	13-18 in 1994-95	9th in ACC
Oklahoma State '95	17-10 in 1995-96	T4th in Big Eight
Mississippi State '96	12-18 in 1996-97	T3rd in SEC Western
Syracuse '96	19-13 in 1996-97	T4th in Big East 7
Minnesota '97	20-15 in 1997-98	8th in Big Ten
Marquette '03	19-12 in 2003-04	8th in C-USA
Louisville '05	21-13 in 2005-06	T11th in Big East
George Mason '06	18-15 in 2006-07	T5th in CAA
Louisiana State '06	17-15 in 2006-07	6th in SEC Western
Florida '07	24-12 in 2007-08	4th in SEC Eastern
Ohio State '07	24-13 in 2007-08	5th in Big Ten
Connecticut '09	18-16 in 2009-10	T11th in Big East
North Carolina '09	20-17 in 2009-10	T9th in ACC
Butler '11	22-15 in 2011-12	T3rd in Horizon League
Kentucky '12	21-12 in 2012-13	T2nd in SEC
Connecticut '14	20-15 in 2014-15	T5th in AAC
Florida '14	16-17 in 2014-15	T8th in SEC
Oklahoma '16	11-20 in 2016-17	9th in Big 12
Syracuse '16	19-15 in 2016-17	T7th in ACC
Oregon '17	23-13 in 2017-18	T6th in Pac 12
South Carolina '17	17-16 in 2017-18	T11th in SEC
Loyola of Chicago '18	20-14 in 2018-19	T1st in Missouri Valley

NOTES: Kansas and UNLV were on NCAA probation. . . . Duke, Florida '14, George Mason, Indiana State, Louisiana State '07, Louisville '87, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Providence and Seton Hall were eligible schools also failing to participate in the NIT.

Junior college products have made a significant difference for NCAA Tournament titlists. Keith Erickson (El Camino CA), Jack Hirsch (Los Angeles Valley CA), Larry Hollyfield (Compton CA), Terry Schofield (Santa Monica CA), John Vallely (Orange Coast CA) and Sidney Wicks (Santa Monica CA) were instrumental in helping UCLA win seven of its NCAA championships (1964, 1965, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973) and mighty mite Bobby Joe Hill (Burlington IA) was the spark-plug for Texas Western when the Miners captured the 1966 title. Wicks is the only individual to become a member of three NCAA champions after playing in junior college.

Auburn and Texas Tech made contributions this year, joining the following alphabetical list of key Final Four team members who previously played for a junior college:

In 2016, Oklahoma's Buddy Hield, the nation's runner-up in scoring with 25.4 points per game, came close to duplicating one of the most overlooked achievements in NCAA Tournament history. In 1951-52, Clyde Lovellette of champion Kansas became the only player to lead the nation in scoring average (28.4 ppg) while competing for a squad reaching the NCAA tourney title game. Final Four luminaries averaging more than 30 ppg include Elvin Hayes (36.8/Houston '68), Oscar Robertson (33.7/Cincinnati '60 and 32.6/Cincinnati '59), Rick Mount (33.3/Purdue '69), Elgin Baylor (32.5/Seattle '58), Bill Bradley (30.5/Princeton '65) and Len Chappell (30.1/Wake Forest '62).

Lovellette, an 11-year NBA center who passed away two years ago, served as sheriff of Vigo County in his native Indiana (noted for raid on Terre Haute brothels). Michigan State (Cassius Winston/18.87 ppg) and Texas Tech (Jarrett Culver/18.86 ppg) fans would be ecstatic if the leading scorers among this campaign's national semifinalists "raided" the Final Four by joining Lovellette as the only other player cracking the 30-point plateau in the national semifinals and championship contest in the same season (33 against both Santa Clara and St. John's).

Hield was the first Final Four player since Georgia Tech's Dennis Scott to average in excess of 25 ppg. Only two other Final Four players notched higher scoring averages than Hield since the playoff field expanded to at least 32 teams in 1975 - Larry Bird (28.6 ppg for Indiana State '79 and Glen Rice (25.6 for Michigan '89). Culver and Winston join the following list of individuals in the last 29 years amassing the highest scoring average from a Final Four club since Scott's mark of 27.7 ppg in 1989-90:

Season	Top Scorer Among Final Four Teams	School	Average
1989-90	Dennis Scott	Georgia Tech	27.7 ppg
1990-91	Larry Johnson	UNLV	22.7 ppg
1991-92	Christian Laettner	Duke	21.5 ppg
1992-93	Jamal Mashburn	Kentucky	21.0 ppg
1993-94	Khalid Reeves	Arizona	24.2 ppg
1994-95	Bryant Reeves	Oklahoma State	21.5 ppg
1995-96	John Wallace	Syracuse	22.2 ppg
1996-97	Antawn Jamison	North Carolina	19.1 ppg
1997-98	Antawn Jamison	North Carolina	22.2 ppg
1998-99	Richard Hamilton	Connecticut	21.5 ppg
1999-00	Morris Peterson	Michigan State	16.8 ppg
2000-01	Jay Williams	Duke	21.6 ppg
2001-02	Juan Dixon	Maryland	20.4 ppg
2002-03	Carmelo Anthony	Syracuse	22.2 ppg
2003-04	Ben Gordon	Connecticut	18.5 ppg
2004-05	Sean May	North Carolina	17.5 ppg
2005-06	Glen Davis	Louisiana State	18.6 ppg
2006-07	Arron Affalo	UCLA	16.9 ppg
2007-08	Tyler Hansbrough	North Carolina	22.6 ppg
2008-09	Tyler Hansbrough	North Carolina	20.7 ppg
2009-10	Jon Scheyer	Duke	18.2 ppg
2010-11	Kemba Walker	Connecticut	23.5 ppg
2011-12	Thomas Robinson	Kansas	17.7 ppg
2012-13	Russ Smith	Louisville	18.7 ppg
2013-14	Shabazz Napier	Connecticut	18.0 ppg
2014-15	Frank Kaminsky	Wisconsin	18.8 ppg
2015-16	Buddy Hield	Oklahoma	25.4 ppg
2016-17	Sindarius Thornwell	South Carolina	21.6 ppg
2017-18	Jalen Brunson	Villanova	19.2 ppg
2018-19	Jarrett Culver	Texas Tech	18.9 ppg
2018-19	Cassius Winston	Michigan State	18.9 ppg

