Alabama's obscene total of 15 defeats entering NCAA competition notwithstanding, when will the Division I Committee and "impartial" media promoting leagues with which they have cozy business dealings realize a losing conference record probably should deny any team receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament? In 30 of the last 36 years, the selection committee awarded at least one at-large berth to a squad with a sub-.500 mark in a top-caliber league. Bama is among an all-time high of five this year as the committee, if history holds form, will be shown to have pretty much simply wasted everyone's time. Anyone with functioning brain knows combination of Middle Tennessee State, Saint Mary's, Vermont and Western Kentucky would have been a more entertaining match-up this year than dreary Arizona State/Syracuse affair.

The Big 12 Conference was the beneficiary for the fifth and sixth time in the last five years when Oklahoma and Texas (each 8-10 in league competition) secured at-large bids this season. In 2014 and 2015, Oklahoma State became the first school ever to receive an at-large berth in back-to-back campaigns after compiling a losing league record. Each of the previous 10 at-large teams in this category failed to reach the Sweet 16. Since numbers never lie, the cold and hard facts are that Virginia '84 is the only team with a sub-.500 conference mark to reach the Final Four. Three years later, Louisiana State became the last at-large team with a losing league mark to reach a regional final.

Maryland (#5 in 1986 and #4 in 2004) earned the two best seeds for an at-large squad with a losing conference record. North Carolina State '05 is the only school in this sub.-500 category in the previous 15 years to advance to the Sweet 16. In the same span, a total of 13 mid-major regular-season champions earning at-large bids reached the Sweet 16 or beyond. This striking number of at-large mid-level success stories doesn't even include recent Final Four clubs such as Virginia Commonwealth '11 (fourth-place finisher in Atlantic 10) and Wichita State '13 (second in Missouri Valley). How much more evidence does the committee require to give the Louisianas, Middle Tennessees, Old Dominions, Saint Mary's and Vermonts closer look rather than issuing handouts to underachieving members of power alliances?

Iowa State '92 is the only school receiving an at-large bid despite losing all of its conference road games. The Cyclones, dropping their seven Big Eight road contests by an average margin of 14.4 points, compiled the worst league mark (5-9) among at-large teams until Florida State '98 (6-10 in ACC with three losses by more than 20 points).

A breakdown of conference recipients of basically unwarranted at-large bids include the ACC (16), Big Ten (seven), Big Eight/Big 12 (nine), Big East (five), SEC (five) and Pacific-12 (two). After registering a 10-5 NCAA playoff mark from 1983 through 1987, teams in this suspect group went 24-39 since 1988 (ACC 12-14, Big East 1-4, Big Eight/Big 12 3-9, Big Ten 7-7, Pac-12 0-2, SEC 1-3). This year, five at-large teams joined the following list of underachieving power-league "losers" given preferential treatment over more worthy mid-major conference members:

Year	At-Large Team	Conference	League	Overall	NCAA Playoff Performance
1983	Alabama	SEC	8-10	20-12	#6 seed lost in first round
1984	Virginia	ACC	6-8	21-12	#7 seed lost in national semifinals
1985	Boston College	Big East	7-9	20-11	#11 seed lost in regional semifinals
1986	Maryland	ACC	6-8	19-14	#5 seed lost in second round
1987	Louisiana State	SEC	8-10	24-15	#10 seed lost in regional final
1988	Iowa State	Big Eight	6-8	20-12	#12 seed lost in first round
1988	Maryland	ACC	6-8	18-13	#7 seed lost in second round
1989	Providence	Big East	7-9	18-11	#12 seed lost in first round
1990	Indiana	Big Ten	8-10	18-11	#8 seed lost in first round
1990	Virginia	ACC	6-8	20-12	#7 seed lost in second round
1991	Georgia Tech	ACC	6-8	17-13	#8 seed lost in second round
1991	Villanova	Big East	7-9	17-15	#9 seed lost in second round
1991	Virginia	ACC	6-8	21-12	#7 seed lost in first round
1992	Iowa State	Big Eight	5-9	21-13	#10 seed lost in second round
1992	Wake Forest	ACC	7-9	17-12	#9 seed lost in first round
1994	Seton Hall	Big East	8-10	17-13	#10 seed lost in first round
1994	Wisconsin	Big Ten	8-10	18-11	#9 seed lost in second round
1995	Iowa State	Big Eight	6-8	23-11	#7 seed lost in second round
1996	Clemson	ACC	7-9	18-11	#9 seed lost in first round
1997	Virginia	ACC	7-9	18-13	#9 seed lost in first round
1998	Clemson	ACC	7-9	18-13	#6 seed lost in first round
1998	Florida State	ACC	6-10	17-13	#12 seed lost in second round
1999	Purdue	Big Ten	7-9	21-13	#10 seed lost in regional semifinals
2001	Penn State	Big Ten	7-9	21-12	#7 seed lost in regional semifinals
2003	Alabama	SEC	7-9	17-12	#10 seed lost in first round
2004	Maryland	ACC	7-9	20-12	#4 seed lost in second round
2005	Iowa	Big Ten	7-9	21-12	#10 seed lost in first round
2005	North Carolina State	ACC	7-9	21-14	#10 seed lost in regional semifinals
2007	Arkansas	SEC	7-9	21-13	#12 seed lost in first round
2008	Arizona	Pacific-10	8-10	19-14	#10 seed lost in first round
2009	Maryland	ACC	7-9	20-13	#10 seed lost in second round
2010	Georgia Tech	ACC	7-9	22-12	#10 seed lost in second round
2012	Connecticut	Big East	8-10	20-13	#9 seed lost in first round
2013	Illinois	Big Ten	8-10	22-12	#7 seed lost in second round
2013	Minnesota	Big Ten	8-10	20-12	#11 seed lost in second round
2014	Oklahoma State	Big 12	8-10	21-12	#9 seed lost in first round
2015	Oklahoma State	Big 12	8-10	18-14	#9 seed lost in first round
2015	Texas	Big 12	8-10	20-14	#11 seed lost in first round
2017	Kansas State	Big 12	8-10	21-14	#11 seed lost in first round after play-in win
2018	Alabama	SEC	8-10	19-15	#9 seed lost in second round
2018	Arizona State	Pac 12	8-10	20-11	#11 seed lost play-in game
2018	Oklahoma	Big 12	8-10	18-13	#10 seed lost in first round
2018	Syracuse	ACC	8-10	20-13	#11 seed lost in regional semifinals
2018	Texas	Big 12	8-10	19-14	#10 seed lost in first round

Unrealistic expectations spread like a virus across the country when a young pup such as Brad Stevens becomes a big dawg by winning 11 NCAA Tournament games in his first four seasons coaching mid-major Butler before departing for the NBA's Boston Celtics at the conclusion of the 2012-13 campaign. But many school administrations and boosters, unaware that UCLA legend John Wooden notched only one tourney triumph in his first 13 years with the Bruins, need to exercise a little patience in this era of instant gratification. It's the type of priority perspective exhibited this year by Final Four-bound Loyola of Chicago, where Porter Moser posted his first NCAA playoff victory in 14th DI head coaching campaign (with three schools).

As the misguided media seeks another overnight success, they need to take a cue from ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg, who is deemed an expert after winning a grand total of one NCAA playoff game in 22 years as a DI head coach. Also, Dana Altman of upper bracket seed Oregon for second successive season failed to notch his first NCAA tourney triumph until his 10th season as a DI mentor. While ESPN canonizes coaches to secure exclusive interviews and extensive foundation donations, it should be pointed out power-league luminaries John Beilein (Michigan), Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), Mike Brey (Notre Dame), Tom Izzo (Michigan State), Lon Kruger (Oklahoma), Mike Krzyzsewski, (Duke), Bill Self (Kansas) and Jay Wright (Villanova) combined to lose in the NCAA playoffs this century against mid-majors Bucknell, Bradley, George Mason, Lehigh, Mercer, Middle Tennessee State, Nevada, North Dakota State, Ohio University, Old Dominion, Rhode Island, Saint Mary's, Vermont, VCU, Wichita State and Winthrop.

Still, starter-kit supporters for some schools should take a chill pill if their coach remains winless in NCAA Tournament competition by losing an opener. Krzyzewski was frustrated by the tourney long before losing against Mercer. Impatient supporters should take a long look at how long it took for the following alphabetical list of high-profile coaches, including all-time leader Krzyzewski, to secure their first NCAA playoff victory.

NOTE: The victories for retired Greer, McCarthy and Newton were the only one they posted in NCAA playoff participation.

Is that your final answer? Do you have the wit, guile and endurance to be a "Survivor" answering 10 daily questions about "The Amazing Race" otherwise known as the NCAA Tournament?

Standardized testing is controversial, but it's time to put your NCAA playoff knowledge on the line and attempt a free shot at CollegeHoopedia.com's challenging tourney-time questions. Your "scoring ability" on these one-of-a-kind trivia quizzes will reflect retention of critical knowledge, jogging your memory, exhibiting your lack of attention to detail or revealing once and for all you didn't major in "Hoopology" or take an advanced course in Basketball History.

As you're aware, many participants in the NCAA playoffs believe it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Similarly, more and more all-around sports fans probably would pick the Final Four over the World Series and Super Bowl if they were forced to choose one of the prestigious events they could attend.

In accordance with that "one-and-only" theme, following are a treasure-trove of tantalizing NCAA Tournament trivia questions by CollegeHoopedia.com from Selection Sunday through the NCAA championship game dealing with the only coach, conference, player or school to be linked to a distinguished or dubious achievement (click here for answers or conduct PhD degree-like research digesting historical morsels in CollegeHoopedia's year-by-year highlights):

1. Name the only NCAA champion to have three players eventually score more than 15,000 points apiece in the NBA. Hint: Each of the trio was named an All-American at least two seasons and helped the school compete in 27 consecutive NCAA playoffs.

2. Name the only NBA team to have two teammates go on to coach teams in the Final Four. Hint: They were among the top three scorers for their team the first three seasons in NBA history. Their team posted the best regular-season record in the league's inaugural campaign and participated in the 1949 NBA Finals.

3. Name the only state currently with at least 10 Division I schools never to send a team to the Final Four. Hint: Just one school from the state won any NCAA playoff games from 1974 through 1996.

4. Who is the only individual to play and coach in both the NCAA and NBA playoffs? Hint: He played for a 28-5 Oregon State playoff team and on the frontline of an NBA champion with Dolph Schayes and Red Kerr. The leading scorer for his NBA playoff team was Gene Shue and the leading scorer for his NCAA tourney team was Bob Nash.

5. Who is the only coach to direct teams to Final Fours in four different decades in the 20th Century? Hint: He is the only coach to lose more than seven Final Four games and his first three NCAA Tournament championship games. His Final Four defeats were by an average of 15 points.

6. Name the only school to lose against UCLA as many as four times during the Bruins' 38-game winning streak in the NCAA playoffs from 1964 to 1974. Hint: The subject school is one of six other than UCLA to successfully defend a national championship.

7. Name the only All-American to go winless in more than five NCAA Tournament games. Hint: He played for a school winning the NCAA championship earlier in the decade he appeared in the playoffs.

8. Name the only school to reach the Final Four despite compiling a losing record in conference competition and being eliminated in the first round of its league tournament. Hint: The school's leading scorer that year had the lowest team-leading scoring average of any Final Four team since Kansas '74 had five players average from 11.3 to 12.4 points per game. Moreover, it's the only school to have as many as four at-large bids to the tournament despite compiling losing records in league play.

9. Name the only school to be top-ranked entering back-to-back tournaments but lose both opening playoff games. Hint: Two of the team's starters played more than 10 years in the NBA and one of them was on a third team for the school that lost its opening playoff game as a No. 1 seed. One of the two starters was a consensus national player of the year.

10. Name the only top-ranked team to decline a berth in the NCAA playoffs since the AP started conducting polls in 1949. Hint: The school was unbeaten the year it rejected a bid, defeated the national champion-to-be by 13 points and had only two games closer than a 12-point decision.

Day 1 answers.

Texas Southern (15-19), loser of its first 13 games (all on road including 10 states and four time zones), became the 19th school in the last 26 years, 26th overall and sixth in the last seven seasons appearing in the NCAA Tournament despite entering the playoffs with an overall losing record. The Tigers posted the best league mark (12-6 in SWAC) among the 26 clubs in this dubious category.

The only one of the sub-.500 schools ever to win two NCAA playoff games was Bradley. The Braves won twice in the 1955 tournament (69-65 over Oklahoma City and 81-79 over SMU) after losing 14 consecutive contests during one stretch in the regular season. Despite the pair of playoff victories, they finished with their worst overall record (9-20) in a 53-year span until going 8-20 in the 1990-91 campaign.

In 1950, Bradley won two games apiece in both the NCAA Tournament and NIT to reach the championship game of both events. The Braves lost against CCNY in each final to finish the season with a 32-5 record under coach Forddy Anderson. Bradley's coach in 1955 was Bob Vanatta. He was in his first of two seasons at the school after succeeding Anderson, who departed for Michigan State after guiding the Braves to a national second-place finish in 1954. Bradley is the only school to go from the Final Four one season to 20 defeats the next year.

Texas, winner of just one non-conference game in the 1973-74 campaign, is the only school with a losing overall record to secure an automatic bid by winning a regular-season league title. Following is a list of the 26 schools polluting the NCAA playoffs by entering the tourney sporting such an impoverished record:

School	W-L	Pct.	Coach	How Team Qualified
Bradley '55	7-19	.269	Bob Vanatta	Independent
Oklahoma City '55	9-17	.346	Doyle Parrack	Independent
George Washington '61	9-16	.360	Bill Reinhart	Won Southern Conference Tournament
Central Florida '96	11-18	.379	Kirk Speraw	Won TAAC Tournament
Fairfield '97	11-18	.379	Paul Cormier	Won MAAC Tournament
Florida International '95	11-18	.379	Bob Weltlich	Won TAAC Tournament
Florida A&M '99	12-18	.400	Mickey Clayton	Won MEAC Tournament
Lehigh '85	12-18	.400	Tom Schneider	Won East Coast Conference Tournament
Oakland '05	12-18	.400	Greg Kampe	Won Mid-Continent Tournament
Cal Poly '14	13-19	.406	Joe Callero	Won Big West Tournament
Holy Cross '16	14-19	.424	Bill Carmody	Won Patriot League Tournament
Liberty '13	15-20	.429	Dale Layer	Won Big South Tournament
Texas Southern '18	15-19	.441	Mike Davis	Won SWAC Tournament
Coppin State '08	16-20	.444	Fang Mitchell	Won MEAC Tournament
East Carolina '93	13-16	.448	Eddie Payne	Won Colonial Tournament
Prairie View A&M '98	13-16	.448	Elwood Plummer	Won SWAC Tournament
San Jose State '96	13-16	.448	Stan Morrison	Won Big West Tournament
UNC Asheville '03	14-17	.452	Eddie Biedenbach	Won Big South Tournament
Western Kentucky '12	15-18	.455	Ray Harper	Won Sun Belt Tournament
Texas '74	12-14	.461	Leon Black	SWC regular-season title
Montana State '86	14-16	.466	Stu Starner	Won Big Sky Tournament
Florida A&M '04	14-16	.466	Mike Gillespie	Won MEAC Tournament
Siena '02	16-18	.471	Rob Lanier	Won MAAC Tournament
Jackson State '97	14-15	.482	Andy Stoglin	Won SWAC Tournament
Missouri '78	14-15	.482	Norm Stewart	Won Big Eight Tournament
Hampton '15	16-17	.485	Edward Joyner Jr.	Won MEAC Tournament

NOTE: District 5 committee restricted to District 5 independents (only two in the district) to fill out 1955 bracket; this rule was changed for the 1956 playoffs.

Fairfield '97 posted the worst league record among teams in this category. Following are regular-season league records of conference tournament champions:

• George Washington '61 (3-9 in Southern Conference before defeating #2 seed Virginia Tech, #3 The Citadel and #4 William & Mary by a total of 19 points).

• Missouri '78 (4-10 in Big Eight before defeating #2 seed Iowa State, #3 Nebraska and #4 Kansas State by a total of seven points).

• Lehigh '85 (6-8 in ECC before defeating #3 seed Drexel, #7 Hofstra and #1 Bucknell by a total of eight points).

• Montana State '86 (6-8 in Big Sky before defeating #4 seed Nevada, #1 Northern Arizona and #2 Montana by a total of 12 points).

• East Carolina '93 (4-10 in Colonial before defeating #2 seed Old Dominion, #6 UNC Wilmington and #1 James Madison by a total of 16 points).

• Florida International '95 (4-12 in Trans America Athletic before defeating #1 seed Stetson, #4 Southeastern Louisiana and #3 Mercer by a total of 19 points).

• Central Florida '96 (6-10 in Trans America Athletic before defeating #3 seed Southeastern Louisiana, #2 Campbell and #5 Mercer by a total of 21 points).

• San Jose State '96 (9-9 in Big West before defeating #3 seed Pacific, #2 UC Irvine and #4 Utah State by a total of 25 points).

• Fairfield '97 (2-12 in Metro Atlantic before defeating #1 seed Iona, #4 St. Peter's and #2 Canisius by a total of 27 points).

• Jackson State '97 (9-5 in Southwestern Athletic before defeating #7 seed Southern, #3 Alcorn State and #1 Mississippi Valley State by a total of 16 points).

• Prairie View '98 (6-10 in Southwestern Athletic before defeating #2 seed Jackson State, #6 Alabama State and #1 Texas Southern by a total of eight points).

• Florida A&M '99 (8-11 in Mid-Eastern Athletic before defeating #10 seed Howard, #2 Coppin State, #3 Morgan State and #1 South Carolina State by a total of 42 points).

• Siena '02 (9-9 in Metro Atlantic before defeating #10 seed St. Peter's, #2 Marist, #6 Fairfield and #4 Niagara by a total of 53 points).

• UNC Asheville '03 (7-7 in Big South before defeating #4 seed Elon, #1 Winthrop and #6 Radford by a total of 19 points).

• Florida A&M '04 (10-8 in Mid-Eastern Athletic before defeating #4 seed Hampton, #1 South Carolina State and #2 Coppin State by a total of 20 points).

• Oakland '05 (7-9 in Mid-Continent before defeating #2 seed Valparaiso, #6 Chicago State and #1 Oral Roberts by a total of seven points).

• Coppin State '08 (7-9 in Mid-Eastern Athletic before defeating Howard, Hampton, Norfolk State and Morgan State by a total of six points).

• Western Kentucky '12 (7-9 in Sun Belt before defeating #10 seed Florida International, #2 UALR, #3 Denver and #5 North Texas by a total of 17 points).

• Liberty '13 (6-10 in Big South North Division before defeating #4S seed Coastal Carolina, #1N High Point, #2S Gardner-Webb and #1S Charleston Southern by a total of 32 points).

• Cal Poly '14 (6-10 in Big West before defeating #2 seed UC Santa Barbara, #1 UC Irvine and #5 Cal State Northridge by a total of 36 points).

• Hampton '15 (8-8 in Mid-Eastern Athletic before defeating #6 seed Maryland-Eastern Shore, #2 Norfolk State and #5 Delaware State by a total of 37 points).

• Holy Cross '16 (5-13 in Patriot League before defeating #8 seed Loyola MD, #1 Bucknell, #4 Army and #2 Lehigh by a total of 35 points).

• Texas Southern '18 (12-6 in SWAC before defeating #6 seed Alabama State, #2 Prairie View A&M and #1 Arkansas-Pine Bluff by a total of 43 points).

"It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumphs of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

For those who eat, sleep and breathe the NCAA Tournament although it came after Teddy Roosevelt's presidency, the sensory overload of the playoffs is a banquet and every year is a feast. Nourishing your appetite for assessing postseason play, the following questions linger as the 80th event unfolds this year: Who were the most pristine postseason players in the nation's premier multiple-week sports spectacle? Who always seemed hot and who was not? Who was a stud instead of a dud?