Extra! Extra! As a new season unfolds, read all about memorable major league baseball achievements, moments and transactions involving former college basketball players! Numerous ex-college hoopers had front-row seats to many of the most notable games and dates in MLB history.

Baseball is portrayed as a thinking man's game but only four percent of active MLB players earned college diplomas. Former college hoopers Tom Dettore (Juniata PA) and Paul Popovich (West Virginia) were traded for each other at MLB level on this date. Unless you habitually pore over the content at baseballlibrary.com, baseballreference.com and nationalpastime.com, following is an April 1 calendar of trades focusing on several such versatile MLB athletes:

APRIL 1

• OF Larry Doby (reserve guard for Virginia Union's 1943 CIAA basketball titlist) traded by the Baltimore Orioles to the Cleveland Indians in 1958.

• LF "Sweet" Lou Johnson (Kentucky State teammate of legendary HBCU coach Davey Whitney averaged 5.7 ppg and 2 rpg in 1951-52) traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Los Angeles Angels in 1961.

• OF-1B Len Matuszek (starter for Toledo's 18-7 team in 1975-76) traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to the Toronto Blue Jays in 1985.

• INF Paul Popovich (averaged 3.3 ppg for West Virginia's 1960 NCAA playoff team) traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Pittsburgh Pirates for RHP Tom Dettore (averaged 14.1 ppg and 9 rpg for Juniata PA in 1965-66) and cash in 1974.

Keith Smart, the Final Four Most Outstanding Player for 1987 national kingpin Indiana, returned to his NBA assistant coaching job several years ago after battling a rare form of skin cancer spreading along the left side of his jaw. Smart's ailment surfaced as a question lingered following center Andrew Smith, the second-leading rebounder and third-leading scorer for Butler's 2011 NCAA playoff runner-up, losing his fight against lymphoma: Is there a Final Four curse; especially in wake of Smart's IU teammate (starting forward Daryl Thomas) dying of a heart attack last year at age 52 before fellow Hoosier forward Eric Anderson, a starter for 1992 F4 squad, passed away in late 2018 following a bout with pneumonia?

This topic also reared its ugly head a couple of seasons ago when Michael Wright, leading rebounder and second-leading scorer for Arizona's 2001 national runner-up team including Gilbert Arenas, Richard Jefferson and Luke Walton, was found dead with a skull fracture in New York City in the back seat of his Lexus SUV. Covered with garbage bags, the Chicago high school teammate of Kevin Garnett was 35. More than a year later, his roommate and an alleged accomplice were arrested for drugging and murdering him plus desecrating human remains.

Ranging from famous military battles to freak circumstances to mysterious disappearances to nuclear bombs to CIA activity to suicides, the existence of a Final Four curse is debatable although there is no denying a striking number of prominent national semifinal players and coaches died prematurely. For instance, Sid Tanenbaum, the second-leading scorer for NYU's 1945 national runner-up, was murdered on September 4, 1986, at the age of 60 when stabbed to death by a local woman in his Queens machine shop. According to police reports, Tanenbaum was assaulted because he chose to stop lending money to his attacker after previously assisting her numerous times.

Life expectancy in the U.S. for people born in 2012 is 79 years. Any tribute isn't enough when a man such as Smith is buried long before his time. Unspeakable tragedy also struck Butler a couple of years ago when the six-month-old son of Emerson Kampen, a backup to Smith, died of a genetic disorder affecting the central nervous system. A pair of backup centers to Ohio State All-American Jerry Lucas are among the following lengthy list of additional Final Four participants (cited chronologically) passing away early (60 and younger), but the deceased left lasting memories:

• Three of Oregon's starting five on the first NCAA championship team in 1939 - guards Bobby Anet and Wally Johansen and center Slim Wintermute - all died in their 40s. Wintermute disappeared in Lake Washington in 1977, a case that never has been solved.

• Don Scott, who made a free throw for Ohio State's national runner-up in inaugural NCAA Tournament championship contest in 1939, died at the age of 23 on October 1, 1943, when U.S. Army Air Forces captain's B-26 Marauder bomber crashed in England while in training after football All-American halfback already completed nine bombing missions during WWII.

• Center Bill Menke, the third-leading scorer for Indiana's 1940 NCAA champion who supplied a team-high 10 points in the Hoosiers' national semifinal victory over Duquesne, later became a Navy pilot and served in World War II. In January 1945, he was declared missing in action (and presumed dead) when he didn't return from a flight in the Caribbean.

• Thomas P. Hunter, a three-year letterman who was a sophomore member of Kansas' 1940 runner-up, was killed in action against the Japanese on Guam, July 21, 1944, while fighting with the Ninth Marines as a first lieutenant. Hunter was elected posthumously as captain of the Jayhawks' 1945-46 squad that compiled a 19-2 record.

• Dale Gentry, the fifth-leading scorer for Washington State's 1941 national runner-up, collapsed and died of a heart attack in 1963 at the age of 50 after completing arrangements for his 16-year-old son's funeral following injuries incurred in an auto accident.

• All 11 regulars on Pitt's 1941 Final Four team participated in World War II and one of them, guard Bob Artman, was killed in action.

• Center Ed Voss, the second-leading scorer for 1942 champion Stanford, died of polio in 1953 at the age of 31, a month after his 7-year-old son also succumbed to the disease. Cardinal teammate Jack Dana's wife, California socialite Renee Cohu, died of a sleeping pill overdose in the winter of 1970 at the age of 42 when the missing daughter of a former TWA president was found in a Miami Beach motel.

• Charles "Stubbie" Pearson, captain of Dartmouth's 1942 national runner-up and valedictorian of his class the same year, was killed in action on March 30, 1945, while dive-bombing a Japanese ship off the Palau Islands. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Teammate George Galbraith Jr., a backup forward, died in a training flight over Mississippi.

• Three of the top seven scorers for Kentucky's first NCAA Tournament and Final Four team in 1942 died during World War II - Mel Brewer (Army second lieutenant/25 years old in France), Ken England (Army captain of ski troop/23 in Italy) and Jim King (Army second lieutenant and co-pilot/24 in Germany).

• Bob Doll, an All-American for Colorado in 1942, died in 1959 at the age of 40 of an apparent suicide.

• Milo Komenich, leading scorer for Wyoming's 1943 NCAA titlist, died in 1977 at his home at the age of 56.

• Georgetown's Lloyd Potolicchio, who matched DePaul legend George Mikan's 11-point output in the 1943 national semifinals when the Hoyas eliminated the Blue Demons before bowing to Wyoming in title tilt, joined the Air Force. Potolicchio was boom operator Master Sergeant when killed in a refueling mission on January 17, 1966, in a B-52 crash off the coast of southern Spain. His KC-135 tanker was completely destroyed when its fuel load ignited, resulting in the B-52G breaking apart with B28RI hydrogen weapons falling to earth and plutonium contamination occurring near the fishing village of Palomares. In March 2009, Time magazine identified the Palomares accident as one of the world's "worst nuclear disasters." Teammate Bob Duffey, a backup swingman, was killed on November 13, 1944, in European theater combat.

• Curtis Popham, Texas' co-captain in 1943, was one of seven Longhorns lettermen since the mid-1930s to make the supreme sacrifice during WWII.

• Swingman Johnny Jorgensen, a teammate of Hall of Famer George Mikan on DePaul's 1943 Final Four team, died in mid-January 1973 at the age of 51.

• All-American Audie Brindley of 1944 runner-up Dartmouth died of cancer in 1957 at the age of 33.

• Swingman Joe Bradley, a regular for Oklahoma A&M's 1946 NCAA champion, was 58 when he died on June 5, 1987.

• Center Jack Underman, the leading scorer for Ohio State's 1946 national third-place team, was an oral surgeon in Elyria, Ohio, when he died in an auto crash on October 23, 1969, at the age of 44.

• Frontcourter Frank Oftring, a key contributor for Holy Cross' 1947 champion and 1948 national third-place team, died on October 4, 1982, at the age of 58. Teammate Dermie O'Connell was 60 when perishing on October 5, 1988. Teammate Bob Curran, a regular for both squads, was 56 when he passed away on October 18, 1977.

• Center Gerry Tucker, the leading scorer for Oklahoma's 1947 national runner-up, died on May 29, 1979, at the age of 57.

• Forward Tom Hamilton, a regular as a freshman forward with Texas' 1947 national third-place club, died at the age of 48 on November 29, 1973, after suffering a brain hemorrhage prior to officiating a high school football game in Tyler, Tex. Hamilton, a first baseman briefly with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1952 and 1953, served as baseball coach and athletic director for St. Edward's (Tex.) at the time of his death.

• Center Bob Harris, the leading scorer for Oklahoma A&M's 1949 national runner-up, died on April 10, 1977 at the age of 50. Teammate Joe Bradley, A&M's second-leading scorer, passed away on June 5, 1987, at the age of 58.

• Bill Erickson, a starting guard for Illinois' 1949 national third-place team, died on September 21, 1987, at the age of 59. Teammate Don Sunderlage, the Illini's sixth-leading scorer in 1949 and top point producer for another third-place squad in 1951, died in mid-July 1961 at the age of 31 following an automobile accident in Lake Geneva, Wis.

• Center Ed Roman, leading scorer for CCNY's 1950 titlist who was involved in a conspiracy to fix games, died of leukemia in early March 1988 at the age of 57.