It's a cop-out to simply accept the instant visibility of one-name icons such as Magic, Bird and Michael and cite them among the greatest players in tourney history. The prolific pro careers of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan, a trio combining to win nine consecutive NBA Most Valuable Player awards from 1983-84 through 1991-92 (three apiece), somewhat distorts their impact in college postseason play. Notwithstanding the TV appeal of the Bird/Magic championship game match-up in 1979 and Jordan's game-winning basket as a freshman in the 1982 national final against Georgetown, a closer examination of the facts than what was exhibited in 75th-anniversary polls several years ago by ESPN, Sports Illustrated and Sporting News shows that other collegians were more efficient more often in the NCAA Tournament. Consider the following tourney trauma for Johnson (ESPN 5/SN 7/SI 8), Bird (SI 5/ESPN 15/SN 24) and Jordan (SN 32/ESPN 57/SI 70) before accepting as gospel they were among the premier performers in NCAA playoff play:

• Johnson shot a meager 27.8% from the floor (10 of 36) in three 1978 tourney games as a freshman for Michigan State before leading the Spartans to the NCAA title the next year. He had more turnovers (six) than assists (five) in the over-hyped 1979 final, a mediocre contest paling in comparison to the last eight finals of the 1980s when seven of them were decided by an average of two points. Johnson outscored and outrebounded teammate Greg Kelser in just one of eight playoff games they played together. Kelser simply contributed more than Magic to the Spartans' cause in NCAA competition.

• Bird boosted Indiana State to the 1979 final in his lone NCAA tourney, but put the 'oops' in hoops by committing a Final Four-record 17 turnovers. He hit just 7 of 21 field-goal attempts and had three times as many turnovers (six) as assists (two) against Michigan State in the championship game, which was essentially the equivalent of a boring Super Bowl failing to live up to hype.

• Jordan's NBA playoff scoring average 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. His Airness scored fewer than 18 points in two of the four playoff contests he led Carolina in scoring. Most people don't remember his inauspicious playoff debut when he collected six points, one rebound, no assists and no steals in 37 minutes of a 52-50 opening-round victory against James Madison in the East Regional. And Jordan's final NCAA Tournament appearance before he left school early for the NBA was nothing to write home about, either. The college player of the year was restricted to six points in the first 35 minutes of his collegiate swan song in the East Regional semifinals against Indiana, finishing with 13 points, one rebound, one assist and one steal in 26 foul-plagued minutes when the top-ranked Tar Heels were eliminated (72-68).

Generally, sizzling scorers have learned it's not a day at the beach in postseason play. For instance, former NBA sensation Clyde Drexler averaged more than 17 points per game each of his last 13 NBA seasons, but he scored more than 17 points in just one of 11 NCAA Tournament games for the University of Houston from 1981 through 1983. Premier playmaker Steve Nash managed only one field goal in three of five playoff contests in the mid-1990s, shooting a paltry 29.2% from the floor. Two-time NBA slam-dunk champion Jason Richardson (5th pick overall in 2001) was grounded by the NCAA playoffs, going scoreless in three consecutive contests as a Michigan State freshman in 2000. All-Americans Thomas Robinson (Kansas) and Tyler Zeller (North Carolina) each went scoreless in two NCAA playoff games. Eventual All-Americans Marcus Denmon (Missouri), Danny Ferry (Duke), Ben Gordon (Connecticut), Marcus Morris (Kansas) and Terrence Williams (Louisville) also went scoreless in a tourney game. Ferry scored fewer than 10 points in six straight tourney tilts before averaging 20 ppg in his last 11 playoff outings and Syracuse All-American Kris Joseph never scored more than 12 points in 11 NCAA playoff contests from 2009 through 2012.

Duke's Christian Laettner, the all-time playoff scoring leader with 407 points from 1989 through 1992, tallied fewer than 15 points in six of his first seven tournament games. Just four of the top 20 in career scoring in the NCAA playoffs accumulated more than 10 points in every tourney game they participated - UCLA's Lew Alcindor (1967-68-69), Princeton's Bill Bradley (1963-64-65), Arizona's Sean Elliott (1986-87-88-89) and Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson (1958-59-60).

Is an Amber Alert necessary for Len Chappell, Adrian Dantley, Tom Gola, Alex Groza, David "Big Daddy" Lattin, Jim McDaniels, Jeff Mullins, Cazzie Russell, Dennis Scott, Rony Seikaly, etc., etc., etc.? How could anyone forget the footprint (size-22) Bob Lanier left on postseason play? The NCAA, exhibiting all the expertise of voters claiming they can't provide identification, unveiled a stunning error-prone list several years ago of foremost NCAA Tournament players over the first 75 years. Were relatives of guards Shelvin Mack and Keith Smart on the nominating panel for such amateurish choices? Do backcourters B.J. Armstrong, Terry Dehere, Allen Iverson, Wally Jones, Brevin Knight, Bo Lamar, Mark Macon, Lawrence Moten, Anthony Peeler and Mitch Richmond mean anything to the misinformed? The NCAA, apparently incapable of discerning what comprises a "moment" rather than numerous playoff-pressure games or putting too much stock in input from self-serving media, probably needs to go back to focusing on vital task of shedding Indian nicknames from as many schools as possible.

In former POTUS Obama's State of the Union addresses, the basketball buff probably should have cared more about mental inequality in hoopdom rather than income inequality in his "I-have-a-phone-and-pen" and willing-accomplices-in-the-media kingdom. An NCAA probe similar to IRS targeting needs to be conducted stemming from the most glaring omission among impact players failing to be acknowledged. Incredibly, the shunned included Bob Pettit, who averaged 30.5 points in six outings with LSU in 1953 and 1954. Pettit is perhaps the most consistent big scorer in NCAA playoff annals with a single-digit differential between his high game (36 points) and low contest (27).

The Chris Webber Award for playoff competition brain lock goes to SN for fanciful assertion citing Tom Thacker, a nice versatile player for Cincinnati teams participating in three consecutive NCAA championship contests, as #15 on its all-time list. Thacker committed a toxic total of 13 turnovers (with only four assists) in two Final Four games in 1963 after scoring only two points in 1962 national semifinals and shooting a paltry 8-of-28 from the floor at 1961 Final Four. UCLA by itself has had at least 15 more influential tourney players than Thacker, who was unranked by ESPN and SI. The only logical answer for this absurdity is a Cincinnati connection of some sort among the voting delegation or the fishy selection is a byproduct for why SN's print edition went belly up.

Michigan State All-American Draymond Green posted back-to-back triple doubles in 2011 and 2012 but still doesn't rank among the all-time best 80 players in tourney history as event unfolds for 80th time. If some of these historical facts aroused your curiosity, here is additional tournament insight that should fuel debates concerning who should be on college basketball's Mount Rushmore after excelling the most as NCAA playoff performers (minimum of six tourney games):

1. Lew Alcindor, C, UCLA
The only individual selected the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player three times averaged 25.7 points and 18.8 rebounds and shot 64.1% from the floor in six Final Four games from 1967 through 1969. Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, is the only player to couple three unanimous first-team All-American seasons with three NCAA titles. Of the 10 different individuals to average more than 23 points per game for a national champion a total of 12 times, Alcindor achieved the feat all three of his seasons with the Bruins. He is also the only player to hit better than 70% of his field-goal attempts in two NCAA title games. UCLA '67, the first varsity season for Alcindor, set the record for largest average margin of victory for a champion when the Bruins started a dazzling streak of 10 consecutive Final Four appearances. They won their 12 NCAA playoff games with Alcindor manning the middle by an average margin of 21.5 points. The three Alcindor-led UCLA teams rank among the seven NCAA champions with average margins of victory in a tournament of more than 19 points per game. He led the Bruins in scoring in 10 of 12 playoff contests. It's no wonder a perceptive scribe wrote that the acronym NCAA took on a new meaning during the Alcindor Era - "No Chance Against Alcindor."
2. Bill Walton, C, UCLA
Averaged 28.8 points and 17.8 rebounds per game at the Final Four in 1972 and 1973. His championship game-record 44 points against Memphis State in 1973 when he hit 21-of-22 field-goal attempts will probably never be duplicated. On the other hand, he had one playoff game of fewer than 10 points each of the three seasons he was national player of the year.
3. Jerry West, G-F, West Virginia
He is the only player to score at least 25 points in eight consecutive tournament games (all of which he led in scoring). West is also the only player to rank among the top five in scoring average in both the NCAA Tournament (30.6 points per game) and NBA playoffs (29.1 ppg). He was denied a championship ring with West Virginia in his only Final Four appearance in 1959 when Cal center Darral Imhoff, a player who would become an Olympic and NBA teammate, tipped in a decisive basket in the closing seconds.
4. Elvin Hayes, F, Houston
He is the only player to lead a tournament in scoring by more than 60 points. Lew Alcindor and his UCLA teammates helped hold Hayes to 10 points in 1968 national semifinals, but the Big E finished with 167 points in five games with Houston that year in finishing with the highest-ever scoring average for a Final Four player (36.8 ppg). Alcindor was runner-up with 103 points in four contests. Hayes became the only player in tournament history to collect more than 40 points and 25 rebounds in the same game when he amassed 49 points and 27 rebounds in a 94-76 decision over Loyola of Chicago in first round of 1968 Midwest Regional. He holds the records for most rebounds in a playoff series (97 in five games as a senior in 1968) and career (222 in 13 games). Hayes had five games with at least 24 rebounds, including the first three playoff games in 1968, before being held to five in a 101-69 national semifinal loss against UCLA. He also holds the record for most playoff field goals in a career with 152.
5. Gail Goodrich, G, UCLA
Despite standing at least three inches shorter than both standout opponents, the 6-1 lefthander outscored consensus second-team All-American Jeff Mullins of Duke, 27-22, in 1964 final and unanimous first-team All-American Cazzie Russell of Michigan, 42-28, in 1965 final. Goodrich, the only guard to score more than 35 points in an NCAA final, averaged 35 points per game for UCLA in 1965 tourney. He was also the Bruins' leading scorer the previous year (21.5-point average as a junior) when he became the shortest undergraduate to average more than 20 points per game for an NCAA titlist. Goodrich and Walt Hazzard (18.6 ppg) represent the only backcourt duo to be the top two scorers on the season for an NCAA championship team. Of the eight times a school successfully defended its major college championship, Goodrich is the only guard to be the team's leading scorer in back-to-back years. The Bruins won 58 of 60 games in those two championship seasons although they didn't have a regular taller than 6-7.
6. Bill Bradley, F, Princeton
The former U.S. Senator (D-N.J.) and 2000 presidential candidate holds the record for most points in a single Final Four game (58 against Wichita State in 1965 national third-place game). He scored 39 points in the second half of the consolation game. The Rhodes Scholar was the only player to have a double-digit season scoring average (30.5 points per game) for Princeton's Final Four team. Bradley also holds the career playoff record for highest free-throw percentage (minimum of 50 attempts). He was 89 of 96 from the foul line (90.6%) from 1963 through 1965. In five of his nine playoff games, Bradley made at least 10 free throws while missing no more than one attempt from the charity stripe. He made 16 of 16 free throws against St. Joseph's in first round of 1963 East Regional and 13 of 13 foul shots against Providence in 1965 East Regional final to become the only player to twice convert more than 12 free throws without a miss in playoff games. He was the game-high scorer in eight of nine tourney contests.
7. Bill Russell, C, San Francisco
Grabbed an incredible 50 rebounds for USF at 1956 Final Four (23 against SMU in semifinals and 27 against Iowa in championship game). No other player has retrieved more than 41 missed shots in two Final Four games or more than 21 in the final. Averaged 23.2 points in winning all nine NCAA tourney contests.
8. Oscar Robertson, G-F, Cincinnati
Averaged at least 29 points and 10 rebounds per game each of his three years in the tourney with the Bearcats. The Big O isn't picked higher because California restricted him to a total of 37 points in two Final Four games (1959 and 1960). He hit just nine of 32 from the floor against the Bears. Robertson, the nation's leading scorer all three of his varsity seasons with averages of more than 32 points per game, is the only team-leading scorer to twice go more than 13 points below his season scoring average when his school lost in the national semifinals or final. He is the only Final Four participant to twice register a season scoring average in excess of 30 ppg (32.6 in 1958-59 and 33.7 in 1959-60).
9. Sean Elliott, F, Arizona
Of the more than 60 different players to score at least 2,500 points and/or rank among the top 25 in career scoring average, Elliott is the only one to have a winning NCAA playoff record in his career plus post higher scoring, rebounding and field-goal shooting playoff averages than he compiled in the regular season. Elliott scored at least 17 points in all 10 of his NCAA playoff games with the Wildcats from 1986 through 1989.
10. Christian Laettner, F, Duke
Only player to start in four Final Fours became the tourney's all-time leading scorer (407 points) in helping the Blue Devils compile a 21-2 playoff mark in his career. Laettner's highest-scoring game was 31 against Kentucky in a 104-103 victory in 1992 East Regional final. Laettner capped a flawless offensive performance, hitting all 10 of his field-goal attempts and all 10 of his free throws against the Wildcats, by scoring Duke's last eight points in overtime, including a stunning 18-foot turnaround jumper at the buzzer after catching a pass from the baseline on the opposite end of the court. He also hit what probably was an even more difficult off-balance, last-second shot to give Duke a 79-78 win against Connecticut in 1990 East Regional final. Tallied fewer than 15 points in six of his first seven playoff contests.
11. Bob Pettit, F-C, Louisiana State
Of the more than 40 different players to score more than 225 points in the NCAA playoffs and/or average over 25 points per tournament game (minimum of six games), he is the only one to score more than 22 points in every postseason contest (six games with LSU in 1953 and 1954). He was perhaps the most consistent big scorer in NCAA Tournament history with a single-digit differential between his high game (36 points) and his low game (27). Pettit wasn't named to the 1953 All-Tournament team despite leading the Tigers to the Final Four and averaging 30.5 points per game in four NCAA playoff contests. He averaged the same number of points in two tourney games the next year.
12. Bobby Hurley, G, Duke
The 6-0 guard was selected Most Outstanding Player at the 1992 Final Four. He was the shortest player to earn the award since 5-11 Hal Lear helped Temple to a national third-place finish in 1956. The only Final Four Most Outstanding Player shorter than Hurley from a championship team was 5-11 Kenny Sailors of Wyoming in 1943. Hurley shot a mediocre 41% from the floor in his college career, but he was the Blue Devils' linchpin with his playmaking and intangible contributions. He holds the career record for most playoff assists (145) and three-pointers (42) although his bid to become the first player to start four consecutive NCAA finals was thwarted when California upset Duke in the second round of 1993 Midwest Regional despite Hurley's career-high 32 points. After averaging just 5.4 points per game in his first eight NCAA Tournament contests, he averaged 22.8 in his last five playoff outings.
13. Steve Alford, G, Indiana
Averaged 21.3 points in 10 NCAA Tournament games in 1984, 1986 and 1987 (8-2 record). He led the Hoosiers in scoring in seven of the contests.
14. Larry Johnson, F, UNLV
Juco jewel averaged 20.2 points and 11.5 rebounds in 11 games in 1990 and 1991 (10-1 record).
15. Miles Simon, G, Arizona
Averaged 18.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 14 games from 1995 through 1998 (11-3 record). He was game-high scorer in his last three playoff contests.
16. Patrick Ewing, C, Georgetown
The Hoyas compiled a glittering 15-3 playoff record from 1982 through 1985 during his four-year reign of terror although he never scored as many as 25 points in a tournament game.
17. David "Big Daddy" Lattin, C, Texas Western
Averaged 19.4 ppg and 10.6 rpg in eight games in 1966 and 1967 (7-1 record). He averaged 21 points and 13 rebounds in first three games of 1966 playoffs, powering champion-to-be Miners to Final Four. Playoff scoring average was five points higher than his regular-season mark.
18. Clyde Lovellette, C, Kansas
The only individual to lead the nation in scoring average in the same season he played for a team reaching the NCAA Tournament championship game. Averaging 35.3 points per game in the 1952 tourney, he was the first player to score more than 30 points in a Final Four contest and the only player to crack the 30-point plateau in the national semifinals and final in the same season.
19. Dennis Scott, G-F, Georgia Tech
Averaged 25.9 ppg and 5.9 rpg in eight playoff games from 1988 through 1990 (5-3 record). He was game-high scorer in four of five contests in 1990 when the Yellow Jackets reached the Final Four.
20. David Thompson, F, North Carolina State
The last player to score the most points in a single game of a tournament and play for a championship team (40 against Providence in 1974 East Regional semifinals). He is the only undergraduate non-center to average more than 23 ppg for a national champion.
21. Austin Carr, G, Notre Dame
After scoring only six points in his first tournament game as a sophomore (re-injured against Miami of Ohio in 1969), Carr averaged 47.2 points in his last six playoff contests to finish with a tourney record 41.3-point mark. However, the Irish won only two of the seven games.
22. David Robinson, C, Navy
Averaged 28.6 points and 12.3 rebounds in seven games from 1985 through 1987 (4-3 record). He was game-high scorer in four playoff contests, including a school-record 50 points against Michigan in his final appearance.
23. Bob Kurland, C, Oklahoma A&M
Only player to score more than half of a championship team's points in a single NCAA Tournament (total of 72 accounted for 51.8% of the Aggies' output in three playoff games in 1946).
24. Jerry Lucas, C, Ohio State
Two-time NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player averaged 22.8 ppg and 12 rpg at the Final Four in 1960 and 1961. But he was limited to nine points in both of his tourney openers when earning national player of the year awards in 1961 and 1962.
25. Sean May, F-C, North Carolina
Final Four Most Outstanding Player for 2005 champion averaged 19.9 points and 9.9 rebounds in eight NCAA Tournament games in 2004 and 2005 (7-1 record).
26. Alex Groza, C, Kentucky
Two-time Final Four Most Outstanding Player is only individual appearing at a minimum of two Final Fours (1948 and 1949) and be the game-high scorer in every Final Four contest he participated.
27. Len Chappell, F-C, Wake Forest
Averaged 27.6 ppg and 17.1 rpg in eight games in 1961 and 1962 (6-2 record). He was the Demon Deacons' leading scorer in all eight contests.
28. Bob Lanier, C, St. Bonaventure
Averaged 25.2 points and 14.2 rebounds in six games in 1968 and 1970 (4-2 record; missed 1970 Final Four after tearing a knee ligament in East Regional final).
29. Corliss Williamson, F, Arkansas
Two-time All-NCAA Tournament selection averaged 20.2 points and 7.4 rebounds while shooting 59.4% from the floor in 15 games from 1993 through 1995 (13-2 record).
30. Al Wood, F, North Carolina
Averaged 20.1 points and 8.3 rebounds in eight games from 1978 through 1981 (4-4 record). He was the Tar Heels' leading scorer in six of those playoff contests.
31. Tim Duncan, C, Wake Forest
Averaged 17.6 points, 15 rebounds and 4.5 blocked shots in 11 games from 1994 through 1997 (7-4 record).
32. Glen Rice, F, Michigan
Averaged 23.7 points and 6.3 rebounds in 13 games from 1986 through 1989 (10-3 record). As a senior, he was the Wolverines' leading scorer in all six contests during their championship run when setting a single-tourney record with 184 points.
33. Danny Manning, F, Kansas
The only player to score more than 62% of his team's points in an NCAA Tournament game (42 in the Jayhawks' 67-63 victory against Southwest Missouri State in second round of 1987 Southeast Regional). He was the game-high scorer in all six of their contests en route to the 1988 national title as a senior. Averaged 20.5 points and 7.3 rebounds in 16 playoff games (13-3 record).
34. Bob Houbregs, F-C, Washington
Averaged 27.4 ppg in seven games in 1951 and 1953 (5-2 record). He averaged nearly nine more points per contest in postseason play than during the regular season.
35. Tom Gola, F, La Salle
The only individual to earn NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player and NIT Most Valuable Player awards in his career. He averaged 22 ppg in 10 NCAA playoff games in 1954 and 1955 (9-1 record).
36. Rumeal Robinson, G, Michigan
Averaged 17.5 points and 8.5 assists in 11 games from 1988 through 1990 (9-2 record).
37. Lawrence Moten, G, Syracuse
Averaged 23.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in seven games in 1992, 1994 and 1995 (4-3 record).
38. Ray Allen, G, Connecticut
Averaged 19.5 points and 7 rebounds in 10 playoff games from 1994 through 1996 (7-3 record).
39. Isiah Thomas, G, Indiana
Averaged 19.7 points and 7.9 assists in seven games in 1980 and 1981 (6-1 record).
40. Greg "Bo" Kimble, F-G, Loyola Marymount
Averaged 29.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.3 steals in seven games from 1988 through 1990 (4-3 record). Scored at least 37 points for LMU in three of his last four playoff outings.
41. Randy Foye, G, Villanova
Averaged 22.1 points and 6.4 rebounds in seven games in 2005 and 2006 (5-2 record). He scored at least 24 points in four contests en route to posting 7.5 ppg more in tourney competition than regular-season play.
42. B.J. Armstrong, G, Iowa
Averaged 19.8 points and 4.9 assists in nine games from 1987 through 1989 (6-3 record; did not play in 1986 playoffs). He averaged seven more points per contest in postseason than during the regular season.
43. Jim McDaniels, C, Western Kentucky
Averaged 29.3 points and 12.2 rebounds in six games in 1970 and 1971 (4-2 record). He was WKU's leading scorer in five of the six playoff contests.
44. Brevin Knight, G, Stanford
Averaged 20 points, 4.6 rebounds and 6.6 assists in seven games from 1995 through 1997 (4-3 record).
45. Rony Seikaly, C, Syracuse
Averaged 18.8 ppg, 8.7 rpg and 2.8 bpg in 12 games from 1985 through 1988 (8-4 record). He averaged nearly seven more points per contest in postseason play than during the regular season.
46. Jeff Mullins, F, Duke
Averaged 25 ppg and 7.9 rpg in the playoffs for two Final Four teams in 1963 and 1964 (6-2 record). He scored more than 20 points in seven of eight tourney contests.
47. Mark Macon, G, Temple
Averaged 23.3 points and 5.1 rebounds in nine games in 1988, 1990 and 1991 (6-3 record.)
48. Mike Maloy, C, Davidson
Averaged 22.3 ppg and 12.4 rpg in seven games from 1968 through 1970 (4-3 record).
49. Adrian Dantley, F, Notre Dame
Averaged 25.4 points and 8.3 rebounds in eight games from 1974 through 1976 (4-4 record). Averaged 29.8 points in his last six playoff contests.
50. Dan Issel, C, Kentucky
Averaged 29.3 ppg and 11.3 rpg in splitting six contests from 1968 through 1970. He had at least 36 points in half of the tourney games.
51. Allen Iverson, G, Georgetown
Averaged 23.9 points and 4 rebounds in seven games in 1995 and 1996 (5-2 record). He was the Hoyas' leading scorer in all seven contests.
52. Ollie Johnson, C, San Francisco
Averaged 25.8 points and 16.2 rebounds in six games from 1963 through 1965 (3-3 record). Averaged six points per game higher in playoffs than regular season.
53. Paul Hogue, C, Cincinnati
Averaged 19 points and 16 rebounds in six Final Four games from 1960 through 1962. Posted higher averages (18.4 ppg and 13.3 rpg) in 12 NCAA Tournament contests (11-1 record) than his respective career marks.
54. Jameer Nelson, G, St. Joseph's
Averaged 22.4 points, 6 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 2.3 steals in seven games in 2001, 2003 and 2004 (4-3 record). He scored at least 24 points in four of his last five playoff contests.
55. Richard Hamilton, G-F, Connecticut
Averaged 23.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in 10 games in 1998 and 1999 (9-1 record). He led UConn in scoring in nine of the 10 contests.
56. Chuck Person, F, Auburn
Averaged 20.3 points and 9 rebounds in eight games from 1984 through 1986 (5-3 record). Scored at least 20 points in six of his last seven playoff contests.
57. Don Schlundt, C, Indiana
Averaged 27 points in six games in 1953 and 1954 (5-1 record). He was the Hoosiers' leading scorer in five of the playoff contests.
58. Cazzie Russell, G, Michigan
Averaged at least 24 ppg each of his three years in the tourney (5-3 record). Leading scorer for third-place team in 1964 NCAA playoffs and 1965 national runner-up.
59. Jamal Mashburn, F, Kentucky
Averaged 21.4 points and 8 rebounds in nine games in 1992 and 1993 (7-2 record). He was the Wildcats' leading scorer in five consecutive playoff contests.
60. Les Hunter, C, Loyola of Chicago
Averaged 18.9 points and 13.3 rebounds in eight games in 1963 and 1964 (7-1 record).
61. Henry Finkel, C, Dayton
Averaged 27.8 points and 13.8 rebounds in six games in 1965 and 1966 (3-3 record). He was game-high scorer in five of the six contests.
62. Johnny Green, F-C, Michigan State
Averaged 16.2 points and 19.7 rebounds in six games in 1957 and 1959 (3-3 record). He was the leading rebounder in all four contests as a sophomore in 1957 when the Spartans reached the Final Four.
63. Anthony Peeler, G, Missouri
Averaged 24.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists in six games in 1989, 1990 and 1992 (3-3 record). His scoring average was almost eight points higher in the postseason than regular season.
64. Dwight "Bo" Lamar, G, Southwestern Louisiana
Averaged 29.2 points in six Division I Tournament games in 1972 and 1973 (3-3 record). Supplied game-high point total in all six contests, including 35 plus a tourney-high 11 assists in a 112-101 victory against Marshall as the Ragin' Cajuns scored the most points in tourney history for a school in its playoff debut.
65. Greg Kelser, F, Michigan State
Leading scorer and rebounder as a senior for 1979 NCAA titlist averaged 24 ppg and 11.3 rpg in eight playoff contests (7-1 record). His scoring average was almost seven points higher in the postseason than regular season. Celebrated teammate Magic Johnson outscored and outrebounded Kelser only once in their eight postseason outings together.
66. Barry Kramer, F, New York University
Averaged 25.2 points and 9.3 rebounds in six games in 1962 and 1963 (3-3 record).
67. Nick Collison, F, Kansas
Leading scorer and rebounder as senior for 2003 NCAA Tournament runner-up (30-8 record) and second-leading scorer and rebounder for 2002 Final Four team (33-4). Averaged 16.7 points and 11.3 rebounds in 16 games (12-4 record).
68. Juan Dixon, G, Maryland
After struggling as a redshirt freshman, Dixon averaged 21.2 points in his last 13 games from 2000 through 2002. The Terrapins won 10 of the last 11 of those playoff contests when he was the leading scorer for back-to-back Final Four teams.
69. Mitch Richmond, G-F, Kansas State
J.C. recruit averaged 23.3 points, 9.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists in six games in 1987 and 1988 (4-2 record).
70. George Thompson, F, Marquette
Averaged 23.2 points and 5.7 rebounds in six games in 1968 and 1969 (4-2 record). He was the Warriors' leading scorer in five of the six playoff contests.
71. John Wallace, F, Syracuse
Averaged 20.3 points and 8.8 rebounds in 11 games from 1994 through 1996 (8-3 record). Leading scorer and rebounder for Syracuse's national runner-up as a senior was the top point producer for the Orangemen in his last eight playoff contests.
72. Jimmy Collins, G, New Mexico State
Averaged 19.9 points and 3.8 rebounds in 11 games from 1968 through 1970 (7-4 record). He at least shared the Aggies' team-high scoring output in all 11 contests.
73. Tony Price, F, Penn
Averaged 21.9 ppg and 9 rpg in eight games in 1978 and 1979 (5-3 record). He was the Quakers' leading scorer in all six contests when they finished fourth in the nation in 1979. Price's playoff scoring average was 6.5 points higher than his regular-season mark.
74. Wally Jones, G, Villanova
Two-time All-East Regional selection averaged 22.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg in six games in 1962 and 1964 (4-2 record). He scored a game-high 25 points as a sophomore in a regional final loss against Wake Forest and a game-high 34 points as a senior in a 74-62 victory over Bill Bradley-led Princeton in a third-place contest. It was the only time in Bradley's nine playoff games that he wasn't the leading scorer. Jones outscored All-American Len Chappell in the Wake Forest contest.
75. Mel Counts, C, Oregon State
Averaged 23.2 points and 14.1 rebounds in nine games from 1962 through 1964 (5-4 record), averaging 25 points and 15 rebounds in two West Regional finals.
76. Terry Dehere, G, Seton Hall
Averaged 23.2 points in nine games from 1991 through 1993 (6-3 record). He paced the Pirates in scoring in all nine outings.
77. Kenny Anderson, G, Georgia Tech
The only freshman to score more than 20 points in four playoff games averaged 27 ppg in his first four outings. Averaged 25.7 points and 5 assists in seven NCAA tourney games in 1990 and 1991 (5-2 record).
78. Acie Earl, C, Iowa
Averaged 19.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.7 blocked shots in six games from 1991 through 1993 (3-3 record). Eight of his rejections came against NCAA champion-to-be Duke in 1992. He averaged more than four ppg in the playoffs than the regular season.
79. Kevin Pittsnogle, F, West Virginia
Averaged 17.6 points and 4.6 rebounds in seven games in 2005 and 2006 (5-2 record). In six of the contests, he scored more than his career average of 13.3 ppg.
80. Don May, F, Dayton
Averaged 20.1 points and 12.9 rebounds in eight games in 1966 and 1967 (5-3 record).

Fans fond of the NCAA playoffs argue the incredibly popular event is 100% perfection. Whatever your level of expertise, CollegeHoopedia.com guarantees you a 100% score is impossible for any brave soul willing to take our "Who Am I" quiz. With the tourney in its 80th year, you can occasionally stumble across familiar faces in non-basketball endeavors by browsing through old rosters and tourney box scores. Following is an old game show "What's My Line?" format testing your NCAA Tournament acumen or helping you "Stump a Chump." You'll need a PhD in "Hoopology" to secure a passing grade correctly discerning the following individuals who made a name for themselves elsewhere after appearing in the NCAA Division I Tournament:

• I was a junior college recruit who missed a three-point attempt while playing briefly in a 111-92 defeat against Loyola Marymount in the first round of 1990 NCAA Tournament West Regional.
• One of my New Mexico State teammates was 12-year NBA guard Randy Brown.
• I was a reliever who posted a 9-6 record for the Oakland A's in four seasons from 1994 through 1997 before my contract was sold to a Japanese team.
• I compiled a 5-1 record in the strike-shortened 1994 MLB campaign when I was considered heir apparent to assume Dennis Eckersley's closer role.

Who am I? MARK ACRE

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as pro quarterback Joe Kapp (California).
• I played in the NCAA playoffs against Kansas State All-Americans Bob Boozer and Jack Parr.
• I was a college teammate of Eddie Sutton before he coached four different schools in the NCAA Tournament.
• I was the second-leading scorer for Oklahoma State's NCAA Tournament team that reached the 1958 Midwest Regional final under Hall of Fame coach Hank Iba.
• I hit .254 in 1,165 games in 13 major league seasons from 1958 through 1970 with the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals before playing one year in Japan.
• My teammates with the Orioles included former college basketball players Dick Hall (attended Swarthmore), Robin Roberts (Michigan State) and Norm Siebern (Southwest Missouri State).
• I participated in the 1967 World Series with the Red Sox before leaving them following the next season in the expansion draft.
• I set major league records for highest fielding average (.994) and fewest errors (five) by a second baseman in a season in 1964 and for consecutive errorless games by a second baseman (89 in 1964 and 1965).

Who am I? JERRY ADAIR

• I was an Arkansas hoop teammate of eventual San Francisco 49ers coach Red Hickey.
• I was third-leading scorer with six points when the Hogs lost against Washington State in 1941 NCAA Tournament national semifinals.
• In my NFL debut, I returned an interception 66 yards for the decisive score in the New York Giants' 14-7 win against the Washington Redskins in 1942. Two weeks later, I caught two touchdown passes in a victory against the Philadelphia Eagles.
• I caught 28 passes for 494 yards and five TDs in four years with the Giants through 1945.

Who am I? NEAL ADAMS

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against La Salle All-American Tom Gola.
• I was a teammate of Canisius All-America guard John McCarthy and U.S. Congressman-to-be Hank Nowak.
• I was the third-leading scorer (9.2 points per game) as a senior for Canisius' first NCAA Tournament team in 1955.
• I served in the U.S. Army for 31 years, retiring with the rank of Major General.
• I was appointed Commissioner of the New York State Office of General Services by Governor Mario Cuomo.
• I was listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who of American Business Leaders.

Who am I? ROBERT ADAMS

• I was a pre-law major who scored a total of eight points in three NCAA playoff games in 1955.
• I was a member of Tom Gola-led La Salle teams in 1954 (national champion) and 1955 (runner-up to San Francisco).
• I never got off the bench at the Final Four those two years although I was the only Explorer player to hit more than three-fourths of my free throws the season they won the NCAA title.
• I joined the Central Intelligence Agency and worked my way up the chain of command to become the Director of the CIA's Office of Analysis of the Near East and South Asia, toiling closely with both the Carter and Reagan administrations.
• I was killed in Beirut in 1983 when a truck loaded with TNT on a suicide mission rammed into the facility where I was staying while serving as a liaison trying to allay contacts among the Lebanese, Syrians and Israelis in hopes of calming the escalating discord.

Who am I? BOB AMES

• I was a 6-5 forward who played in the NCAA playoffs against New Mexico State center Sam Lacey and guard Jimmy Collins.
• I was Weber State's leading scorer with 14 points in the Wildcats' NCAA Tournament debut, a 68-57 defeat in the first round of the 1968 West Regional against Lou Henson-coached New Mexico State.
• I was an All-Big Sky Conference second-team selection as a senior.
• I was on the Board of Directors of ITT.
• I was President and Chief Executive Officer of Black & Decker.

Who am I? NOLAN ARCHIBALD

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as Dallas Cowboys defensive back Cornell Green (Utah State) and CBS analyst Billy Packer (Wake Forest).
• I twice played in the NCAA playoffs against Bob Knight (Ohio State).
• I was a Kentucky teammate of All-American Cotton Nash.
• I played for NCAA Tournament regional runner-up teams as a sophomore and junior before pacing UK in assists my final season with 4.3 per game.
• I was mayor of Lexington, Ky., for 10 years before representing Kentucky's Sixth District in the U.S. House of Representatives after getting more than 60 percent of the vote in 1992.
• I am a Democrat who ran for governor in 1994 and narrowly lost against Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning for a Senate seat in 1998.

Who am I? SCOTTY BAESLER

• I was a three-year letterman and Ohio State's second-leading scorer as a starting senior forward for a team that finished runner-up to Oregon in the inaugural NCAA Tournament in 1939.
• I scored a game-high 25 points for the Buckeyes in their tourney opener, a 64-52 victory over Wake Forest.
• I was managing partner and CEO of major accounting firm Ernst and Ernst for 13 years, starting in 1964.
• I was a member of the Accounting Hall of Fame who served on the board of directors of such distinguished enterprises as General Electric, Anheuser-Busch and Hershey Foods.

Who am I? DICK BAKER

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against John Tresvant (Seattle), Ollie Johnson (San Francisco), Joe Caldwell (Arizona State), Ron Bonham (Cincinnati), Tom Thacker (Cincinnati), George Wilson (Cincinnati) and Jeff Mullins (Duke).
• I was an Oregon State teammate of All-American center Mel Counts.
• I was an All-West Regional selection in the NCAA Tournament in 1962 and 1963.
• I was the second-leading scorer for the Beavers' 1963 Final Four team.
• My 99-yard run from scrimmage for a touchdown accounted for the only points in a 6-0 victory against Villanova in the 1962 Liberty Bowl.
• I was a college quarterback who became a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
• I was the first Heisman Trophy winner west of the Mississippi River after rushing 115 times for 538 yards (4.7 per carry), completing 112 of 203 passes for a nation-leading 1,738 yards and 15 touchdowns.
• I was first selection overall in 1963 NFL draft who played with the Los Angeles Rams (1963 through 1965) before going to the Canadian Football League with Edmonton (1967).
• Two of my teammates with the Rams were former college basketball standout rebounders Charley Cowan (New Mexico Highlands) and Lamar Lundy (Purdue).

Who am I? TERRY BAKER

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against teams coached by Lou Carnesecca, Bob Knight, Bill Foster, Larry Brown and Lute Olson.
• I was a Purdue teammate of All-American center Joe Barry Carroll for the Boilermakers' 1980 national third-place team.
• My NFL teammates as a rookie included former college basketball player Al "Bubba" Baker (Colorado State) and All-Pro halfback Billy Sims.
• I was a linebacker with the Detroit Lions for four seasons from 1982 through 1985 after being a 10th-round draft pick.

Who am I? ROOSEVELT BARNES

• I declared for the 2005 NBA draft out of high school before withdrawing my name.
• I played in the 2008 NCAA playoffs and grabbed five rebounds in 10 minutes against an eventual Final Four participant (LSU).
• I played under Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie before he accepted a similar position with Kentucky.
• I had a career-high of 133 yards and 2 TDs against Baylor as a sophomore when earning All-Big 12 Conference second-team honors.
• I was an NFL second-round draft choice by the Dallas Cowboys in 2008 as an undergraduate (4th tight end selected).
• I was fined $22,000 by the Cowboys in 2009 for an occasionally profane rap video mentioning several teammates and front-office personnel.
• I also played for the New York Giants and Chicago Bears en route to 348 receptions for 3,586 yards and 23 touchdowns in my first eight years from 2008 through 2015 before trade to the New England Patriots. I played for Patriots in Super Bowl 51 before signing as free agent with the Green Bay Packers.

Who am I? MARTELLUS BENNETT

• I played in NCAA Tournament games against coaches Denny Crum (Louisville), Tom Davis (Iowa), Rick Pitino (Kentucky) and Roy Williams (Kansas).
• I was a Wake Forest teammate of future NBA MVP Tim Duncan.
• I was a swingman who averaged 4.3 points and 2.1 rebounds per game in my four-year career with the Demon Deacons before playing professionally for one year in England.
• I co-starred in the romantic comedy "First Daughter" as the guy the college-aged daughter of the President of the United States falls for before discovering things aren't quite what they appear to be on the surface.
• I was a regular on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" episodes playing the role of Riley Finn, Buffy's one-time love interest.
• I played the role of Matthew Donnelly in the USA Network show "Necessary Roughness."

Who am I? MARC BLUCAS

• I was a Virginia teammate of future NBA players Bryant Stith and John Crotty.
• I averaged 4.7 points and 5.6 rebounds in seven NCAA Tournament games from 1989 through 1991 while battling on the boards in the playoffs against LaPhonso Ellis (Notre Dame), Derrick Coleman (Syracuse) and Billy Owens (Syracuse).
• I appeared in three bowl games - Florida Citrus (vs. Illinois), Sugar (vs. Tennessee) and Gator (vs. Oklahoma)--the same three years I competed in the NCAA playoffs.
• I was named ACC offensive football player of the year as a senior when I threw 224 passes over the entire regular season without incurring a single interception.
• I was a quarterback who became a second-round NFL draft selection of the Kansas City Chiefs in 1992 (40th pick overall ahead of fellow hooper Brad Johnson in ninth round) after passing for 2,696 yards and 25 touchdowns in my college career (including nine 200-yard passing games).
• I was a backup to Joe Montana with the Chiefs.

Who am I? MATT BLUNDIN

• I collected eight rebounds in a loss against Utah State and 10 points in a victory against Jerry Tarkanian-coached Long Beach State in the 1970 NCAA playoffs.
• My Santa Clara teammates included center Dennis Awtrey, who went on to play 12 NBA seasons with six different franchises. * Representing the Mariners the only time Seattle hosted the Midsummer Classic, I knocked in a run with a single off Gaylord Perry in All-Star Game in 1979 when I finished 10th in batting average (career-high .316) and eighth in doubles (career-high 38) along with a career-high 100 RBI.
• I was named team MVP the next year.
• I was a lefthanded first baseman-outfielder who hit .282 with the California Angels, Cleveland Indians, Mariners and Oakland A's in 12 seasons from 1974 through 1986 (missed 1983).

Who am I? BRUCE BOCHTE

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as major league pitcher Dave Sisler (Princeton).
• I participated in the 1952 NCAA Tournament as a freshman for a St. Louis team that was eliminated by champion-to-be Kansas when Jayhawks All-American Clyde Lovellette scored 44 points.
• I was an All-American whose career scoring average of 19.2 points per game is best in SLU history (minimum of three seasons).
• I was a three-time All-Missouri Valley Conference first-team selection who earned a gold medal while playing for the 1956 U.S. Olympic team in Melbourne, Australia.
• I was named president of Vickers Petroleum Corporation in 1963 at the age of 29.
• I became the ninth president of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
• In December 2002, I pleaded guilty in federal court in Wichita, Kan., to defrauding a bank of more than $17 million.

Who am I? DICK BOUSHKA

• I hit .315 as the first baseman for Princeton's baseball team my sophomore year.
• Among the coaches I played against in NCAA Tournament East Regionals were Jack Ramsay, Jack Kraft, Press Maravich and Joe Mullaney.
• I was an NCAA unanimous first-team All-American as a junior and senior and ranked among the nation's top five scorers all three of my varsity seasons.
• I hold the NCAA playoff record for most points in a single Final Four game (58 against Wichita State in 1965 national third-place game) en route to becoming Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
• I am a Rhodes Scholar who was a member of the gold-medal winning U.S. basketball team in the 1964 Olympic Games.
• I was a three-term U.S. Senator (Democrat-N.J.) until 1995.
• I was a presidential candidate in 2000 who authored two basketball books (Life on the Run in 1976 and Values of the Game in 1998).