• Guard Lucian "Skippy" Whitaker, who averaged 5.2 ppg as a junior for Kentucky's 1951 national champion, died in 1990 at the age of 59.

• Bob Ferrick, coach of Santa Clara's 1952 national fourth-place team, died in 1976 at the age of 56.

• Don Schlundt, the leading scorer and rebounder for Indiana's 1953 NCAA champion, died of pancreatic cancer in October 1985 at the age of 52. Teammate Dick Farley, the Hoosiers' third-leading scorer, passed away from cancer in early October 1969 at the age of 37.

• Joe Cipriano, the second-leading scorer for Washington's national third-place team in 1953 before becoming Nebraska's all-time winningest coach, was 49 in late November 1980 when he died of cancer.

• Forward Bob Ames, who scored a total of eight points in three playoff games in 1955 for La Salle's national runner-up after being a member of the Explorers' 1954 NCAA titlist, was killed in Beirut in 1983 at the age of 49. A truck loaded with TNT on a suicide mission rammed into the facility where Ames, a father of six children, was staying while serving as a liaison trying to allay contacts among the Lebanese, Syrians and Israelis in hopes of calming the escalating discord. He joined the CIA and worked his way up the chain of command to become the Director of the CIA's Office of Analysis of the Near East and South Asia. "The Spy Who Loved Basketball" worked closely with both the Carter and Reagan administrations.

• Forward Jerry Mullen, runner-up in scoring and rebounding as captain for San Francisco's 1955 champion, died in September 1979 at the age of 45.

• Bucky O'Connor, coach for Iowa's 1955 Final Four club and 1956 runner-up, died in 1958 at the age of 44 in a highway accident near Waterloo. "The boy who has faith in God can look to the future without worry or strain," O'Connor told his players. "I firmly believe that the boys on our team who attend church are more likely to be successful because they can face their problems with hope and encouragement."

• Jim Krebs, the leading scorer and rebounder for Southern Methodist's 1956 Final Four squad, was killed in 1965 at the age of 29 in a freak accident. While helping a neighbor clear storm damage, a tree limb fell the wrong way and crushed his skull.

• Forward Joe Kitchen, a member of Louisville's regular rotation for 1959 national fourth-place team, was 52 in 1991 when he died.

• John Cedargren, senior backup to All-American center Jerry Lucas for Ohio State's 1960 NCAA champion, died in 1966.

• Forward Al Filardi, the third-leading rebounder for NYU's 1960 national fourth-place squad, just turned 60 when he died in early August 1999.

• Gary Bradds, a backup to national player of the year Jerry Lucas for Ohio State's 1962 NCAA runner-up before earning the same award himself two years later, died of cancer in July 1983 when he was 40. Bradds was principal of an elementary school in Bowersville, Ohio, at the time of his demise.

• Frank Christie, Wake Forest's third-leading rebounder for 1962 national third-place team, was 50 in mid-October 1992 when he passed away following a brief illness.

• Vic Rouse, leading rebounder for Loyola of Chicago's 1963 NCAA champion, died in late May 1999 at the age of 56. He owned an educational consulting firm after earning three masters degrees and a PhD.

• Guard Denny Ferguson, a regular for Duke's 1963 national third-place team and 1964 runner-up, died from cancer in 2001 at 58. He was a professor at Cornell.

• Bill Buntin, the leading rebounder and second-leading scorer (behind Cazzie Russell) for Michigan's Final Four teams in 1964 and 1965, collapsed and died during an informal workout one day after his 26th birthday in May 1968.

• Forward Jamie Thompson, the third-leading scorer for Wichita's 1965 fourth-place team who tallied 36 points when the Shockers were eliminated in the national semifinals by eventual champion UCLA, died in January 2006 at the age of 60.

• Guard Bobby Joe Hill, the leading scorer for Texas Western's 1966 NCAA titlist, passed away from a heart attack in December 2002 at the age of 59.

• Guard Rudy Waterman, Dayton's third-leading scorer for 1967 national runner-up, died at 34 in mid-June 1979 after shooting himself and developing bacterial meningitis while hospitalized in New York. He had been fired from his job as a sales representative for a Midwest aluminum company. Flyers coach Don Donoher's son, Gary, died in New York at age 27 in August 1988 from AIDS-related complications.

• Ken Spain and Theodis Lee, starting frontcourters with All-American Elvin Hayes for Houston's team that entered the 1968 Final Four with an undefeated record, each died of cancer. Spain, who overcame cancer after he was first diagnosed with it in 1977, died of the disease 13 years later in October 1990 when he was 44. Lee, who played for the Harlem Globetrotters, was 33 when he passed away in March 1979, one week after the illness was diagnosed. Teammate Don Kruse, a center for the Cougars' national third-place team in 1967, died in the spring of 2004 at the age of 59.

• Dave Sorenson, second-leading rebounder and third-leading scorer as a sophomore for Ohio State's national third-place team in 1968, died in 2002 at the age of 54 because of cancer.

• Herm Gilliam, leading rebounder and second-leading scorer for Purdue's 1969 national runner-up, died of a heart attack in 2005 at the age of 58.

• Maury John, national coach of the year in 1969 when directing Drake to a national third-place finish, died of cancer in 1974 at the age of 55. Guard Gary Zeller, the Bulldogs' sixth-leading scorer, died in 1996 at 48.