Who am I? BILL BRADLEY

• I played in the same NCAA tournament as eventual Pennsylvania Governor Robert Casey, Massachusetts U.S. Congressman Joe Early and Canadian Football League Hall of Famer Hal Patterson.
• I played in the NCAA playoffs against future All-American Ken Sears.
• I was Hardin-Simmons' second-leading scorer during the season (12.5 ppg as a junior) and the team's #2 scorer with nine points in a first-round loss against eventual West Regional finalist Santa Clara.
• My promising basketball career ended because of a summer job accident when my leg was broken in two places while unloading some sheetrock.
• I was the first participant to earn $1 million in sanctioned poker tournaments.
• I am the author of several poker books, including Super/System and Poker Wisdom of a Champion.
• I am the winner of 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, including the main event in back-to-back years in 1976 and 1977.

Who am I? DOYLE BRUNSON

• I played in the same NCAA tourney as MLB reliever Steve Hamilton (Morehead State) and U.S. Congressman Hank Nowak (Canisius).
• I played in the NCAA playoffs against SMU All-American center Jim Krebs.
• I was a St. Louis University teammate of future NBA center and executive Bob Ferry.
• I was a 6-5, 190-pound forward who led SLU in rebounding with 14.9 per game as a sophomore (19th in nation in rebound percentage) and retrieved a team-high 18 missed shots in two 1957 NCAA playoff games.
• I was listed in Who's Who in America.
• I was president of Coppin State in Baltimore in 1997 when the Eagles upset No. 2 seed South Carolina in the East Regional.

Who am I? DR. CALVIN W. BURNETT

• I participated in the 1982 and 1983 NCAA Tournaments.
• I played briefly in a playoff game against an Oklahoma team featuring first-team All-American freshman Wayman Tisdale.
• My college basketball teammates included Indiana All-Americans Ted Kitchel and Randy Wittman.
• My stepfather, Tom Harp, was the head football coach for Indiana State in the mid-1970s.
• I was an assistant football coach for Michigan under Bo Schembechler before becoming an assistant for three years with the Washington Redskins.
• I played quarterback in college before becoming my alma mater's head football coach for five years from 1997 through 2001.
• I was head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2007 when they posted a franchise-worst 1-15 record between stints as an assistant coach with the San Diego Chargers and Baltimore Ravens.
• I was LSU's offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach several seasons this decade.

Who am I? CAM CAMERON

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as major league baseball executive Larry Lucchino (Princeton) and Dallas Cowboys punter Ron Widby (Tennessee).
• I played in the NCAA Tournament against Pacific All-American center Keith Swagerty.
  One of my Texas Western teammates was All-American center David "Big Daddy" Lattin.
• I collected 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds when the defending NCAA champion Miners were eliminated by Pacific, 72-63, in the 1967 West Regional semifinals before contributing eight points and five rebounds in a 69-67 victory over Wyoming in a third-place game.
• I was an NFL first-round draft choice (fifth pick overall) who played 10 seasons with the Green Bay Packers (1968 through 1977).
• My fellow linebacker as an NFL rookie was Ray Nitschke.
• I had eight career interceptions (including a touchdown in 1976) and participated in the 1972 NFL playoffs after being selected as the outstanding lineman in the 1971 AFC-NFC Pro Bowl.

Who am I? FRED CARR

• I played in the 1953 NCAA Tournament against LSU All-American Bob Pettit.
• Among my Holy Cross teammates were All-American forward Togo Palazzi and U.S. Congressman-to-be Joe Early.
• I authored a book called Fighting for Life.
• I was Pennsylvania's 42nd governor who served from 1987 to 1995 after winning in my fourth attempt for the office.
• I was a heart-and-liver transplant recipient and pro-life candidate in a Democratic presidential primary.
• I am the father of a U.S. Senator with the same name.

Who am I? ROBERT P. CASEY

• I grabbed a team-high 14 rebounds for TCU in 1968 when the Horned Frogs lost to Elvin Hayes-led Houston in the Midwest Regional final.
• I was the first African-American to play in the Southwest Conference.
• I was an All-SWC second-team selection as a junior when TCU won the league championship.
• I became the first black-tenured professor at Harvard in 1976.
• I was named chairman of the Harvard Business School MBA program in 1992.

Who am I? JAMES CASH

• I am my school's all-time leading rebounder who played in the NCAA playoffs in 1981 against North Carolina standouts James Worthy, Sam Perkins and Al Wood.
• I played in two West Regional games for Pittsburgh (game highs of 22 points and 13 rebounds in a 70-69 overtime victory against Idaho and 16 points, six rebounds and game-high five steals in a 74-57 defeat against national runnerup-to-be North Carolina).
• I was a two-time All-Eastern 8 first-team selection.
• I was a third-round draft choice of the Phoenix Suns in the 1981 NBA draft five selections behind Frank Brickowski, who played 12 years in the league.
• I was a defensive end who had 49 sacks in 11 seasons in pro football with the Seattle Seahawks, Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts in the NFL and Pittsburgh and Memphis in the USFL.
• My NFL teammates included Eric Dickerson, Steve Largent and Ozzie Newsome and former college basketball players Al "Bubba" Baker (Colorado State), Pete Metzelaars (Wabash) and Brad Van Pelt (Michigan State).
• I was a 6-6 pass rushing specialist who played in two AFC championship games with the Browns.
• I was defensive line coach for the Barcelona Dragons in NFL Europe when they won the 1997 World Bowl.
• My son with the same name was the leading scorer and rebouder for Southern California's East Regional runner-up in the 2001 NCAA Tournament.

Who am I? SAM CLANCY

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against West Virginia's Gale Catlett.
• I was a Connecticut teammate of future NBA center Toby Kimball.
• I was a 5-9, 150-pound guard who scored as many points (17) as NCAA consensus second-team All-American Rod Thorn in the Huskies' 77-71 first-round setback against West Virginia in 1963.
• I was an All-Yankee Conference second-team selection as a senior when three of my teammates were first-team picks.
• I earned more than $1 million per year as Executive Vice President of ITT, a conglomerate with global sales in excess of $23 billion specializing in diversified products and services in three areas--financial and business, manufactured products and Sheraton Hotels.

Who am I? DALE COMEY

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as Admiral John Dick (Oregon).
• I was a three-year letterman from 1938-39 through 1940-41 on Texas teams that combined for a 51-21 record.
• I saw action in both of the Longhorns' games in the inaugural NCAA Tournament in 1939 after they captured the Southwest Conference championship.
• I was a world-famous surgeon based in Houston who performed in excess of 20,000 open-heart operations.

Who am I? DR. DENTON COOLEY

• I played in the NCAA Tournament against Southern California's Jerry Pimm, who went on to coach my alma mater in the playoffs five times in a seven-year span from 1977 through 1983.
• I scored 25 points in three NCAA playoff games in 1960 as a teammate of All-American Billy McGill.
• I was Utah's co-captain as a senior under coach Jack Gardner.
• I was Pacific Coast League MVP in 1963 with the Salt Lake City Bees.
• I was an outfielder who was traded by the Chicago Cubs to the New York Mets for first baseman George Altman in 1965.
• My only year as a regular was 1964 when I posted career highs of 16 doubles, 19 homers and 50 RBI as the Cubs center fielder and ranked among the National League top 10 in stolen bases with 12.
• I hit .236 with the Cubs, Mets, Milwaukee Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees and California Angels in eight seasons (1963 through 1965, 1967 and 1969 through 1972).

Who am I? BILLY COWAN

• I collected 16 points and 10 assists in two NCAA playoff contests in 2001.
• I led my team in assists that season when I directed North Carolina to a No. 1 national ranking and an 18-game winning streak.
• I was Most Outstanding Offensive Player in the 2001 Peach Bowl.
• I was a basketball/football teammate of Julius Peppers, the nation's top defensive lineman in 2001.
• I was a four-year starter in football who set school career records for total offense, passing yards, rushing yards by a quarterback and rushing touchdowns by a quarterback.
• I was activated for Super Bowl XXXVII with the Oakland Raiders as a defensive back before becoming a wide receiver for them the next year in 2003.
• I succeeded all-time great Tim Brown as a starter in 2004.

Who am I? RONALD CURRY

• I played in the same NCAA tournament as eventual AFL/NFL players Scott Eaton, Harry Gunner and Lonnie Wright.
• I played in the NCAA playoffs against All-American Dick Snyder.
• I scored 19 points under former Rhode Island All-American Ernie Calverley in a first-round loss against Lefty Driesell-coached Davidson.
• In 1971, my wife and I took over leadership of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, a small struggling congregation of some 30 people gathered in a run-down building in the inner city. It went on to become a megachurch numbering more than 10,000 members from all walks of life.
• I was nominated for a 2002 Dove Award for Musical of the Year (Light of the Year) and had three books on the best-selling list of the national religious clothbound non-fiction books (including Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire).

Who am I? JOE CYMBALA

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as Pro Bowl split end Billy Wilson (San Jose State).
• I played in the 1951 NCAA Tournament against Washington All-American Bob Houbregs when Texas A&M made its first playoff appearance.
• I was a two-time first-five selection on the All-Southwest Conference team and held school season (362 points) and career (952 points) scoring records when I graduated in 1952.
• I was named to the Helms Foundation All-American third team as a junior before becoming a member of two NBA championship teams - Philadelphia Warriors in 1956 and St. Louis Hawks in 1958.
• I won AAU high jump titles in 1952 and 1953.
• I was winner of the gold medal in the 1952 Olympic Games high jump with a leap of 6'-8 1/2".
• I set the then-world high jump record of 6'-11 1/2" in 1953.

Who am I? WALTER "BUDDY" DAVIS

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as open-heart surgeon Denton Cooley (Texas).
• I was a starting junior forward for the first NCAA Tournament champion in 1939 when I led Oregon in scoring in two of three playoff contests, including a game-high 15 points in the final against Ohio State.
• I was an NCAA consensus first-team All-American the next season when I paced the Pacific Coast Conference Northern Division (forerunner of the Pacific-10) in scoring with 183 points in 16 games.
• I retired with the rank of Admiral after 32 years of service in the U.S. Navy.
• I commanded the aircraft carrier Saratoga for two years and served as chief of staff for all carrier forces in the Western Pacific.

Who am I? JOHN DICK

• I played in three consecutive NCAA playoff games against coaches that captured national titles in other seasons (Jim Calhoun, Dean Smith and Steve Fisher).
• I was an Ohio State teammate of All-American Jim Jackson.
• I collected three points and five rebounds in a 78-55 victory over Connecticut in the second round for the Buckeyes' 1992 Southeast Regional runner-up.
• I averaged 13.3 points and 7.5 rebounds as a senior in 1994-95 when I led OSU in rebounding and finished third in scoring.
• I was Offensive MVP in the 1996 Florida Citrus Bowl.
• I am a tight end who was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the first round (9th pick overall) of the 1996 NFL draft ahead of RB Eddie George, WR Marvin Harrison and LB Ray Lewis in opening round.
• I caught 29 touchdown passes in five seasons with the Raiders before hooking on with the Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
• I was a member of Tampa Bay's Super Bowl XXXVII champion.

Who am I? RICKEY DUDLEY

• I was a Holy Cross teammate of Pennsylvania governor-to-be Robert Casey.
• I scored six points for the Crusaders in their 81-73 East Regional final loss to Bob Pettit-led LSU in the 1953 NCAA Tournament.
• I was a portly, rumpled cigar smoker who served in the Massachusetts state House from 1963-75.
• I am a Democrat who was a U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts' Third Congressional District (1975-93).
• I lost to Republican Peter Blute in the 1992 election after being tainted by 140 overdrafts in the wake of an ethics committee investigation of members who overdrew their House bank accounts.
• By Massachusetts standards, I was a conservative who prided himself on my independence from any Democratic faction.
  I was against abortion and busing and skeptical about foreign aid but when it came to labor and domestic spending, I was a New Deal Democrat.

Who am I? JOE EARLY

• I scored eight points against Seattle in the 1964 NCAA playoffs and a total of 19 points in two West Regional contests in 1966 (vs. Houston and Utah).
• One of my Oregon State teammates in 1964 was All-American center Mel Counts. Two years later when I was the Beavers' third-leading scorer with 9.9 ppg, one of my teammates was eventual NFL defensive end Harry Gunner.
• I shared OSU's Paul Valenti Award with Gunner in 1966, given annually to the player who displays the most desire and determination.
• I was an eighth-round draft choice by the New York Giants in 1967 (one round ahead of DB Ken Houston by the Houston Oilers).
• My NFL teammates all five years of my stint with the Giants included Tucker Frederickson, Pete Gogolak, Carl Lockhart and Fran Tarkenton.
• I was a defensive back who intercepted 11 passes.

Who am I? SCOTT EATON

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against Holy Cross All-American guard Bob Cousy.
• I was a second-team pick on the Helms All-American team in 1947-48 when I scored a team-high 15 points in Michigan's first NCAA Tournament victory, a 66-49 decision over Columbia in the Eastern Regional third-place game.
• I earned All-American honors as a senior quarterback for the Wolverines' 1948 national champion before becoming an All-Big Ten second-team selection in basketball.
• I was head football coach at Nebraska (1956), California (1957 through 1959) and Illinois (1960 through 1966) and led Cal and the Illini to Rose Bowl berths.
• I became executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Who am I? PETE ELLIOTT

• I played in the same NCAA tourney as NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens (Tennessee-Chattanooga).
• I played in all four of Virginia's playoff games for the 1995 Midwest Regional finalist that was eliminated by eventual national runner-up Arkansas.
• I was a safety who intercepted future NFL teammate Danny Kanell twice in the Cavaliers' victory over Florida State during my senior season.
• I made the New York Giants' roster as a rookie free agent and became a significant contributor as a part-time starter and in nickel-and-dime packages.
• I had a team-leading and career-high five interceptions for the Giants in 1998.
• I intercepted 20 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns with the Giants and Cleveland Browns in six years from 1996 through 2001.

Who am I? PERCY ELLSWORTH

• I was a four-year basketball letterman for Kansas who was the second-leading scorer for the Jayhawks in the 1942 NCAA Tournament as a teammate of All-American forward Charles Black.
• I was a two-time All-Big Seven Conference first-team selection in basketball.
• I am the only Kansas athlete to earn All-American honors in football and basketball.
• I am a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and had my jersey No. 15 retired in 1997.
• I led the nation's major-college players in passes attempted (200) and completed (101) and interceptions (10) in 1942 for a rare triple crown.
• I paced Kansas to the Big Six championship and a trip to the 1948 Orange Bowl after returning from World War II.
• One of my basketball and football teammates was fellow military veteran Otto Schnellbacher, who went on to become an All-Pro defensive back who led the NFL in interceptions in 1951.
• I was a first-round NFL draft choice (9th pick overall in 1944 five selection behind Otto Graham) who played with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1948 before becoming a prominent Kansas City bank official.

Who am I? RAY EVANS

• I played in the same NCAA tournament as eventual NFL linebacker Fred Carr and punter Ron Widby.
• I scored two points against eventual NCAA champion UCLA in the 1967 West Regional final.
• I was a teammate of Pacific All-American Keith Swagerty.
• I appeared in two World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1974 and 1978).
• I ranked among the National League's top eight in bases on balls in 1973 and 1977.
• I paced the N.L. in sacrifice flies in 1973 with 10 and catchers in fielding average.
• I hit .240 with 122 homers and 445 RBI for the Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros and California Angels in 14 seasons from 1970 through 1983.

Who am I? JOE FERGUSON

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as NFL quarterback Brad Johnson (Florida State) and major league outfielder Kenny Lofton (Arizona).
• I hit two of four field-goal attempts for Baylor in a 75-60 defeat against Memphis State in the opening round of the 1988 Midwest Regional.
• I was an All-American linebacker before becoming an NFL first-round draft choice (12th pick overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1990 five selections ahead of RB Emmitt Smith).
• Alfred Williams, my fellow LB with the Bengals, also played college basketball (for Colorado). Our teammates included Boomer Esiason and Anthony Munoz.
• I registered 33 sacks and returned three of my 11 interceptions for touchdowns with the Bengals in nine years from 1990 through 1998.

Who am I? JAMES FRANCIS

• I collected eight points and four rebounds against Final Four-bound North Carolina in the 2000 NCAA playoffs.
• I played against NCAA champion-to-be Duke in the 2001 NCAA Tournament, incurring four fouls in seven minutes.
• I was a Missouri teammate of eventual NBA first-round draft choice Kareem Rush.
• After beginning my college football career as a quarterback, I became a wide receiver who caught a then school-record 13 passes vs. Baylor in November 2001 en route to finishing my junior campaign one reception shy of the school single-season mark of 75.
• I set new standards the next year as a senior with 16 catches against Bowling Green and 82 receptions overall for 1,075 yards and nine touchdowns before competing in the East-West Shrine Game.
• I am a two-time first-team All-Big 12 Conference selection who set virtually every Mizzou career receiving record, including receptions (200), receiving yards (2,704), touchdown passes (18) and consecutive games with a reception (34).
• I caught two touchdown passes as a rookie with the Chicago Bears after being their fifth-round pick in the 2003 NFL draft.
• I signed with the Tennessee Titans as a free agent in 2007 and promptly caught a career-high 55 passes before managing a career-high 6 TD receptions the next year.
• I had 10 receptions for 135 yards with the Titans in a 13-10 playoff loss against the Baltimore Ravens following the 2008 season.

Who am I? JUSTIN GAGE

• I was the leader in rebounding and field-goal percentage for the only Mid-American Conference member ever to win three games in a single NCAA Tournament.
• I played against teams in the 2002 NCAA playoffs from elite conferences such as the Big 12 (Oklahoma State), SEC (Alabama), Big East (Pittsburgh) and Big Ten (Indiana).
• I began my college career at Michigan State but never played there before transferring to junior college and subsequently to Kent State.
• I caught two touchdown passes as a rookie free-agent tight end with the San Diego Chargers in 2003 before setting an NFL record for TD receptions by a tight end the next year with 13.
• I was the only unanimous choice to the AP All-Pro team in 2005 when I caught 89 passes for 1,101 yards and 10 TDs.
• I am a seven-time All-Pro (consecutive seasons) who managed a career-high 1,157 receiving yards in 2009 before signing a lucrative five-year, $36 million deal ($20 million guaranteed).
• I became the second TE in NFL history to notch 100 career TD receptions.

Who am I? ANTONIO GATES

• I was a teammate of Washington State All-American center Paul Lindemann.
• I was WSU's fifth-leading scorer as a senior in 1941 when I averaged 5.3 points per game as an all-conference second-team selection for the NCAA Tournament runner-up.
• I was an All-West Coast first-team selection who earned football All-American first-team honors by the New York Sun as an end.
• I played in the annual East-West Shrine Game before earning All-Pro second-team honors my first two years with the Los Angeles Dons.
• Fellow end and former Great Northwest college basketball player Dick Wilkins (Oregon) joined the Dons the year after I left the team.

Who am I? DALE GENTRY

• I played in two NCAA playoff games for Georgia under coach Jim Harrick.
• As a freshman flanker, I became the first Bulldogs football player ever to have four consecutive 100-yard games in receiving.
• I returned a kickoff for 91 yards and a touchdown against Clemson the first time I touched the ball as a sophomore.
• I was the second-leading receiver the next season (43 catches for 758 yards and four TDs) with 2002 team that compiled the Bulldogs' first 13-win season, first SEC title in 20 years, a Sugar Bowl victory over Florida State and a final national ranking of #3 (highest since 1980).
• I caught two first-quarter TD passes against Purdue in a 34-27 overtime victory in the First Capital One Bowl following the 2003 campaign.
• I received All-SEC first-team honors as a senior when I hauled in a career-high 49 receptions.
• I was instrumental in helping Georgia post three straight seasons of 10 or more victories, three consecutive bowl victories and three national top six rankings in a row.
• I was a fourth-round NFL draft choice by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2005; one selection behind return specialist Darren Sproles.

Who am I? FRED GIBSON

• I played in the East Regional against North Carolina standouts Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison.
• I was a teammate of California All-Americans Sharef Abdur-Rahim and Ed Gray.
• I averaged 18 points and shot 61 percent from the floor in the Bears' first two NCAA Tournament games in 1997, including a team-high 23 points in an East Regional second-round victory against Villanova.
• I declared early for the NFL draft after becoming a first-team All-American.
  After catching 53 passes for 768 yards and five touchdowns as a junior in 1996 for Cal's Aloha Bowl squad, I was selected in the first round by the Kansas City Chiefs.
• I became the Chiefs' all-time leader in pass receptions by a tight end midway through the 2000 season en route to becoming a 12-time All-Pro selection.
• I set an NFL single-season record for most receptions by a tight end with 102 in 2004.
• After being traded to the Atlanta Falcons, I became the NFL's all-time runner-up in receptions behind Jerry Rice.
• I hold the NFL career tight end records for touchdowns and reception yardage.

Who am I? TONY GONZALEZ

• I played against NFL coach-to-be Red Hickey in the 1941 NCAA Tournament.
• I was scoreless in two West Regional defeats (against Arkansas in regional semifinal and Creighton in regional third-place game).
• One of my teammates was eventual All-American Kenny Sailors.
• I played in the NCAA playoffs for my beloved state of Wyoming.
• I was host of American Sportsman and also broadcast the Super Bowl and NCAA Tournament.
• I was a network broadcaster who worked two of the more memorable World Series on NBC (Miracle Mets' upset of Baltimore in 1969 and the seven-game Cincinnati-Boston series in 1975 that is credited with reviving baseball in the American sports consciousness).

Who am I? CURT GOWDY

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as Congressman Scotty Baesler (Kentucky) and CBS analyst Billy Packer (Wake Forest).
• I played in the NCAA playoffs against Arizona State's Joe Caldwell and UCLA's Walt Hazzard.
• I averaged 24.3 points per game in three NCAA Tournament contests and was named to the All-West Regional team.
• I was an all-league first-team selection the last three years of the Mountain States Conference.
• I was held under 10 points only once in college career and scored 46 against New Mexico on March 3, 1962.
• I remain Utah State's all-time leading rebounder and set a single-season record with 403 boards in 1959-60.
• My brother, Pumpsie, was the first black player for the Boston Red Sox, the major leagues' last integrated team.
• My NFL teammates included former college basketball players Mike Ditka (Pittsburgh), Pete Gent (Michigan State), Too Tall Jones (Tennessee State), Roger Staubach (Navy), Ron Widby (Tennessee) and Rayfield Wright (Fort Valley State).
• I intercepted 34 passes as a defensive back with the Dallas Cowboys in 13 years from 1962 through 1974.
• I played in five Pro Bowl games and two Super Bowls (V and VI).

Who am I? CORNELL GREEN

• I grabbed a total of five rebounds in two NCAA playoff games in 1966 against Elvin Hayes-led Houston and Jerry Chambers-led Utah.
• One of my Oregon State teammates was eventual NFL defensive back Scott Eaton.
• I was a junior college transfer who averaged 4.4 ppg and 4.5 rpg with the Beavers in 1965-66 and 1966-67.
• I shared OSU's Paul Valenti Award with Eaton in 1966, given annually to the player who displays the most desire and determination.
• I was an eighth-round draft choice by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1968 three selections behind safety George Atkinson.
• My NFL teammates with the Bengals included Bruce Coslet, Bob Trumpy and Sam Wyche.
• I was a defensive end who recorded a safety as a rookie and returned an interception for 70 yards and a touchdown in 1969.
• My teammates when I played for the Chicago Bears in 1970 included Dick Butkus, Bobby Douglass and Gale Sayers.

Who am I? HARRY GUNNER

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as U.S. Congressman Hank Nowak (Canisius).
• I played in the NCAA Tournament against Marshall's Hal Greer and Pittsburgh All-American guard Don Hennon.
• I grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds against Iowa All-Americans Carl Cain and Bill Logan when my team was eliminated by the national runnerup-to-be in the 1956 Midwest Regional semifinals.
• I was a 6-7, 195-pound forward-center who averaged 18.5 points for Morehead State in four NCAA Tournament games in 1956 and 1957.
• I was an All-Ohio Valley Conference selection as a freshman in 1954-55.
• I am the only athlete to play in a World Series and an NBA Finals (rookie in 1959 when the Lakers were swept by the Boston Celtics) after participating in the NCAA playoffs.
• I was a lefthanded pitcher who compiled a 40-31 record, 3.05 ERA and 42 saves in 421 games during 12 seasons from 1961 through 1972 with the Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs.
• I was traded by the Senators to the Yankees for pitcher Jim Coates in April, 1963.
• My teammates with the Yankees included former college basketball players Gene Michael (Kent State) and Rollie Sheldon (Connecticut).
• I was a reliever in the 1963 and 1964 World Series for the Yankees.

Who am I? STEVE HAMILTON

• I played in the same NCAA Tournament as eventual major league second baseman Jerry Adair and NFL quarterback Joe Kapp.
• I collected 7 points and 7 rebounds in Boston College's NCAA playoff debut, an 86-63 defeat against Maryland in the 1958 East Regional.
• I was BC's senior captain in 1957-58, averaging 12.5 ppg and 5.9 rpg.
• I was a Navy SEAL who created the New England Sports Network, which was one of the first successful cable channels.
• I was Executive Director and Trustee of the Yawkey Foundation and Boston Red Sox CEO in January 2002 when spearheading the selling of the Red Sox to a consortium led by former Florida Marlins owner John Henry for $660 million, doubling the previous record price for a pro baseball franchise.

Who am I? JACK HARRINGTON

• I missed a three-point attempt with Princeton in 2001 NCAA playoff South Regional opener against #2 seed North Carolina squad featuring eventual NFL regulars Ronald Curry and Julius Peppers.
• Eight of my 11 career field goals for the Tigers were three-pointers.
• I served as an infantry platoon leader in Iraq and was a leading candidate for head of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs in the Trump Administration.
• I am CEO of Concerned Veterans for America while serving as a FOX News Channel contributor, providing analysis and commentary across FNC's daytime and prime-time programming.

Who am I? PETE HEGSETH

• I was the leading rebounder for Washington State's team that competed against Boston College in the 1994 East Regional.
• I was the Cougars' leading rebounder each of my four seasons.
• I am a two-time All-Pacific-10 Conference selection who was WSU's second-leading scorer as a junior and senior.
• I finished my college career as my alma mater's all-time second-leading rebounder (927) and third-leading scorer (1,496 points).
• I was a second-round NBA draft pick of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1996 before playing for the Sixers, Sacramento Kings, New Jersey Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers.
• I was selected six times in baseball's June draft.
• I am a 6-9 lefthanded pitcher who posted a 3-0 record and 2.45 ERA for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2002. The next year, I became the first pitcher in Blue Jays' history to hit a home run.
• My best season was 2005 when I went 11-8 with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays before being traded the next year to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Who am I? MARK HENDRICKSON

• I had a team-high 14 points in outscoring Illinois guard Derek Harper in my first NCAA playoff game with Utah before the Utes were eliminated in the West Regional by champion-to-be North Carolina State.
• My last college game was in the NCAA tourney against North Carolina coach Dean Smith and eventual first-team All-American Kenny Smith.
• I led the Utes in assists with 5.1 per game as a sophomore before finishing my college basketball career in 1986 as the seventh-leading scorer in school history.
• As a senior, I was an All-WAC second-team selection along with Wyoming sophomores Fennis Dembo and Eric Leckner.
• One of my NFL teammates was former college basketball player Too Tall Jones (Tennessee State).
• I was a defensive back who had two interceptions with the Dallas Cowboys during my six seasons with them from 1986 through 1991.
• I recorded a safety in 1991 before the Cowboys were eliminated in the second round of the NFL playoffs by the Detroit Lions.

Who am I? MANNY HENDRIX

• I played against long-time network broadcaster Curt Gowdy and former All-Pro wide receiver Dale Gentry in the 1941 NCAA Tournament.
• I was a 6-2, 195-pound guard who earned basketball honors as a second-team All-Southwest Conference choice as a sophomore and junior and a first-team selection as a senior.
• I was a member of Arkansas' 1941 team that won the SWC title with a 12-0 record, finished 20-3 overall and reached the Final Four in its NCAA Tournament debut.
• I finished sixth in the NFL in pass receptions as a rookie.
• I was a member of the Rams' 1945 NFL title team and finished my pro career with 75 receptions for 1,378 yards and 16 touchdowns.
• I was coach of the San Francisco 49ers (27-27-1 record from 1959 through 1963) after playing end with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland/Los Angeles Rams for five years (1941 and 1945 through 1948).
• Among the players I coached with the 49ers were former college basketball players Billy Kilmer (UCLA), R.C. Owens (College of Idaho) and Billy Wilson (San Jose State).

Who am I? HOWARD "RED" HICKEY

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as major league outfielder Dave Winfield (Minnesota).
• I participated in three consecutive Final Fours for NCAA championship teams under legendary coach John Wooden.
• My UCLA teammates included five All-Americans--Henry Bibby, Curtis Rowe, John Vallely, Bill Walton and Sidney Wicks.
• I scored 10 points as a senior against Weber State in the 1972 West Regional semifinals before scoring six points against Denny Crum-coached Louisville in the national semifinals.
• I am author of a book titled with one of Wooden's most famous quotes: "Be Quick--But Don't Hurry."
• As president of CBS Productions, I was responsible for the development and production of such successful prime time programming as Touched by an Angel, Walker Texas Ranger, Rescue 911, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and Dave's World.

Who am I? ANDY HILL

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against All-Americans Dennis DuVal (Syracuse) and Marvin Barnes (Providence).
• I was a Furman teammate of All-American forward Clyde Mayes.
• I scored a total of 14 points in five East Regional games from 1973 through 1975.
• I was an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1990, when I narrowly lost to Dan Coats.
• I am a Democratic Congressman who was a member of the Indiana House from 1982 until succeeding retiring Lee Hamilton in the U.S. House of Representatives in a widely-watched open-seat contest in 1998.
• After losing my House seat, I recaptured it in 2006 before losing it again in 2010.

Who am I? BARON HILL

• I scored 12 points in the 1969 NCAA playoffs against coach Lou Henson and All-American-to-be New Mexico State guard Jimmy Collins.
• One of my college teammates, Paul Ruffner, was Collins' teammate with the Chicago Bulls in 1970-71.
• I was a second-team All-WAC guard as a junior and senior when I led Brigham Young in scoring each of those seasons.
• I am a son of BYU Hall of Famer Orin Howard.
• I played in the major leagues with Frank Robinson as a teammate and under him when he was a manager.
• I played five years in the majors as a first baseman-outfielder with the California Angels, St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Indians from 1972 through 1976.

Who am I? DOUG HOWARD

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against teams coached by Joe B. Hall, Al McGuire and Digger Phelps. Among the opposing players were All-Americans Kevin Grevey (Kentucky), Maurice Lucas (Marquette), Adrian Dantley (Notre Dame) and John Shumate (Notre Dame).
• I was a 6-4 forward who averaged seven points and seven rebounds per game in four NCAA Tournament contests in 1973 and 1974 as an Austin Peay teammate of celebrated James "Fly" Williams.
• I was an All-Ohio Valley Conference basketball selection as a senior.
• I became a wide receiver who caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Dallas Cowboys legend Roger Staubach for their final TD in a 21-17 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl X.

Who am I? PERCY HOWARD

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against teams coached by Jack Kraft, Jack Ramsay, Fred Taylor and John Wooden.
• I was a 6-6, 245-pound forward for the 1962 Wake Forest squad featuring Len Chappell and Billy Packer that finished third in the NCAA Tournament.
• I was the first athlete in ACC history to start in both football and basketball.
• One of my pro football teammates was Hall of Fame-to-be quarterback Len Dawson, who briefly played basketball for Purdue.
• I was an All-ACC defensive end who became a third-round pick of the NFL's Chicago Bears in 1962, but chose to play with the AFL's Dallas Texans after being their fifth-round selection.
• In my only pro season, I intercepted a pass and returned it 23 yards to help set up the game-winning field goal in overtime of a 20-17 victory over Houston in the AFL championship game.

Who am I? BILL HULL

• I played in the NCAA tourney against future major league outfielder and manager Sam Mele of NYU.
• I was a forward-center for Georgetown's 1943 NCAA Tournament runner-up that compiled a 22-5 record.
• I scored two points in a 53-49 victory over DePaul, a team from my Chicago hometown, and fellow freshman George Mikan in the Eastern Regional final (playoff semifinals) before going scoreless in a championship game loss to Wyoming.
• I started out as a Democrat before becoming a 12-term Republican Congressman from Illinois and eventual chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
• My towering stature as a lawmaker (6-3) made me the ideal GOP pointman to lead an impeachment inquiry of President Clinton, who earned his diploma from my alma mater 21 years after I did.

Who am I? HENRY HYDE

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as NFL linebacker James Francis (Baylor) and major league outfielder Kenny Lofton (Arizona).
• I was a Florida State teammate of All-American George McCloud.
• I hit all three of my three-point field-goal attempts in a 102-98 opening-round loss to B.J. Armstrong-led Iowa in the 1988 NCAA Tournament.
• I am a quarterback who received a four-year, $15 million contract from the Minnesota Vikings in 1996 despite being their ninth-round draft choice in 1992.
• I became a pro starter when Warren Moon was injured and directed Minnesota to the NFL playoffs.
• An injury led me to losing my starting job to Randall Cunningham in 1998 before I was traded by the Vikings to the Washington Redskins, where I set a club single-game record with 471 yards passing at San Francisco on December 26, 1999.
• I guided the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the NFL playoffs following the 2001 season after signing with them as a free agent.
• I threw a career-high five touchdown passes against the Minnesota Vikings in 2002 before leading the Bucs to a victory in Super Bowl XXXVII.
• I returned to the Vikings in 2005 for two seasons.

Who am I? BRAD JOHNSON

• I scored eight points in 10 minutes in a second-round victory against St. Joseph's in 2001. It was one of four times in six NCAA playoff games that I scored eight points.
• I was a teammate of Stanford All-American Casey Jacobsen when we were eliminated by national champion-to-be Maryland in the 2001 West Regional final and eventual Final Four participant Kansas in the second round of the 2002 Midwest Regional.
• I was an occasional starting forward who had career averages of 4.9 points and 3 rebounds per game with the Cardinal.
• After redshirting in 2000 as a quarterback, I became co-freshman of the year in the Pacific-10 Conference in 2001 when I caught 38 passes for 565 yards and seven touchdowns, including a TD in the Seattle Bowl against Georgia Tech.
• I am a 6-7, 240-pound wide receiver who declared for the NFL draft with two years of eligibility remaining after catching 41 passes for 467 yards and eight TDs in 2002.
• I was a second-round draft choice of the Oakland Raiders in 2003 six selections ahead of fellow TE Jason Witten (Dallas Cowboys).

Who am I? TEYO JOHNSON

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as major league second baseman Jerry Adair (Oklahoma State).
• I was a teammate of California All-American forward Larry Friend.
• I participated as a backup forward in back-to-back West Regional finals in 1957 and 1958.
• I finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1958 when I led Cal to a Rose Bowl berth.
• I coached my alma mater and appeared as a bit actor in a dozen movies.
• I became a member of the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame after quarterbacking Calgary (1959 and 1960) and Vancouver (1961 through 1966).
• I was an NFL Pro Bowl selection following the 1969 season with the Minnesota Vikings.
• I am the only QB to start in the Rose Bowl, Super Bowl and Grey Cup.
• I was the last QB to throw seven touchdown passes in a single NFL game.
• My teammates with the Vikings included former college basketball players Dale Hackbart (Wisconsin), King Hill (Rice) and Art Powell (San Jose State).

Who am I? JOE KAPP

• I was a Virginia teammate of future NBA players Bryant Stith and John Crotty.
• I became the Cavaliers' career rushing record with 3,348 yards on 567 carries, including a total of 14 100-yard games.
• I participated in three football bowls and scored a touchdown against Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl.
• I was scoreless in two 1990 NCAA Tournament games against Notre Dame and Syracuse before becoming a starting running back as a rookie for the Miami Dolphins in 1993.
• I was the Dolphins' leading pass receiver and second-leading rusher after being a third-round pick in the 1993 NFL draft four selections ahead of SS John Lynch.
• I led the Dolphins in pass receptions with 66 for 618 yards in 1995 and was again the team's second-leading rusher before I was traded to the San Francisco 49ers.
• I played with the Oakland Raiders after previously being in the same backfield with quarterbacks Dan Marino and Steve Young.
• I missed Super Bowl XXXVII because of an injury.

Who am I? TERRY KIRBY

• I was the leading scorer in the Mountain States (Big Seven) Conference with 16.4 points per game for Colorado's 1946 NCAA Tournament team.
• I am reputedly the first player selected in the NBA's first college draft in 1947 after enrolling at Washington and Jefferson (Pa.) to play on a 16-4 team with two of my brothers.
• I never appeared in the then-fledgling NBA, which doesn't have any official draft records prior to 1949. The franchise that selected me, the Pittsburgh Ironmen, folded shortly after the draft, and my rights reverted to the New York Knicks.
• I chose not to play in an uncertain situation for little money after the Knicks mailed a contract offer to me in the mail for just $3,500.
• My son, Chris, coached American University for seven seasons from 1990-91 through 1996-97.
• I was recalled to the military during the Korean War, where I was assigned to intelligence work for the Navy and later embarked on a civilian career that led to a job with the Central Intelligence Agency.
• I was the CIA's deputy director under George Bush in 1976.

Who am I? HANK KNOCHE

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against future college and NBA head coaches Mike Dunleavy (South Carolina), Larry Farmer (UCLA), Lon Kruger (Kansas State) and Brian Winters (South Carolina).
• I was a Memphis State teammate of All-Americans Larry Finch and Larry Kenon.
• I was a 5-10 guard who averaged 3.9 points per game for the Tigers' team that lost to UCLA's Walton Gang in the 1973 NCAA Tournament final.
• I breed and train horses at Crown Center Farms, south of Columbia, Mo.
• I presented Missouri with the largest single, private gift in the school's history - $10 million, which was earmarked as seed money for a new 17,000-seat, $50 million arena.
• My wife, Nancy, is the daughter of the late Bud Walton and niece of the late Sam Walton, the brothers who founded Wal-Mart. My wife and I owned the NHL's St. Louis Blues and the Kiel Center arena in St. Louis.
• I had two deals fall through while trying to purchase NBA franchises (Denver Nuggets and Vancouver Grizzlies) before courting the Charlotte Hornets.
• I was named to the state of Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.

Who am I? BILL LAURIE

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as NFL linebacker James Francis (Baylor) and NFL quarterback Brad Johnson (Florida State).
• I was an Arizona teammate of All-Americans Sean Elliott and Steve Kerr.
• I was a member of the Wildcats' team that compiled a 35-3 record and reached the 1988 Final Four.
• I outscored Texas-El Paso guard Tim Hardaway, 12-2, in the 1987 West Regional.
• I led the American League in stolen bases in 1992 with 66, a record for an American League rookie.
• I was a Gold Glove outfielder who led the Cleveland Indians with a .325 batting mark (fourth in the A.L.) and paced the majors with 70 stolen bases in 1993.
• I played in the major league All-Star Game in 1994 and 1995, when I led the A.L. in stolen bases with 60 and 54, respectively.
• Considered the premier leadoff hitter of the 1990s, I am a six-time All-Star who hit a career-high .349 in 1994 with the Indians.
• I stole six bases in the 1995 World Series against the Atlanta Braves before hitting .333 for them in 1997 after I was traded in a deal involving former basketball player David Justice (Thomas More).
• I was traded to contending teams (the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs, respectively) midway through the 2002 and 2003 campaigns.
• I tied a major league record by scoring a run in 18 consecutive games with the Giants.
• Longtime standout Bernie Williams became a designated hitter upon my acquisition by the New York Yankees as their center fielder in 2004.
• I finished my 17-year MLB career with a .299 batting average and 622 stolen bases.

Who am I? KENNY LOFTON

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as NFL running back Terry Kirby (Virginia).
• I was a Loyola Marymount teammate of eventual All-Americans Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble in 1988-89 when the Lions (181) and U.S. International (150) competed in the highest-scoring game in NCAA history.
• I scored at least 16 points as a sophomore in each of the last three NCAA playoff outings for Loyola Marymount's 1990 West Regional runner-up (against Michigan, Alabama and UNLV). I had 23 in as many minutes against Michigan (149-115 victory) in the highest-scoring game in NCAA playoff history.
• I was a two-time All-WCC first-team selection and league-leading scorer.
• I scored a career-high 48 points against Idaho State as a junior in 1990-91 when I finished among the top five nationally in scoring (28.5 ppg) and assists (9.1 apg). During that season, I tallied a team-high 34 points when the Lions set an NCAA single-game scoring record in a 186-140 victory over USIU.
• I am an Oakland product who ranked eighth in the country in scoring as a senior with 26 points per game.
• I played in the same major league outfields with Sammy Sosa and Bobby Bonds.
• I hit .282 with the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and San Francisco Giants from 1997 through 2000 after previously being in the farm systems of the Texas Rangers and New York Mets.
• I went 15 for 34 from the plate (.441) with the Giants in 2000.