• UCLA's John Vallely scored a game-high 29 points in the Bruins' 1969 Final Four semifinal victory against Drake and collected 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 1970 NCAA championship game win against Jacksonville. His daughter, Erin, died of rhabdomyosarcoma (disease primarily found in children where cancer makes up cells that normally develop into skeletal muscles) in fall of 1991 at the age of 12.

• Steve Patterson, one of UCLA's top three rebounders for NCAA kingpins in 1970 and 1971 after serving as Lew Alcindor's understudy for another titlist in 1969, died in 2004 at the age of 56 because of lung cancer.

• Point guard Vaughn Wedeking, third-leading scorer for Jacksonville's 1970 runner-up, died in the summer of 2009 at the age of 60 after suffering from Alzheimer's for several years.

• New Mexico State backup guard Milton Horne, who averaged 4.4 ppg for 1970 national third-place team, died in 2001 at the age of 52.

• Howard Porter, Villanova's leading scorer and rebounder for 1971 runner-up, was trying to trade money and crack cocaine for sex with a prostitute in St. Paul in May 2007 when the probation officer was beaten to death at the age of 58, according to murder charges filed several months later.

• Pierre Russell, a starting forward for Kansas' 1971 fourth-place finisher, died in mid-June 1995 at the age of 45.

• Reggie Royals, the leading rebounder and second-leading scorer for Florida State's 1972 runner-up, passed away in mid-April 2009 at the age of 58.

• Forward Mike Lawhon, Louisville's third-leading scorer for the Cardinals' 1972 national fourth-place team, died in early April 2004 at the age of 53. Lawhon was an orthopedic surgeon who passed away while attending a medical conference.

• Larry Finch, Memphis State's leading scorer for 1973 runner-up, died in early April 2011 at the age of 60. Finch suffered the first of multiple strokes 10 years earlier. In early September 2014, his daughter (Shanae), suffering from Crohn's disease, collapsed and died at the age of 39. Teammate Ronnie Robinson, the Tigers' second-leading rebounder and third-leading scorer, passed away in early May 2004 at the age of 53 from congestive heart failure. Third-leading rebounder Wes Westfall, a juco recruit, died at 54 in his hometown of St. Louis.

• Maurice Lucas, leading scorer and rebounder for Marquette's 1974 national runner-up, died in 2010 at the age of 58 from bladder cancer. Teammate Jerry Homan, a backup frontcourter, had a son, Luke, pass away in the fall of 2006 when the UW-LaCrosse student's body was recovered in the Mississippi River after last seen celebrating Oktoberfest (UW-L teammate Austin Scott was charged with two counts of obstructing officers for lying to authorities during the death investigation).

• Danny Knight, the leading scorer and rebounder for Kansas' 1974 Final Four team, was 24 when he died in June 1977, three weeks after sustaining injuries in a fall down the steps at his home. Knight had been suffering headaches for some time and doctors attributed his death to an aneurysm in the brain. Teammate Norm Cook, the Jayhawks' second-leading rebounder and fourth-leading scorer as a freshman, was 53 in 2008 when he died after suffering from paranoid schizophrenia most of his adult life.

• Dan Hall, a frontcourt backup from Kentucky's historic recruiting class as a freshman for UK's 1975 NCAA Tournament runner-up, died of an apparent suicide at age 58 the first full week in January 2013. Hall subsequently transferred to Marshall, where he averaged 10.4 ppg and 5.6 rpg in 1976-77 and 1977-78. UK teammate G.J. Smith, a reserve forward, died in late summer 2012 at the age of 59 because of a heart attack.

• Bob Parker, a backup center who scored a total of 14 points in two Final Four outings for Syracuse's 1975 national fourth-place team, passed away in January 2006 at the age of 51. Fellow reserve Larry Arrington perished from cancer in spring of 2013 at the age of 59.

• John Robinson, Michigan's second-leading rebounder and third-leading scorer for 1976 runner-up, died in late September 2012 at the age of 56.

• The remains of former UCLA forward Gavin Smith, who scored 14 points for the third-place Bruins at the 1976 Final Four, were found in a rural desert area of Southern California in early November 2014. Police had been probing Smith's mysterious disappearance 2 1/2 years earlier. Smith, a 57-year-old movie executive for Fox, was driving a black 2000 four-door Mercedes E Class when he vanished at night. Most media outlets focus on Smith's connection to UCLA but he actually made a hoop name for himself playing with Hawaii, where he finished 16th in the nation in scoring in 1976-77 by setting a Rainbows' single-season record (23.4 points per game). Teammate Brett Vroman, a backup center for UCLA, had a son, Jackson, 34, found dead at the bottom of a friend's swimming pool in Hollywood in late June 2015 after previously playing for Iowa State.

• Center Jerome Whitehead, the second-leading rebounder and third-leading scorer for Marquette's 1977 NCAA titlist, was 56 in mid-December 2012 when he was found dead because of chronic alcohol abuse. Teammate Gary Rosenberger, a guard who was the fourth-leading scorer in coach Al McGuire's swan song, passed away in the fall of 2013 at the age of 57 due to complications from a heart attack and stroke.

• Tom Zaliagiris, North Carolina's top reserve guard for 1977 runner-up, died in late January 2007 at the age of 50 because of a bacteria infection.

• Forward Glen Gondrezick, the leading rebounder and third-leading scorer for UNLV's 1977 third-place club, died in late April 2009 at the age of 53 due to complications stemming from a heart transplant he received the previous September. Teammate Lewis Brown, the third-leading rebounder and sixth-leading scorer for UNLV, spent more than 10 years homeless on the streets of Santa Monica, Calif., before passing away in mid-September 2011 at the age of 56. According to the New York Times, family members said the 6-11 center used cocaine with the Rebels. "Drugs were his downfall," said his sister. Murray State transfer Larry Moffett, UNLV's second-leading rebounder, passed away in early May 2011 in Shreveport, La., at the age of 56. He previously was a cab driver in Las Vegas.

• Guard Chad Kinch, the third-leading scorer for UNC Charlotte's 1977 national fourth-place team as a freshman, died at his parents' home in Cartaret, N.J., from complications caused by AIDS. He passed away on April 3, 1994, the day between the Final Four semifinals and final in Charlotte. The host school happened to be UNC Charlotte. It was the second time Kinch's parents lost a son. Sixteen years earlier, Ray Kinch, a Rutgers football player, was killed in a house fire. UNCC teammate Lew Massey, the 49ers' runner-up in scoring and rebounding, died in mid-January 2014 at the age of 57.

• Mike Phillips, the starting center for Kentucky's 1978 NCAA champion, died in late April 2015 at the age of 59 following a fall at his home.

• Point guard John Harrell, a point guard for Duke's 1978 runner-up after transferring from North Carolina Central, died of an aortal aneurysm at age 50 in the summer of 2008.

• Orlando Woolridge, a backup freshman in 1978 when Notre Dame made its lone Final Four appearance before he became a scoring specialist in 13 NBA seasons, died at the end of May 2012 at the age of 52 because of a chronic heart condition.

• Curtis Watkins, DePaul's second-leading scorer and rebounder for 1979 national third-place team, died in June 2008 at the age of 51 due to a blocked artery.

• Matt White, the second-leading rebounder and third-leading scorer for Penn's 1979 Final Four squad as a senior, was fatally stabbed in mid-February 2013 by his wife, who told police she had caught him looking at child pornography. White, the Quakers' all-time leader in field-goal shooting (59.1%), was 55.

• Derek Smith, the leading rebounder and second-leading scorer as a sophomore forward for Louisville's 1980 NCAA champion, died of a heart ailment at age 34 on August 9, 1996, while on a cruise with his family. He was the leading scorer and second-leading rebounder for the Cardinals' 1982 Final Four team before averaging 12.8 ppg and 3.2 rpg in the NBA with five different franchises. His son, Nolan, became a starting guard for Duke's 2010 NCAA titlist.

• Drake Morris Jr., the 29-year-old son of the third-leading scorer for Purdue's 1980 national third-place team, was shot to death in northwest Indiana in the middle of the night in late August 2011.

• Iowa's Kenny Arnold, who battled cancer for more than 30 years after undergoing surgery for a malignant brain tumor in 1985, passed away in late April 2019 at the age of 59. Chicago native was the second-leading scorer (13.5 ppg as sophomore) and assists leader for the Hawkeyes' 1980 national fourth-place team coached by Lute Olson.

• Center Greg Cook, third-leading rebounder and fifth-leading scorer for LSU's national fourth-place team in 1981, died in mid-March 2005 from congestive heart failure at the age of 46. Assistant coach Rick Huckabay, who tagged along from high school with the Tigers' leading scorer (Howard Carter), died of cancer in 2006 at 60 after directing Marshall to the NCAA playoffs three times in a four-year span from 1984 through 1987.

• Rob Williams, leading scorer for Houston's 1982 Final Four team, died of congestive heart failure at the age of 52 in March 2014 after suffering a stroke 15 years earlier that left him blind in his left eye and partially paralyzed on his left side. Williams denied rumors he was too high on cocaine to play up to par against North Carolina in the national semifinals (0-for-8 field-goal shooting). But Williams admitted he used drugs. "Cocaine came later but I started out smoking weed (in junior high)," Williams said. "I was always a curious type of fellow, so I wanted to see what cocaine was about. So I tried it. And to tell you the truth, I liked it."

• Lorenzo Charles, the second-leading rebounder for N.C. State's 1983 champion, provided one of the tourney's most memorable moments with a game-winning dunk against heavily-favored Houston in the final. Working for a limousine and bus company based in Apex, N.C., he was killed in June 2011 when the charter bus the 47-year-old was driving with no passengers aboard crashed along Interstate 40 in Raleigh. Wolfpack coach Jim Valvano also was 47 in the spring of 1993 when he passed away because of cancer. Backup forward Quinton Leonard died of a heart attack in the spring of 2006 at the age of 44.

• Lamar Heard, tri-captain and steals leader for Georgia's 1983 Final Four squad, was 55 when he died in 2017. Terry Fair, the Bulldogs' leading rebounder and second-leading scorer in their initial NCAA playoff appearance, perished in late January 2020 at the age of 59.

• Michael Burrell, son of Michael Graham, second-leading rebounder for Georgetown's 1984 NCAA champion, died at 25 in June 2008 during a trip to an amusement park. Burrell, beset by a tumor on his brain according to doctors, began vomiting, then collapsed and hit his head on the pavement. First of children fathered with four different women was born when Graham was in high school.