Who am I? TERRELL LOWERY

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as did Green Bay Packers linebacker Fred Carr (Texas Western) and Dallas Cowboys punter Ron Widby (Tennessee).
• I was a backup guard to eventual Princeton athletic director Gary Walters.
• I was a teammate of All-American Bill Bradley when the presidential candidate-to-be scored a Final Four-record 58 points against Wichita State in the 1965 national third-place game.
• I scored 14 points in three NCAA Tournament games in 1967 against coaches Bucky Waters (West Virginia), Dean Smith (North Carolina) and Lou Carnesecca (St. John's).
• I was employed by the U.S. Congress along with Hillary Clinton as part of a litigation team during the Watergate hearings.
• I survived non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the 1980s and prostate cancer in the 1990s.
• I was a key major-league baseball executive with the Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres and Boston Red Sox for more than 20 years.
• I was a driving force behind the construction of Camden Yards before becoming a minority owner of the Padres.
• I was instrumental in hiring Theo Epstein in November 2002 as the youngest general manager in baseball history.

Who am I? LARRY LUCCHINO

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as six-year NFL defensive back Manny Hendrix.
• I played in the 1986 NCAA playoffs against All-Americans Rony Seikaly and Pearl Washington.
• I scored seven points for Brown in a first-round loss against Jim Boeheim-coached Syracuse before leading the Bears in scoring the next season with 17.3 ppg.
• I assumed office as Rhode Island's Attorney General in January, 2003. Six weeks later, I oversaw a criminal investigation for the state after a pyrotechnics display burned a nightclub to the ground, killing 99 people and injuring 186.
• After endorsing Barack Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2008, I competed for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2010 before bowing out.

Who am I? PATRICK LYNCH

• I was a college teammate of Steve Ehlmann, a state legislator and circuit judge who contemplated running for Congress to fill Jim Tallent's seat when Tallent ran for Governor of Missouri in 2000.
• I was a junior college transfer who played for two different head coaches at Furman (Frank Selvy and Joe Williams).
• I was named MVP in the Southern Conference Tournament before collecting five points and two rebounds for the Paladins in their inaugural NCAA Tournament game, a 105-74 defeat against Digger Phelps-coached Fordham in the 1971 East Regional.
• I was an outfielder who hit .251 in 11 years from 1974 through 1984 with the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Kansas City Royals and New York Mets.
• My major league teammates included Dick Allen, George Brett, Steve Carlton, Dave Kingman, Mike Schmidt, Darryl Strawberry and Bruce Sutter.
• I was a valuable backup who hit three pinch homers for the Phillies in 1978 in my last year with three consecutive divisional champions.
• I was involved in an eight-player trade including Ted Sizemore and Manny Trillo between the Phillies and Cubs during the winter before the 1979 season.
• I was a regular with the Cubs, collecting 42 homers and 146 RBI.
• I was a free-swinger who was suspended in 1984 for involvement with drugs.
• I served a three-month sentence in the Fort Worth Correctional Institute with Royals teammate Willie Wilson.

Who am I? JERRY MARTIN

• I participated in four NCAA playoff games, including one where I made all four of my field-goal attempts and dished out a team-high five assists in a first-round loss against Jack Hartman-coached Kansas State in 1981.
• My San Francisco teammates included All-Americans Bill Cartwright and Quintin Dailey.
• I averaged 8.5 points per game during my career with the Dons.
• My NFL teammates during five seasons in the mid-1980s with three different teams included former college basketball players Sam Clancy, Ronnie Lott and Pete Metzelaars.
• I had two interceptions and four sacks as LB-DB for the Kansas City Chiefs in 1984.

Who am I? KEN McALISTER

• I was a member of Maryland's 2002 NCAA titlist before becoming a part-time starter for the Terrapins' defending champion the next season.
• I played in the same 2001 NCAA basketball tourney as NFL defensive end Julius Peppers (North Carolina).
• I participated in two 2000 NCAA Tournament games, including one against UCLA.
• My Maryland teammates included All-ACC first-team selections Lonny Baxter, Juan Dixon and Terence Morris.
• In 1999, I finished No. 2 among Division I-A freshman quarterbacks (behind Virginia Tech's Michael Vick) in passing efficiency and total offense.

Who am I? CALVIN McCALL

• I played in the same NCAA tourney as eventual Indiana football coach Cam Cameron.
• I was a defensive specialist who fouled out when I collected seven points and five rebounds in a 1982 West Regional first-round loss against Wyoming.
• One of my Southern California teammates was Kentucky transfer Dwight Anderson. Another one of my USC teammates was Ken Johnson, who transferred after the season to Michigan State.
• My NFL teammates with the Los Angeles Rams included Eric Dickerson, Dennis Harrah, Jackie Slater, Jack Youngblood and Jim Youngblood.
• I was a tight end who caught 14 passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns with the Rams and Detroit Lions in four years from 1983 to 1987.

Who am I? JAMES McDONALD

• I scored two points in two 1996 NCAA Tournament games for the eventual national runner-up.
• One of my Syracuse teammates was NBA first-round draft choice John Wallace.
• I am a former Gator Bowl MVP who was a high school basketball teammate of eventual Boston Celtics star Antoine Walker for Mount Carmel (Ill.), an all-male Catholic institution on the southside of Chicago.
• I participated in bowl games all four years in college - Gator, Liberty, Fiesta and Orange.
• I am a quarterback who completed 58.4% of my college passes with 77 TDs, including one as a freshman for 96 yards to eventual NFL standout Marvin Harrison against West Virginia in 1995.
• I finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting before becoming the second pick overall in the 1999 NFL draft.
• I finished runner-up to Marshall Faulk in voting for MVP in the NFL in 2000.
• A Super Bowl appearance climaxed my leading the Philadelphia Eagles to five consecutive NFL playoff appearances from 2000 through 2004 as a Pro Bowler each year in that span while completing 58 percent of my passes with twice as many touchdowns as interceptions.
• I set an an NFL record with 24 consecutive completions over a two-game span in 2004 when I had five games with at least four touchdown passes and established the Eagles' single-game record with 464 passing yards against Green Bay.
• I am the Eagles' all-time leader in career wins, pass attempts, pass completions, passing yards and passing touchdowns.
• I finished my career with the Washington Redskins and Minnesota Vikings.

Who am I? DONOVAN McNABB

• I played against Congressman-to-be Henry Hyde (Georgetown) in the NCAA playoffs.
• I was named to the first five on the All-Metropolitan New York team as a sophomore in 1942-43 when I was NYU's leading scorer in the NCAA Tournament (losses against Georgetown and Dartmouth).
• I played for two different major league teams in a single season four times in a seven-year span, including two tours of duty as a teammate of Hall of Famer Ted Williams.
• I was an outfielder who hit .267 in a 10-year playing career from 1947 through 1956 with six teams before becoming manager of the Minnesota Twins for seven years from 1961 through 1967.
• I led the American League with 36 doubles for the Washington Senators in 1951 and drove in six runs in one inning in a 1952 game for the Chicago White Sox.
• I managed the Twins in 1965 when they won the A.L. title.

Who am I? SAM MELE

• I played in the same NCAA tourney as NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens (Tennessee-Chattanooga) and NFL defensive back Percy Ellsworth (Virginia).
• I played in the 1996 NCAA Tournament against Temple coach John Chaney after my team was upset by Manhattan in the playoffs the previous year.
• I hold Oklahoma's record for consecutive successful free throws with 30.
• I was a member of the 1994 College World Series champion before becoming a second-round draft choice of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers in 1996 (32nd pick overall).
• I was a forward who averaged 16.5 points per game en route to finishing my career No. 6 on the Sooners' all-time scoring list (1,946 points).
• I was a two-time All-Big Eight first-team selection and conference player of the year as a junior when I averaged 23.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.
• I am a third baseman who replaced Cal Ripken Jr. in the Baltimore Orioles' lineup on September 20, 1998, ending Ripken's major league record of 2,632 consecutive games played.
• I no longer was Ripken's teammate during his final season in 2001 because I was traded to the Montreal Expos.

Who am I? RYAN MINOR

• I appeared in the NCAA playoffs against Notre Dame's Kelly Tripucka, Bill Hanzlik and Bill Laimbeer.
• I played briefly for Houston in the Cougars' 100-77 opening-round setback to the Fighting Irish in the 1978 Midwest Regional after leading the Cougars in QB sacks with eight.
• I was a defensive end who became a first-round NFL draft choice (27th pick overall).
• I played seven pro seasons (1981 through 1987) with the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons.
• One of my teammates with the Eagles was former college basketball player Harold Carmichael (Southern).

Who am I? LEONARD MITCHELL

• I appeared in the NCAA Tournament against Texas-El Paso's Tim Hardaway.
• I averaged 8.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game as a sophomore in 1988-89 for LSU coach Dale Brown.
• I started in the same backcourt with All-American Chris Jackson in the West Regional of the 1989 NCAA playoffs.
• I was the player to be designated in a trade when pitcher Jack McDowell went from the Chicago White Sox to the New York Mets.
• I was an outfielder who hit .287 for the White Sox from 1995 through 1997 before my contract was sold to a team in Japan.

Who am I? LYLE MOUTON

• I was a 6-0 All-American forward as a junior for Dartmouth.
• I was the leading scorer for the 1942 NCAA Tournament runner-up (22-4 record) and averaged 12.6 points in seven NCAA Tournament games from 1941 through 1943.
• I was a trustee and chairman of the Finance Committee of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• I had a 29-year career as an executive (vice president in 1962, president/director in 1966, CEO in 1969 and chair/CEO from 1975-87) with the Phelps Dodge Corp., a Fortune 500 company and the nation's leading copper producer.

Who am I? GEORGE MUNROE

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against Notre Dame (Kelly Tripucka, Orlando Woolridge, Bill Hanzlik and Bill Laimbeer) and Maryland (Albert King and Buck Williams).
• I was a Tennessee teammate of All-Americans Reggie Johnson and Dale Ellis.
• I collected a total of 19 points and 14 rebounds in just 36 minutes in four NCAA Tournament games in 1979 and 1980.
• I am one of the most popular figures in recent wrestling history who quietly began my career in 1990 as a WCW undercard wrestler, including billing as Oz (dressed in green cape and claimed to be "great and powerful") and Vinnie Vegas (wise guy in a pink suit and sunglasses).
• I am a former bouncer who went from a hanger-on to a 6-10, 350-pound hero in about seven months. My pin of Bob Backlund completed an unprecedented trifecta, giving me the WWF World tag team title, International title, and World title in the same calendar year.
• I was known as "Diesel" when I won the World Wrestling Federation championship in a record-setting eight-second bout in 1994.

Who am I? KEVIN NASH

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as major league pitcher Steve Hamilton (Morehead State).
• I played in the NCAA playoffs against North Carolina's undefeated 1957 team and All-Americans Tom Gola (La Salle), Ronnie Shavlik (N.C. State), Guy Rodgers (Temple) and Hot Rod Hundley (West Virginia).
• I was a teammate of Canisius All-America guard John McCarthy.
• I was the leading rebounder for the first three Canisius teams to participate in the NCAA Tournament.
• I was the leading scorer and rebounder for one of the winningest teams in Canisius history (22-6 record in 1956-57).
• I became a two-time NCAA Tournament All-East Regional selection (1956 and 1957) by averaging 19.4 points per game in nine NCAA playoff contests.
• I was selected in the fourth round of the 1957 NBA draft by the St. Louis Hawks.
• I am a Democrat who never received less than 75 percent of the general electorate vote while representing the Buffalo area for nine terms (1975-93) in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Who am I? HANK NOWAK

• I played in the same NCAA Tournament as eventual Pennsylvania Governor Robert Casey, Massachusetts U.S. Congressman Joe Early and World Series of Poker legend Doyle Brunson.
• I averaged 15.3 ppg in three NCAA playoff contests in 1953.
• I was a third-team All-American selection on Converse and United Press All-American squads as a senior when I finished second in the nation in field-goal shooting (54%).
• My twin brother was a basketball All-American who went on to play six seasons of major league baseball.
• I was an infielder-outfielder who played five seasons (1953 and 1955 through 1958) with the Pittsburgh Pirates, hitting .236 in 231 games.

Who am I? EDDIE O'BRIEN

• I played in the same NCAA Tournament as eventual Pennsylvania Governor Robert Casey, Massachusetts U.S. Congressman Joe Early and World Series of Poker legend Doyle Brunson.
• I was a a two-time NCAA consensus All-American who averaged 32 ppg in three NCAA playoff games in 1953 after scoring 51 points in a regular-season game against Gonzaga.
• I became the first college player to crack the 1,000-point plateau in a single season by scoring 1,051 in 37 games in 1951-52.
• My twin brother was a basketball All-American who went on to play five seasons of major league baseball.
• I was an infielder/pitcher who played 339 games in six seasons (1953 and 1955 through 1959) with the Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Braves, hitting .250 and compiling a 1-3 pitching record.
• I was traded by the Pirates with Gene Freese to the Cardinals for Dick Schofield and cash.
• I was a second baseman for the Pirates on July 3, 1956, when I became the last N.L. position player to earn a victory on the mound until catcher Brent Mayne achieved the feat for the Colorado Rockies against the Atlanta Braves in August 2000.

Who am I? JOHNNY O'BRIEN

• I was scoreless in one minute for Tennessee-Chattanooga against No. 2 seed Connecticut in the 1995 West Regional.
• I played in the Senior Bowl after becoming UTC's all-time leading receiver (143 catches for 2,320 yards and 19 TDs).
• I started more games at receiver (10) than any San Francisco 49ers rookie since Gene Washington in 1969.
• I caught 162 passes for 2,553 yards and 26 touchdowns in my first three NFL seasons after being the 49ers' third-round draft choice in 1996.
• I became the heir apparent to Hall of Fame-bound Jerry Rice as the 49ers' go-to wide receiver after catching 15 touchdown passes in 1998, including at least one in each of the last eight regular-season games.
• My dramatic 25-yard touchdown catch from Steve Young with three seconds remaining lifted the 49ers to a 30-27 victory against the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers in an NFC wild-card game following the 1998 season.
• I set an NFL single-game record with 20 receptions in 2000 against the Chicago Bears.
• I led the Super Bowl-bound Philadelphia Eagles in receiving in 2004.
• I am a six-time Pro Bowl selection who finished my 15-year NFL career with 1,078 pass receptions for 15,934 yards and 153 touchdowns and recently became a Hall of Fame selection.

Who am I? TERRELL OWENS

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as Congressman Scotty Baesler (Kentucky) and Dallas Cowboys defensive back Cornell Green (Utah State).
• I was the second-leading scorer for Wake Forest's only Final Four squad (behind All-American Len Chappell).
• I outscored Ohio State's Bob Knight 17-0 and UCLA All-American Walt Hazzard 22-15 at the 1962 Final Four.
• After earning a spot on the All-East Regional team, I scored a total of 39 points in two Final Four games for the national third-place Demon Deacons to finish the season with a 14.1-point scoring average.
• I hit just 1 of 10 field-goal attempts in a 97-74 victory over St. John's in the first round although Wake still became the only team to ever trail by as many as 10 points at halftime of a tournament game (46-36) and then win the contest by more than 20.
• I was an All-ACC first-team selection as a junior in 1960-61 with Chappell and three other All-Americans--Art Heyman, York Larese and Doug Moe.
• I was the color commentator at the Final Four for two broadcast networks.

Who am I? BILLY PACKER

• I played in the NCAA Tournament against All-Americans Arnold Short (Oklahoma City), Bob Mattick (Oklahoma A&M), Bob Houbregs (Washington) and Don Schlundt (Indiana).
• I was a football/basketball teammate of All-American defensive back Gil Reich.
• I was a starting forward and second-leading rebounder for Kansas' 1953 national runner-up.
• I was named to the NJCAA All-Tournament team in 1952 when I averaged 20 points per game for Garden City (Kan.) before enrolling with the Jayhawks.
• I was an All-Big Seven Conference first-team basketball selection as a senior.
• I scored 54 touchdowns in my 14-year CFL career and had 34 games with at least 100 yards in pass receptions.
• I became a member of the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame after averaging 20.6 yards per pass reception with 460 catches for 9,473 yards and 64 touchdowns.

Who am I? HAL PATTERSON

• I was a member of a 2000 Final Four squad.
• I made 13 of 15 shots from the floor in NCAA playoff competition en route to leading North Carolina in field-goal shooting in 2000-01 (64.3%).
• I started both of my NCAA Tournament games in 2001, including my first double-double (10 rebounds and career-high 21 points against Penn State).
• I was a basketball/football teammate of Ronald Curry, a four-year starting quarterback.
• I was a first-team All-American as a defensive end who led the nation in sacks with 15 in 2000.
• I won the Lombardi Award as the nation's top lineman and Chuck Bednarik Trophy as the nation's top defensive player in 2001 before becoming the second pick overall in the NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers.
• I was named NFL defensive rookie of the year in 2002 after registering 54 tackles and 12 sacks (including a pair of three-sack games) in 12 contests in 2002.
• The next year, I played in Super Bowl XXXVIII for Charlotte.
• I am an eight-time NFL Pro Bowl selection who signed a lucrative free-agent contract with the Chicago Bears in 2010 and Green Bay Packers in 2014. Most recent Pro Bowl appearance was two years ago in my 14th NFL season before returning to Panthers.

Who am I? JULIUS PEPPERS

• I collected six points and a team-high nine rebounds for Texas Tech in a 1961 Midwest Regional semifinal loss against eventual NCAA Tournament champion Cincinnati.
• I averaged 12.1 ppg and 10.5 rpg as a junior as part of Tech's first SWC championship team in a major sport.
• I averaged 8 ppg for the Red Raiders in five NCAA playoff contests in 1961 and 1962.
• My NFL teammates included standouts such as Dick Butkus, Gale Sayers and Roger Staubach.
• I was a placekicker who scored 466 points with the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys in eight years from 1967 through 1974.
• I led the NFL with 25 field goals for the Bears in 1968 when I tied for third place in the league in scoring with 100 points.

Who am I? MAC PERCIVAL

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as major league pitcher Rollie Sheldon.
• I was a West Virginia teammate of All-American Jerry West.
• I was a backup guard for the Mountaineers in 1960 when they lost to NYU, 82-81, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament despite my five of six field-goal shooting.
• I was an infielder who hit .233 in 11 seasons (1964 and 1966 through 1975) with the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates.
• My major league teammates included Ernie Banks, Don Drysdale, Dave Parker, Willie Stargell, Don Sutton and Billy Williams.
• I was traded with Ron Fairly by the Dodgers to the Montreal Expos for Maury Wills and Manny Mota during the 1969 campaign.
• I went three-for-three in pinch-hitting appearances for the Pirates in the 1974 N.L. Championship Series.

Who am I? PAUL POPOVICH

• I played in the 1999 NCAA playoffs against St. John's All-American Ron Artest.
• I was a backcourt teammate of Indiana basketball All-American A.J. Guyton.
• I was 1998 Big Ten Conference freshman of the year in football before becoming the first league football player to accumulate 5,000 total yards the next season as a sophomore.
• I was a 5-11 college quarterback who compiled 3,000 passing yards and 1,500 yards rushing through my first 19 games, which is faster than anyone in NCAA Division I-A history.
• I became the first player in NCAA Division I-A history to pass for 6,000 yards and rush for 3,000.
• I became the only "40-40 Man" in major-college history (more than 40 passing touchdowns and more than 40 rushing/receiving touchdowns).
• I was a regular wide receiver as a rookie for the playoff-bound Pittsburgh Steelers in 2002 after being their second-round draft choice (ahead of fellow second-round WRs Antonio Bryant and Deion Branch). The next year, I caught 37 passes for 364 yards and returned two punts for touchdowns.
• I signed a seven-year, $31 million contract with the Washington Redskins as an unrestricted free agent entering the 2006 campaign before being cast adrift by Mike Shanahan in 2010 and returning to the Steelers.
• I made a two-point conversion on a run for the Steelers in Super Bowl XIV.