• Melvin Turpin, the leading scorer and second-leading rebounder as a senior for Kentucky's 1984 Final Four team (29-5 record), was 49 and battling diabetes in July 2010 when he committed suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot to the chest. Teammate Bret Bearup, a backup forward, passed away in mid-May 2018 at 56.

• Baskerville Holmes, a starting forward who averaged 9.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game for Memphis State's 1985 Final Four team, and his girlfriend were found shot to death on March 18, 1997 in an apparent murder-suicide in Memphis. He was 32.

• Swingman Don Redden, who averaged 13 points and 4.8 rebounds per game for Louisiana State's 1986 Final Four squad, was 24 when he died in March 1988 of heart disease.

• Keith Hughes, a backup forward as a freshman for Syracuse's 1987 runner-up before transferring to Rutgers, died suddenly at his N.J. home in February 2014 at the age of 45.

• Ernie "Pop" Lewis, a senior co-captain and three-point specialist for Providence in 1987, perished in early 2018 at age 51.

• Forward Daryl Thomas, second-leading scorer and rebounder for Indiana's 1987 titlist, died in late March 2018 at age 52 of a heart attack.

• Armon Gilliam, the leading scorer and rebounder for UNLV's 1987 Final Four team, died from a heart attack on July 5, 2011, while playing basketball in a Pittsburgh area gym. He was 47.

• Mike Masucci, a freshman backup center for Kansas' eventual 1988 champion dismissed from the Jayhawks before the tourney commenced and his subsequent transfer, died in January 2005 at the age of 36 from a heart attack.

• Guard Phil Henderson, the leading scorer and senior captain of Duke's 1990 NCAA Tournament runner-up, died of cardiac arrest in mid-February 2013 at his home in the Philippines at the age of 44. He was the Blue Devils' second-leading scorer as a junior and sixth-leading scorer as a sophomore for two more Final Four squads.

• Larry Marks, a backup forward for Arkansas' 1990 Final Four squad after being a starter the previous season, died of an apparent heart attack in mid-June 2000 after playing some recreational basketball. He was 33.

• Sean Tunstall, a reserve guard for Kansas' 1991 NCAA Tournament runner-up was shot and killed at age 28 in the parking lot of a recreation center in his native St. Louis on October 16, 1997, in a drug deal gone bad. Tunstall, recruited to KU when Larry Brown was the Jayhawks' coach, had received a prison sentence after pleading guilty to one count of selling cocaine in 1993. "He was one of the few kids I never thought I completely reached," then KU coach Roy Williams said. Power forward Chris Lindley, who signed with Kansas and would have been a freshman for the 1991 squad before having his right foot amputated in January 1990 after a train accident, died at 34 in mid-February 2007.

• Clifford Rozier, a backup freshman forward for North Carolina's 1991 Final Four team before transferring to Louisville and becoming an All-American as a junior in 1993-94, died of a heart attack at age 45 in summer of 2018 following years in a halfway house.

• Son of Nick Van Exel, point guard for Cincinnati's 1992 Final Four team, was sentenced to 60 years in prison after arrest in Garland, Tex., in late December 2010 on a capital murder charge following the shotgun shooting slaying of his friend, whose body was wrapped in plastic and dumped along a nearby lake. Prosecutors contended that Nickey feared his friend would tell authorities of robberies the two committed earlier in the year.

• Eric Anderson, starting forward for Indiana's 1992 Final Four squad, died at 48 of natural causes following a bout with pneumonia in late 2018.

• Antonio "Tony" Moore, Duke backup forward for 1994 national runner-up, died in 2016 at 41.

• Peter Sauer, a captain and third-leading rebounder for Stanford's 1998 Final Four squad, was 35 when he collapsed during a recreation game in White Plains, N.Y., hit his head and never was revived. His father, Mark Sauer, is a former president of two pro franchises - the NHL's St. Louis Blues and MLB's Pittsburgh Pirates.

• A 32-year-old brother of defensive stopper Byron Mouton, Maryland's fourth-leading scorer and rebounder for a 2001 Final Four team, was shot and killed in an apparent carjacking incident in Houston about one month into the next season. The Terrapins went on to capture the 2002 NCAA championship as the Tulane transfer finished as their third-leading rebounder and fourth-leading scorer.

• Earl Badu, a walk-on member of 2002 NCAA titlist Maryland was in legal and financial trouble ($300,000 debt involving major Terps booster) in the years preceding his suicide at 33 in late September 2012 jumping from an eastern Baltimore overpass.

• Zachary Winston, a younger brother of Michigan State All-American playmaker Cassius Winston (2019 Final Four participant), died on November 9, 2019, when struck by a westbound Amtrak train in Albion, Mich., where he was attending college.

Annually, there is a clear and present danger for pole sitters such as Duke. Seven years ago, Kentucky became only the fourth of 37 schools atop the national rankings entering the NCAA playoffs since North Carolina '82 to capture the national championship.

In 2006, Duke became the ninth No. 1 team in 17 years to fail to advance to a regional final when the Blue Devils were eliminated by LSU. In 1992, Duke defied a trend by becoming the first top-ranked team in 10 years entering the NCAA Tournament to win a national title. The five top-ranked teams prior to Duke failed to reach the championship game. UNLV lost twice in the national semifinals (1987 and 1991) and Temple '88, Arizona '89 and Oklahoma '90 failed to reach the Final Four.