Who am I? ANTWAAN RANDLE EL

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against Seattle All-American Elgin Baylor.
• I was a California teammate of future pro quarterback Joe Kapp.
• I averaged 15.5 points in four NCAA Tournament games in 1957 and 1958 under coach Pete Newell, leading the Bears in scoring in two of the four playoff contests.
• I was a three-time all-conference second-team basketball selection.
• I was an outfielder who hit .268 in four seasons from 1958 to 1964 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles.
• I was purchased by the Orioles from the Dodgers during the winter of 1960.
• My major league teammates included former college basketball players Jerry Adair (Oklahoma State), Dick Hall (Swarthmore), Gil Hodges (Oakland City), Sandy Koufax (Cincinnati), Robin Roberts (Michigan State) and Norm Siebern (Southwest Missouri State).

Who am I? EARL ROBINSON

• I played in the same NCAA tourney as 1996 volleyball Olympian Mike Whitmarsh.
• I was a Washington teammate of All-American forward Detlef Schrempf.
• I was a 6-6, 260-pounder when I hit four of five field-goal attempts in the Huskies' 80-78 second-round victory over Duke in 1984 in Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski's first NCAA playoff game.
• I was a first-team All-American defensive lineman who became a first-round draft choice of the Detroit Lions in 1987 (seventh pick overall).
• Placekicker Eddie Murray was my teammate on two NFL teams. Among my other NFL teammates were QB Jim Kelly, LB Chris Spielman, DE Bruce Smith, QB Vinny Testaverde and RB Thurman Thomas.
• I also played with the Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a six-year NFL career.
• My older brother, Don, an outstanding safety for UCLA, was a starting defensive back for the Cleveland Browns when he died tragically.

Who am I? REGGIE ROGERS

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against Dayton team featuring eventual Flyers coach Don Donoher and James Paxson (eventual NBA first-round draft choice with two sons - Jim and John - who also became #1 picks).
• I was a teammate of eventual MLB pitcher Dave Sisler on Princeton's first NCAA Tournament squad in 1952.
• I was a Democrat who served as a member of U.S. House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977 and Maryland Senator from 1977 to 2007.
• My son, John, held dad's old House seat.

Who am I? PAUL SARBANES

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as major league infielder Paul Popovich.
• I was Connecticut's third-leading scorer with 13.5 points per game as a 6-4 sophomore forward for a 1960 NCAA Tournament team that was eliminated by Satch Sanders-led NYU, which advanced to the Final Four.
• I had a front-row seat when Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle went after Babe Ruth's single-season home run record.
• I compiled a 38-36 pitching record in five seasons (1961, 1962 and 1964 through 1966) with the New York Yankees, Kansas City Athletics and Boston Red Sox.
• I was 11-5 as a rookie with the A.L. champion Yankees after going 15-1 in Class D ball the previous year.
• I appeared in two games for the Yanks in the 1964 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
• I was traded by the Yanks with Johnny Blanchard to K.C. for Doc Edwards during the 1965 season.

Who am I? ROLLIE SHELDON

• One of my teammates, George Stanich, was a bronze medalist in the high jump in the 1948 Olympics.
• I scored 11 points in UCLA's first-ever NCAA Tournament game (73-59 setback against Bradley in 1950) before scoring a team-high 21 points in an 83-62 loss to Brigham Young in the Western Regional third-place contest.
• I was an All-PCC South selection as a senior when I averaged 10.4 ppg and was team captain for coach John Wooden.
• I opened the first Polly's Pie Restaurant in 1968 with my brother.
• I am a restauranteur who is the largest holder of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Anaheim-based Polly's Pies franchises in the country, operating as many as 15 KFCs and 13 Polly's in Southern California.

Who am I? EDDIE SHELDRAKE

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against future All-American Dick Ricketts of Duquesne.
• I was a starting forward, teammate of eventual Maryland Senator Paul Sarbanes and All-Ivy League second-team selection with Princeton's first NCAA Tournament squad in 1952.
• I was a major league pitcher who compiled a 38-44 record in seven seasons (1956 through 1962) with the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators and Cincinnati Reds.
• My batterymate when I broke in with the Red Sox was former college basketball player Sammy White (Washington).
• I was traded with cash by the Senators to the Reds for pitcher Claude Osteen near the end of the 1961 campaign.
• I am a son of a Hall of Fame first baseman and brother of a former Cincinnati Reds manager.
• After graduating magna cum laude, I became an executive vice president, vice chairman of the board, and branch director of St. Louis-based A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., the largest brokerage firm headquartered outside New York, with 5,300 investment brokers in over 500 branch locations throughout 48 states and the District of Columbia.

Who am I? DAVE SISLER

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as eventual major league outfielder Jerry Martin (Furman).
• I played in the NCAA playoffs against All-Americans Ed Ratleff (Long Beach State) and Kresimir Cosic (Brigham Young).
• I averaged 22 ppg for Pacific's freshman squad in 1967-68 before averaging 8.7 ppg and 2.9 rpg in my three-year varsity basketball career from 1968-69 through 1970-71.
• I hit seven of eight field-goal attempts en route to scoring 21 points in two playoff games as a senior in 1971 after averaging a career-high 10.9 ppg as a junior.
• My Pacific basketball teammates included eventual NCAA Division I head coaches Bob Thomason and Pat Douglass and All-American center John Gianelli.
• My major league baseball teammates included Cesar Cedeno, Bill Madlock, J.R. Richard, Bruce Sutter, Bob Watson and Billy Williams.
• I was involved in a trade between the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants before the 1977 season that included Madlock and Bobby Murcer.
• I was an infielder who hit .211 with the Cubs and Houston Astros in four years from 1974 through 1977.

Who am I? ROB SPERRING

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against standouts Marvin Barnes (Providence), Billy Knight (Pittsburgh), Maurice Lucas (Marquette) and UCLA's Walton Gang.
• I had a game-high seven assists for North Carolina State in a victory over Providence in the 1974 East Regional.
• I was the starting forward opposite national player of the year David Thompson for the Wolfpack's 1974 NCAA champion.
• I had a part as a menacing pitcher in a comedy film (Rookie of the Year).
• I was on major league pitching staffs with Dennis Eckersley, Goose Gossage, Ron Guidry and Jim Palmer.
• I appeared in 485 games, all as a reliever, in 13 seasons (1975 and 1978 through 1989) with the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians.
• I compiled a 41-35 record with 3.95 ERA and 76 saves, recording 26 of the saves for the Orioles in 1980 the year after being the winning pitcher for them in Game Four of the 1979 World Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• I was traded by the Padres to the Yankees for pitcher Ed Whitson during the 1986 season.

Who am I? TIM STODDARD

• I averaged 11.5 ppg and 9.5 rpg in two tournament games for Kansas in 1967 as teammate of Jo Jo White.
• I led the Jayhawks in rebounding in both of their 1967 playoff contests against Elvin Hayes (Houston) and Wes Unseld (Louisville).
• I averaged 6.1 ppg and 4.9 rpg in 1966-67 and 1967-68 under coach Ted Owens.
• I was a third-round pick as defensive lineman in 1969 NFL draft (60th pick overall) three selections ahead of Miami Dolphins running back Mercury Morris.
• I played for the New York Giants (1971), Green Bay Packers (1972) and Houston Oilers (1973), starting three games as defensive tackle with the Packers. In mid-November 1972, I had personal-foul, 15-yard penalties for whacking opponent on the helmet on back-to-back plays against the Oilers.
• In my first NFL start with the Pack, I registered two sacks, got partial credit for a third and nearly got a fourth in 16-13 upset win against the Dallas Cowboys in 1972.

Who am I? VERNON VANOY

• I scored a team-high 16 points and contributed game highs of 8 rebounds and 3 steals in a 2004 NCAA playoff opening-round setback against Texas.
• I was an All-Ivy League first-team selection as a junior and second-team choice as a senior under Princeton coach John Thompson III.
• I didn't play baseball my freshman year in college.
• I am the son of a 12-year major league outfielder who spent most of his career in the National League and was involved in a trade from the San Francisco Giants to the Montreal Expos for Al Oliver.
• I am a lefthanded outfielder who hit .264 in 28 games for the San Diego Padres during a September call-up in 2008, hitting a triple in my first at-bat.
• I was a regular for the Padres the previous five seasons (2010 through 2014), finishing among the top 10 in the National League in triples a couple of years.

Who am I? WILL VENABLE

• I was a Drake teammate of Willie McCarter and Willie Wise.
• I blocked one of UCLA star Lew Alcindor's shots in the Bulldogs' 85-82 defeat in the 1969 national semifinals.
• I outscored Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and former Wichita State/Vanderbilt/South Carolina coach Eddie Fogler, 11-9, in the national third-place game when they were North Carolina teammates.
• I won the decathlon title at the 1971 Pan American Games, 1971 National AAU meet and 1970 NCAA meet.

Who am I? RICK WANAMAKER

• I played against Bob Knight-coached Indiana in the 1992 NCAA playoffs before averaging 8.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 5.5 apg and 3.3 spg in four tournament games for the 1993 Southeast Regional runner-up.
• I held my school's career record for steals when my eligibility expired in 1993-94.
• I passed and rushed for 6,636 yards in my college football career.
• I was named Orange Bowl MVP in back-to-back victories over Nebraska.
• I led Florida State to 1993 national title by passing for 3,032 yards and 27 touchdowns and rushing for 339 yards and four touchdowns.
• I was a Heisman Trophy winner and consensus All-American quarterback who captured the 1993 Sullivan Award as the nation's premier amateur athlete.

Who am I? CHARLIE WARD

• I averaged 2.9 ppg and 5.7 rpg for Idaho under coach Tim Floyd in 1987-88 after playing two seasons for Texas-El Paso when Floyd was aide under Don Haskins.
• I collected one foul and one turnover in one minute of playing time for UTEP in an 86-73 setback against Jim Valvano-coached North Carolina State in second round of 1985 West Regional.
• I was a defensive end who registered 40 1/2 sacks and 386 tackles with the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos in 11 NFL seasons from 1989 through 1999 after entering league as sixth-round draft choice.
• I had a team-high 8 1/2 sacks with the Jets in 1992 (including Hall of Fame QB Dan Marino for safety) and career-high 71 tackles with them the following campaign.
• I earned Super Bowl XXXIII ring with the Broncos after securing sack in win against the Miami Dolphins in AFC playoffs following 1998 season.
• In 2017, I was part of a lawsuit filed against Attorney General Jeff Sessions, seeking to overturn the classification of cannabis as a Schedule I drug.

Who am I? MARVIN WASHINGTON

• I was Washington's second-leading scorer as a junior forward behind All-American center Jack Nichols in two 1948 NCAA Tournament games.
• I was named to the first five on the All-Pacific Coast Conference Northern Division basketball team as a junior and senior. * My major league baseball teammates included Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, George Kell, Eddie Mathews, Warren Spahn and Ted Williams.
• I was a catcher who hit .262 in 11 seasons with the Boston Red Sox (1951 through 1959), Milwaukee Braves (1961) and Philadelphia Phillies (1962).
• I was a 1953 All-Star who hit over .280 three times with the Red Sox.
• On June 18, 1953, I scored three runs in one inning when the Red Sox tallied 17 in the seventh against the Detroit Tigers.
• A trade including Russ Nixon and Jim Marshall between the Red Sox and Cleveland Indians before the 1960 campaign was cancelled when I announced my retirement.

Who am I? SAMMY WHITE

• I played in the same NCAA tourney as Washington's Reggie Rogers, an All-American defensive tackle and NFL first-round draft choice of the Detroit Lions.
• I scored a team-high 17 points for San Diego in a 65-56 loss to Pete Carril-coached Princeton in the preliminary round of the 1984 NCAA Tournament.
• I set a school DI single-game scoring record with 37 points at Loyola Marymount in 1982-83.
• I was an All-WCAC selection as a junior and senior.
• I was a fifth-round draft choice of the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1984 NBA draft.
• I joined Miller Lite/AVP Professional Beach Volleyball Tour in 1989, when I was rookie of the year.
• I aligned with Mike Dodd in 1993 and we subsequently became one of the premier pairs on the volleyball tour before earning a silver medal in the 1996 Olympics when two-man beach volleyball made its debut.

Who am I? MIKE WHITMARSH

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as Green Bay Packers linebacker Fred Carr (Texas Western) and major league baseball executive Larry Lucchino (Princeton).
• I was a teammate of Tennessee center Tom Boerwinkle.
• I outscored All-American forward Don May, 20-9, in the NCAA playoffs to become an all-regional selection.
• I was the game-high scorer in the Volunteers' NCAA Tournament debut although it wasn't enough to prevent a 53-52 setback against national runnerup-to-be Dayton in the 1967 Mideast Regional semifinals.
• I was a two-time All-SEC first-team basketball selection and led the league in scoring the season before LSU's Pete Maravich arrived at the varsity level.
• My NFL teammates included former college basketball players Fred Carr (Texas Western), Mike Ditka (Pittsburgh), Pete Gent (Michigan State), Cornell Green (Utah State) and Roger Staubach (Navy).
• I averaged 42 yards per punt in six seasons (1968 through 1973) with the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers.
• I posted the longest punt in the NFL in 1968 (84 yards as a rookie).
• I played in the Pro Bowl following the 1971 season and appeared in two Super Bowls with the Cowboys (V and VI).

Who am I? RON WIDBY

• I played in the NCAA playoffs against Arkansas All-American center George Kok.
• I am the only freshman to lead a single NCAA tourney in scoring average (22 ppg).
• I scored a game-high 23 points for Oregon in a 79-76 loss to Arkansas in a 1945 West Regional semifinal before scoring a team-high 21 points in a 69-66 win over Utah in a third-place game.
• The next season, I became the first Oregon player to crack the 1,000-point plateau and repeated as an All-PCC North Division first-team selection.
• I was the leading pass receiver (27 catches for 520 yards and five touchdowns) on the 1948 Oregon team that featured quarterback Norm Van Brocklin, compiled a 9-2 mark and won the Pacific Coast Conference championship. The Ducks lost to SMU, 21-13, in the Cotton Bowl that season despite my four receptions for 57 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown pass from Van Brocklin.
• I led the Dallas Texans of the All-America Football Conference with 32 catches in 1952.
  Fellow end and former Great Northwest college basketball player Dale Gentry (Washington State) left the AAFC's Los Angeles Dons the year before I joined the team.
• Quarterbacks on my NFL teams included Don Heinrich and Frank Tripucka.

Who am I? DICK WILKINS

• I played in the same NCAA basketball tourney as 1952 Olympic gold-medal winning high jumper Buddy Davis (Texas A&M).
• I played in the NCAA Tournament against Brigham Young All-Americans Mel Hutchins, Roland Minson and Joe Richey.
• I collected two points and seven rebounds for San Jose State in a 68-61 opening-round loss to BYU in 1951.
• I caught 10 touchdown passes my last three years for the football Spartans after spending 19 months in the Pacific with the Navy.
• I was a split end who caught 407 passes for 5,902 yards in 10 seasons (1951 through 1960) with the San Francisco 49ers.
• I was a Pro Bowl selection six consecutive seasons (1955 through 1960) and named to wire-service All-Pro teams in 1955 and 1957.
• I led the NFL in receptions three consecutive years--1955 (60 catches), 1956 (60) and 1957 (52).
• I caught passes from NFL standout quarterbacks Y.A. Tittle and John Brodie.
• A fellow receiver with the 49ers was R.C. Owens, who led the nation's small colleges in rebounding in 1953-54 with the College of Idaho.
• I was named player of the game in the 1955 Pro Bowl after catching 11 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown.

Who am I? BILLY WILSON

• I was a Minnesota teammate of All-American forward Jim Brewer under coach Bill Musselman.
• I played the entire game, collecting eight points and eight rebounds against eventual national runner-up Florida State, in the Gophers' first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1972.
• I didn't play college football, but was chosen in the 17th round of the 1973 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings. That same year I was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the fifth round of the NBA draft and the Utah Stars in the sixth round of the ABA draft.
• My major league baseball teammates included former college basketball players Bill Almon (Brown), Kenny Lofton (Arizona), Graig Nettles (San Diego State) and Dennis Rasmussen (Creighton).
• I was an outfielder who hit .283 with 465 home runs, 1,833 RBIs and 3,110 hits in 22 seasons (1973 through 1988 and 1990 through 1995) with the San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, California Angels, Toronto Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians.
• I participated in the World Series with the Yankees (1981) and Blue Jays (1992).
• I am a baseball Hall of Famer who appeared in 12 All-Star Games after never playing in the minors.

Who am I? DAVE WINFIELD

• I played against Guy Lewis' Houston squad featuring Elvin Hayes and Don Chaney.
• I was Colorado State's leading scorer for NCAA Tournament teams in 1965 and 1966.
• I was a cornerback who had a total of five interceptions in two seasons (1966 and 1967) with the AFL's Denver Broncos although I never played a down of college football.
• One of my teammates with the Broncos was receiver Lionel Taylor, who led New Mexico Highlands' basketball team in scoring average with 13.6 ppg in 1955-56 and 20.3 in 1956-57.
• I became the first player in professional sports history to compete in football and basketball (Denver Rockets) simultaneously.

Who am I? LONNIE WRIGHT

Participating in office pools for major sports events, whether for money or not, has become as American in the national workplace as filling out your vacation schedule. Both forms can be perplexing because you frequently second guess yourself on where to go, when to go and exactly what to do. More often than not, you want to modify the submissions moments after turning them in. You feel as if you've flunked Office-Pool Economics 101.

No office pool heightens your frustration more than the NCAA Tournament. The allure of the office anarchy can be attributed to the futility of the exercise. Just ask Pete Rose when he was relaxing at spring training. Still, a little sophisticated guidance is better than none at all as you strive to meet the deadline for submitting your final NCAA playoff bracket.

If you're among the ardent fans who adore the Final Four and are starving for relevant handicapping tips, a sane approach to surviving March Madness has arrived. It is time to start chewing on historical nuggets to avoid making another April Fool appearance when results are posted on the bulletin board. Pay close attention to these sweet 16 dos and don'ts on how to fill out your bracket. As events unfold, you might want to rekindle old memories by assessing CollegeHoopedia.com's most magical playoff moments and All-Time All-NCAA Tournament teams.

1. SEEDING CAPACITY
DO pick a top three seeded team to win the national title.
In the first 35 years since the NCAA Tournament embraced seeding, 31 of the champions were seeded No. 1 (20 titlists), 2 (six) or 3 (five). The only championship game without at least one No. 1 or No. 2 seed was 1989, when a pair of No. 3 seeds clashed (Michigan and Seton Hall), until last year when #3 Connecticut opposed #8 Butler.

DON'T pick more than two of the four regional No. 1 seeds to reach the Final Four.
No. 1 seeds always look tempting (especially after all four advanced to national semifinals in 2008). But the Final Four did not have more than two of them any year from 1979 through 1992.

2. DOUBLE TROUBLE
DO pick two teams seeded 13th or worse to defeat teams seeded two through four and one team seeded 12th to reach a regional semifinal.
Since the seeding process started in 1979, never have all of the top four seeds in each regional survived their opening round. A No. 12 seed advanced to the round of 16 five consecutive years from 1990 through 1994.

DON'T automatically pick a perennial power to defeat a team with a double-digit seed.
More than 100 different coaches have lost at least one tournament game to an opponent with a double-digit seed since the seeding process was introduced. Playoff newcomers shouldn't be shunned if they get any break at all in the seeding process. First-time entrants assert themselves when they receive a decent draw. Of the schools making their tournament debuts since the field expanded to at least 52 teams, almost one-fourth of them survived the first round.

3. SCORING SUMMARY
DO shun a potential championship team if an underclassman guard is leading the squad in scoring.
The only freshmen to lead a national champion in scoring were Utah forward Arnie Ferrin in 1944 and Syracuse forward Carmelo Anthony in 2003. Of the sophomores to lead national titlists in scoring average, the only guards were Indiana's Isiah Thomas (16 ppg in 1981) and Duke's Jason Williams (21.6 ppg in 2001).

DON'T tamper with a "curse" by picking a team with the nation's leading scorer on its roster to reach the Final Four.
No national champion has had a player average as many as 30 points per game. The only player to lead the nation in scoring average while playing for a school to reach the NCAA Tournament championship game was Clyde Lovellette, who carried Kansas to the 1952 title. The only other player to lead the nation in scoring average while playing for a team advancing to the Final Four was Oscar Robertson, who powered Cincinnati to the national semifinals in 1959 and 1960 before the Bearcats were defeated both years by California. The Bears restricted the Big O to a total of 37 points in the two Final Four games as he was just nine of 32 from the floor.

4. PICKS AND PANS
Unless vital criteria is met to suffice otherwise, DO go with better-seeded teams to win games in the four regionals.
The better-seeded teams win a little over 2/3 of the games in regional competition. However, Final Four games have virtually broken even in regard to the original seedings.