Temple, a 63-53 loser against Duke in the 1988 East Regional final, and Kansas State, an 85-75 loser against Cincinnati in the 1959 Midwest Regional final, are the only teams ranked No. 1 by both AP and UPI entering the tourney to lose by a double-digit margin before the Final Four.

The school gaining the sweetest revenge against a top-ranked team was St. John's in 1952. Defending NCAA champion Kentucky humiliated the Redmen by 41 points (81-40) early in the season when the Catholic institution became the first to have a black player on the floor at Lexington, Ky. The African-American player, Solly Walker, played only a few minutes before he took a hit sidelining him for three weeks. But St. John's, sparked by center Bob Zawoluk's 32 points, avenged the rout by eliminating the Wildcats (64-57) in the East Regional, ending their 23-game winning streak. The Redmen, who subsequently defeated second-ranked Illinois in the national semifinals, lost against Kansas in the NCAA final.

In the 1982 championship game, North Carolina needed a basket with 16 seconds remaining from freshman Michael Jordan to nip Georgetown, 63-62, and become the only top-ranked team in 13 years from 1979 through 1991 to capture the NCAA title. It was a particularly bitter pill to swallow for seven of the 11 top-ranked teams to lose in the NCAA championship game in overtime or by two or three points in regulation.

Duke is the latest #1 to learn it's win or go home. Less than one-third of the top-ranked squads captured the NCAA crown. Following is analysis sizing up how the No. 1 teams fared in the NCAA playoffs since the Associated Press introduced national rankings in 1949:

20 - Won national title (Kentucky '49; Kentucky '51; Indiana '53; San Francisco '56; North Carolina '57; UCLA '64; UCLA '67; UCLA '69; UCLA '71; UCLA '72; UCLA '73; North Carolina State '74; UCLA '75; Indiana '76; Kentucky '78; North Carolina '82; Duke '92; UCLA '95, Duke '01, and Kentucky '12).

13 - Finished national runner-up (Bradley '50/defeated by CCNY; Ohio State '61/Cincinnati; Ohio State '62/Cincinnati; Cincinnati '63/Loyola of Chicago; Michigan '65/UCLA; Kentucky '66/Texas Western; Indiana State '79/Michigan State; Houston '83/North Carolina State; Georgetown '85/Villanova; Duke '86/Louisville; Duke '99/Connecticut; Illinois '05/North Carolina, and Ohio State '07/Florida).

9 - Lost in national semifinals (Cincinnati '60/defeated by California; Houston '68/UCLA; UNLV '87/Indiana; UNLV '91/Duke; Massachusetts '96/Kentucky; North Carolina '98/Utah; North Carolina '08/Kansas; Florida '14/Connecticut, and Kentucky '15/Wisconsin).

10 - Lost in regional final (Kentucky '52/defeated by St. John's; Kansas State '59/Cincinnati; Kentucky '70/Jacksonville; Michigan '77/UNC Charlotte; Temple '88/Duke; Indiana '93/Kansas; Kentucky '03/Marquette; Louisville '09/Michigan State); Kansas '16/Villanova), and Duke '19/Michigan State).

7 - Lost in regional semifinals (North Carolina '84/defeated by Indiana; Arizona '89/UNLV; Kansas '97/Arizona; Duke '00/Florida; Duke '02/Indiana); Duke '06/Louisiana State, and Ohio State '11/Kentucky).

8 - Lost in second round (DePaul '80/defeated by UCLA; DePaul '81/St. Joseph's; Oklahoma '90/North Carolina; North Carolina '94/Boston College; Stanford '04/Alabama; Kansas '10/Northern Iowa), Gonzaga '13/Wichita State) and Villanova '17/Wisconsin).

2 - Lost in first round (West Virginia '58/defeated by Manhattan) and (Virginia '18/UMBC).

1 - Declined a berth (Kentucky '54).

NOTE: After United Press International started ranking teams in 1951, UPI had just three different No. 1 teams entering the national playoffs than AP - Indiana lost in 1954 East Regional semifinals against Notre Dame, California finished as 1960 national runner-up to Ohio State and Indiana lost in 1975 Mideast Regional final against Kentucky.

Texas Tech became the fourth school in the last 41 years to reach the Final Four for the first time after making at least 15 NCAA playoff appearances. Auburn's F4 debut this campaign came in the Tigers' 10th appearance.

When Gonzaga and South Carolina met at the 2017 Final Four, they joined the 1996 tandem of Massachusetts and Mississippi State as only the second "fresh-blood" duo in 38 years to each reach the national semifinals for the first time in the same season. Auburn and Texas Tech promptly became the third such tandem in 39 seasons to break new ground. The Zags and Gamecocks were the first set of newcomers to oppose each other at the F4 in 40 years since UNLV defeated UNC Charlotte in the 1977 national third-place game. Newbies Memphis State and Providence clashed in the 1973 semis.

Prior to Connecticut in 1999, the last team to win a championship in its initial national semifinal appearance was Texas Western (now Texas-El Paso) in 1966. Following in reverse order are the schools - two of them coached by Hugh Durham - making their first impression on the Final Four since 1970 when three colleges - Jacksonville, New Mexico State and St. Bonaventure - each made their only national semifinal appearance:

*School subsequently returned to Final Four.