DON'T pick a team to capture the NCAA title if the club lost its conference tournament opener.
No team ever has won an NCAA championship after losing a conference postseason tournament opener.

5. DIRECTIONAL SIGNALS
DO remember the cliche "East is Least."
No Eastern school won the East Regional and the national title in the same season since the tournament went to four regionals until Syracuse achieved the feat in 2003. The first seven national champions from the East Regional since 1956 were all ACC members (North Carolina '57, N.C. State '74, North Carolina '82, Duke '92, North Carolina '93, Duke '01 and Maryland '02) before Carolina won the East Regional again in 2005.

DON'T accept the axiom that the "West is Worst."
What does the Left Coast have to do to shed a misguided image? The Pacific-12 Conference supplied two NCAA champions in a three-year span (UCLA '95 and Arizona '97) before Stanford and Utah reached the 1998 Final Four. Arizona was runner-up in 2001 before UCLA participated in three straight Final Fours from 2006 through 2008. Although the Pac-12 struggled this season, the multiple-bid Mountain West and/or West Coast could take up the slack.

6. MATHEMATICAL ODDS
DO pick two of the ten recognizable schools with the all-time best playoff records to reach the Final Four.
There is a strong possibility some familiar faces will arrive in New Orleans since at least two of the ten winningest schools by percentage (minimum of 50 playoff games) usually appear at the Final Four. The top ten schools are Duke (.744 entering the '17 tourney), UCLA (.725), North Carolina (.719), Florida (.714), Kentucky (.707), Kansas (.699), Michigan State (.683), Michigan (.672), Indiana (.667) and Ohio State (.667).

DON'T be too wary of first-rate coaches with dime-store playoff results.
High-profile coaches are occasionally grilled because of their dismal tournament resumes. But they're due to eventually turn things around and shouldn't be written off altogether. Remember: Legendary John Wooden lost his first five playoff games as coach at UCLA by an average of more than 11 points and compiled an anemic 3-9 record from 1950 through 1963 before the Bruins won an unprecedented 10 national titles in 12 years from 1964 through 1975. It doesn't seem possible, but additional elite coaches who didn't win their first NCAA playoff game until their 10th DI season or longer include Dana Altman, Rick Barnes, P.J. Carlesimo, Pete Carril, Bobby Cremins, Tom Davis, Cliff Ellis, Bill E. Foster, Hugh Greer, Leonard Hamilton, Marv Harshman, Terry Holland, Maury John, Mike Krzyzewski, Ralph Miller, Mike Montgomery, Joe Mullaney, Pete Newell, Tom Penders, George Raveling, Kelvin Sampson, Norm Sloan, Butch van Breda Kolff and Ned Wulk.

7. GO WITH MIGHTY MO?
DO remember the odds about a conference tournament champion reaching the NCAA Tournament final.
There is a theory that burnout has a tendency to set in. But more than half of the NCAA titlists since seeding started in 1979 also won their conference postseason tournament the same year.

DON'T be swayed by a postseason conference tournament title or a poor performance in an elite league tourney.
Disregard the "hot team" factor because a defeat in a league tournament is often a better motivational tool than a complacency-inducing victory.

8. LOOKING OUT FOR NO. 1
DO look for a school other than the defending champion (Connecticut in 2014) to become national titlist.
Duke was fortunate to repeat in 1992 when they reached the Final Four on Christian Laettner's last-second basket in overtime in the East Regional final against Kentucky. Florida repeated in 2007 despite winning its last five contests by 10 or fewer points.

DON'T pick the top-ranked team entering the tournament to reach the national championship game, let alone capture the crown.
There is a clear and present danger for pole sitters. Only three of the 29 schools atop the national rankings entering the NCAA playoffs from 1983 through 2011 went on to capture the national championship and only six No. 1 squads in the last 25 seasons of that span reached the title game.

9. NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
DO pick at least one Final Four team with a coach making his debut at the national semifinals.
Just four Final Fours (1951, 1968, 1984 and 1993) had all four coaches arrive there with previous Final Four experience. There has been at least one fresh face among the bench bosses at the national semifinals all but one of the last 27 years. In 1993, coaches Steve Fisher (Michigan), Rick Pitino (Kentucky), Dean Smith (North Carolina) and Roy Williams (Kansas) returned to familiar surroundings at the Final Four.

DON'T pick a team to win the national title if its coach is in his first season at the school.
Steve Fisher guided Michigan to the 1989 title after succeeding Bill Frieder just before the start of the playoffs. But the only individual to capture an NCAA crown in his first full campaign as head coach at a university was Ed Jucker (Cincinnati '61 after seven years at King's Point and Rensselaer). The average championship team head coach has been at the school almost 13 years and has almost 17 years of college head coaching experience overall. The only championship head coaches with less than five years of experience were Fisher and Fred Taylor (second season at Ohio State '60).

10. SENIORS AND SHEEPSKINS
DO realize that senior experience needs to be complemented by the vigor from undergraduates.
A senior-laden lineup is not a prerequisite for capturing a national championship. An average of only two seniors were among the top seven scorers for NCAA Tournament titlists since the playoff field expanded to at least 64 teams in 1985. Eight of the 16 NCAA champions from 1991 through 2006 boasted no more than one senior among its top seven scorers. Only three NCAA champions since Indiana '87 - UCLA (1995), Michigan (2000) and Maryland (2002) - had seniors as their top two scorers.

DON'T pick a team to capture the title if it is coached by a graduate of the school.
A champion is almost never guided by a graduate of that university.

11. CHANGE OF ADDRESS
DO pick at least one of your Final Four teams to have a transfer starter.
Almost every Final Four features at least one starter who began his college career at another four-year Division I school.

DON'T pick schools that lost a vital undergraduate to reach the Final Four if you think the defectors will become pro stars.
Ten individuals scored more than 20,000 points in the NBA or were named to at least five All-NBA teams after participating in the NCAA Division I playoffs and then leaving college with eligibility remaining - Charles Barkley (departed Auburn early), Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston), Isiah Thomas (Indiana), Wilt Chamberlain (Kansas), Karl Malone (Louisiana Tech), Magic Johnson (Michigan State), Bob McAdoo and Michael Jordan (North Carolina), Adrian Dantley (Notre Dame) and Elgin Baylor (Seattle). None of their schools reached the Final Four the year or years they could have still been in college.

12. CONFERENCE CALL
DO pick two teams from the same conference to reach the Final Four, with at least one of them advancing to the championship game.
Double your pleasure: A pair of members from the same conference frequently advance to the Final Four.

DON'T be condescending and overlook quality mid-major conference teams.
It's not a question of if but where will David defeat Goliath. There have been more than 100 Big Boy losses against members of lower-profile conferences seeded five or more places worse than the major university which is currently a member of one of the current consensus top six leagues. A total of 74 different lower-profile schools and current members of 23 different mid-major conferences (all but Great West, Northeast and Summit) have won such games since seeding started in 1979.

13. REGULAR-SEASON REVIEW
DO pick two of your Final Four teams from schools failing to finish atop their regular-season conference standings.
The best is yet to come for a team or two that might have been somewhat of an underachiever during the regular season. Almost half of the entrants since the field expanded to 48 in 1980 did not win outright or share a regular-season league title.

DON'T put much emphasis on comparing regular-season scores.
A striking number of NCAA champions lost at least one conference game to a team with a losing league mark. Many NCAA champions weren't exactly invincible as a majority of them lost a regular-season games by a double-digit margin.

14. AT-LARGE ANSWERS
DO avoid picking an at-large team with a losing conference record to go beyond the second round.
An at-large team with a sub-.500 league mark almost never wins more than one NCAA Tournament game.

DON'T pick an at-large team compiling a mediocre record to reach the regional semifinals.
Only a handful of at-large entrants winning fewer than 60 percent of their games manage to reach the second round.

15. RACIAL PROFILING
DO pick at least a couple of teams coached by African Americans to advance a minimum of two rounds in the tournament.
More often than not, at least two teams coached by African Americans reach the regional semifinals (round of 16).

DON'T pick a team to win the championship if its top two scorers are white athletes.
Duke had the only two teams in recent memory to win the NCAA title with white players comprising its top two point producers that season. In 1991, the two two scorers were Christian Laettner and Billy McCaffrey, who subsequently transferred to Vanderbilt. In 2010, Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler were Duke's top two scorers. Laettner also led the Blue Devils in scoring when they captured the 1993 crown. The only other white players ranked among the top three scorers for NCAA championship teams since the field expanded to at least 40 teams included: Randy Wittman (third for Indiana '81), Steve Alford (led Indiana '87), Kevin Pritchard (third for Kansas '88), Eric Montross (led North Carolina '93), Jeff Sheppard/Scott Padgett (first and third for Kentucky '98), Gerry McNamara (third for Syracuse '03) and Tyler Hansbrough (led North Carolina '09).

16. LAW OF AVERAGES
DO pick one "sleeper" team not ranked among the top ten in either of the final wire-service polls entering the tournament to reach the championship game.
There likely will be a Rip Van Winkle finally waking up to advance to the national final after not being ranked among the top ten in an AP final poll.

DON'T pick the national runner-up from one year to win the championship the next season.
The only three teams ever to finish national runner-up one year and then capture the title the next season were North Carolina (1981 and 1982), Duke (1990 and 1991) and Kentucky (1997 and 1998).

It shouldn't be any surprise Kansas and Penn are accustomed to capturing conference crowns as they join Kentucky as the only three schools with 40 or more regular-season league titles. The Jayhawks are all about winning championships, collecting 61 regular-season conference titles in its illustrious history. KU's streak of 14 straight Big 12 titles, catapulting the Jayhawks to a staggering average of almost 33 victories annually over the last 12 years, enables Kansas to be atop the following list of schools with more than 25 regular-season major-college league championships:

• Kansas - 61 (13 of the 21 Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles from 1908 through 1928, 30 in Big Eight and 18 in Big 12)
• Kentucky - 53 in SEC
• Pennsylvania - 40 in EIBL/Ivy League
• North Carolina - 38 (7 in Southern and 31 in ACC)
• Princeton - 37 in EIBL/Ivy League
• UCLA - 35 in Pacific-12
• Connecticut - 29 (19 in Yankee and 10 in Big East)
• Western Kentucky* - 28 (19 in Ohio Valley and 9 in Sun Belt)
• Arkansas - 26 (22 in SWC and 4 in SEC)
• Texas - 26 (22 in SWC and 4 in Big 12)

*WKU's total is 42 if include 14 titles won in the KIAC/SIAA in the 1930s and 1940s. All current members of the SEC (except for Arkansas) previously were in the SIAA and six ACC members comprised a portion of the former alliance.

The amazing six-overtime thriller between Connecticut and Syracuse in the 2009 Big East Conference Tournament quarterfinals is relatively easy to remember. But one of the most titillating tourney tidbits among all leagues that gets overlooked because the Southwest Conference is defunct remains Texas Tech's Rick Bullock singlehandedly outscoring the "Triplets" from Arkansas (Ron Brewer, Marvin Delph and Sidney Moncrief) by seven points, 44-37, when he set the SWC's single-game tournament scoring record in the 1976 semifinals.

As league tourney action commences including the Ivy League's inaugural event, don't hesitate to capitalize on the links for the current Division I conferences cited below to refresh your memory about past champions and events. Following are many of the names and numbers of note only Cliff Clavin knows regarding previous conference tournament competition you can reflect upon as teams tune up for the main event by jockeying for position in the NCAA playoff bracket:

America East - The 1989 North Atlantic Tournament was dubbed the MIT (Measles Invitational Tourney) because all spectators were banned due to a measles outbreak. Delaware competed for 17 years in the East Coast Conference and never won an ECC Tournament championship. But the Blue Hens entered the AEC predecessor, the North Atlantic, in 1992 and won their first-ever title and went to the NCAA playoffs for the initial time. They successfully defended their crown the next year before closing out the decade with another set of back-to-back tourney titles.

American Athletic - In their lone season as members of the conference, Louisville (joined ACC) routed Rutgers (Big Ten), 92-31, in 2014.

Atlantic Coast - Maryland, ranking fourth in both polls, lost in overtime against eventual NCAA champion North Carolina State, 103-100, in the 1974 final in what some believe might have been the greatest college game ever played. Three players from each team earned All-American honors during their careers - North Carolina State's David Thompson, Tom Burleson and Monte Towe plus Maryland's John Lucas, Len Elmore and Tom McMillen. The Terrapins had four players score at least 20 points - Lucas, McMillen, Owen Brown and Mo Howard - in a 20-point victory over 22-6 North Carolina (105-85) in the semifinals. The Terps, of course, didn't participate in the NCAA playoffs that year because a 32-team bracket allowing teams other than the league champion to be chosen on an at-large basis from the same conference wasn't adopted until the next season.

Atlantic Sun - Belmont hit 12 of 19 first-half shots from beyond the arc in the 2007 final against top seed East Tennessee State.

Atlantic 10 - Temple reached the tourney semifinals 19 consecutive seasons in one stretch.

Big East - St. John's doesn't seem to have any advantage at Madison Square Garden. It lost five consecutive tourney games on its homecourt by an average margin of 11.4 points from 1987 through 1991.

Big Sky - Montana, capitalizing on a homecourt advantage, overcame a jinx by winning back-to-back tournament titles in 1991 and 1992. The Grizzlies had just two losing regular-season league records from 1976 through 1990, but they didn't win the tournament title in that span, losing the championship game five times from 1978 through 1984.

Big South - The No. 1 seed won this unpredictable tourney only five times in the first 17 years. Radford failed to reach the postseason tournament final for nine years until capturing the event in 1998.

Big Ten - Illinois won as many games in the 1999 tourney as the Illini did in regular-season conference competition that season (3-13). Northwestern, en route to its initial NCAA playoff appearance, scored 31 unanswered points in the first half of a 2017 quarterfinal game against Rutgers.

Big 12 - Kansas won the first three championship games from 1997 through 1999 by at least 14 points.

Big West - Pacific didn't compile a winning league record from 1979 through 1992, but the Tigers climaxed three consecutive appearances in the tournament semifinals by advancing to the '92 championship game.

Colonial - Navy, seeded No. 8 in 1991 in its last year in the tournament before joining the Patriot League, upset top seed James Madison in overtime, 85-82, in the opening round.

Conference USA - Three of four C-USA Tournament champions from 1997 through 2000 won four games in four days. Cincinnati captured six league tournament titles in seven years from 1992 through 1998 in the Great Midwest and C-USA.

Horizon League - The first two tournament winners (Oral Roberts '80 and Oklahoma City '81) of the league's forerunner, the Midwestern City, subsequently shed Division I status and de-emphasized to the NAIA level. ORU, which also won the crown in 1984, returned to Division I status in 1993-94. Butler lost its first 12 games in the tourney until breaking into the win column in 1992.

Metro Atlantic Athletic - Eight different schools won the tournament title in an eight-year span from 1992 through 1999.

Mid-American - Bowling Green never has won the MAC Tournament. John Whorton, tourney MVP in 1999 when guiding Kent State to its initial NCAA playoff appearance, won $1.3 million with his wife in late 2016 on a NBC game show, "The Wall," created and produced by Akron native LeBron James.

Mid-Eastern Athletic - North Carolina A&T won seven consecutive titles from 1982 through 1988. The Aggies defeated Howard in the championship game each of the first six years of their streak with the middle four of them decided by a total of only 17 points.

Missouri Valley - Indiana State won only two of its next 20 MVC tourney games after All-American Larry Bird led the Sycamores to the 1979 title.

Mountain West - Not once has Air Force reached the championship game of the WAC or Mountain West.

Northeast - The final pitted the top two seeds against each other 11 times in a 13-year span from 1983 through 1995.

Ohio Valley - Former member Western Kentucky reached the championship game in eight of the OVC's first 10 tourneys. Tennessee Tech won only one tournament game from 1975 through 1992.

Pacific-12 - Arizona won the last three tourney finals from 1988 through 1990 by a minimum of 16 points before the league discontinued the event until reviving it in 2002.

Patriot League - No seed worse than third reached the championship game in the first 20 years of event from 1991 through 2010.

SEC - Seven of the 13 tourney MVPs from 1979 through 1991 didn't play for the champion. One of them, LSU's John Williams, didn't even compete in the 1986 title game. Although Kentucky standout center Alex Groza saw limited action in the 1947 tournament because of a back injury, the Wildcats cruised to victories over Vanderbilt (98-29), Auburn (84-18), Georgia Tech (75-53) and Tulane (55-38). UK was also without Converse All-American guard Jack Parkinson (serving in the military), but the five-man all-tourney team was comprised of nothing but Wildcats - forwards Jack Tingle and Joe Holland, center Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones and guards Ken Rollins and Ralph Beard. UK (24) has won more than half of the SEC's tourneys.

Southern - Furman's Jerry Martin, an outfielder who hit .251 in 11 years with the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Kansas City Royals and New York Mets from 1974 through 1984, was named MVP in the 1971 tournament after the 6-1 guard led the Paladins to the title with 22-, 36- and 19-point performances to pace the tourney in scoring. Two years earlier, current Davidson coach Bob McKillop scored three points for East Carolina against the Lefty Driesell-coached Wildcats in the 1969 SC Tournament championship game.

Southland - North Texas State's Kenneth Lyons outscored Louisiana Tech's Karl Malone, 47-6, when Lyons established a still existing single-game scoring record in the 1983 tournament quarterfinals. Malone led the SLC in rebounding (10.3 rpg) and steals (1.9 spg) that season as a freshman before going on to score more than 30,000 points in the NBA. Two years earlier, McNeese State won a first-round game after going winless in regular-season conference competition.

SWAC - Regular-season champion Grambling State lost by 50 points to Southern (105-55) in the 1987 final. An interesting twist that year was the fact Bob Hopkins, Grambling's first-year coach, had coached Southern the previous three seasons.

Summit League - The first tournament final in 1984 featured two teams with losing league records in regular-season competition (Western Illinois and Cleveland State).

Sun Belt - South Alabama's stall didn't prevent the Jaguars from losing to New Orleans, 22-20, on Nate Mills' last-second jumper in the 1978 final. The next season, the Sun Belt became the first league to experiment with a 45-second shot clock. The four different schools that accounted for the participants in six consecutive finals from 1980 through 1985 went on to join other conferences - UAB, Old Dominion, South Florida and Virginia Commonwealth. Two-time champion Charlotte also abandoned ship.

West Coast - The top two seeds didn't meet in the championship game until 2000. The most tragic moment in the history of any conference tournament occurred in the semifinals of the 1990 event at Loyola Marymount when Hank Gathers, the league's all-time scoring leader and a two-time tourney MVP, collapsed on his home court during the Lions' game with Portland. He died later that evening and the tournament was suspended. The Lions earned the NCAA Tournament bid because of their regular-season crown and advanced to the West Regional final behind the heroics of Bo Kimble, who was Gathers' longtime friend from Philadelphia.

Western Athletic - The tourney's biggest upset occurred in 1990 when No. 9 seed Air Force defeated No. 1 seed Colorado State in the quarterfinals, 58-51. Hawaii's Carl English, averaging 3.9 points per game as a freshman during the regular season, had a season-high 25 in a 78-72 overtime victory against host Tulsa in the 2001 final.

Existing single-game rebounding records for San Francisco (Bill Russell) and Santa Clara (Ken Sears) were set on the same day in West Coast Conference competition in 1955. In another oddity, Yale's single-game scoring and rebounding marks against a major-college opponent were established in the same game against Harvard in 1956. Following is a day-by-day calendar citing memorable moments in March major-college basketball history:

MARCH
1 - Kentucky's Cliff Hagan (42 points vs. Georgia in 1952 semifinals) set SEC Tournament single-game scoring record. . . . New Hampshire's Matt Alosa (39 vs. Hartford in opening round of 1996 North Atlantic Conference Tournament at Newark, DE), Saint Louis' Anthony Bonner (45 at Loyola of Chicago in overtime in 1990), Southern Illinois' Dick Garrett (46 vs. Centenary in 1968) and Southern Utah's Davor Marcelic (43 at Cal State Northridge in 1991) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Larry Jeffries (40 vs. Abilene Christian in 1969) had highest-scoring game for Trinity TX in season when school made its lone NCAA DI Tournament appearance. . . . In 1952, Penn State and Pittsburgh combined for only nine field-goal attempts (fewest in a game since 1938). . . . North Carolina State ended South Carolina's school-record 32-game winning streak (43-24 in 1934) and Southern Methodist's school-record 44-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Texas A&M (43-42 in 1958). . . . East Tennessee State's Tommy Woods (38 vs. Middle Tennessee State in 1965) and Holy Cross' Tom Heinsohn (42 vs. Boston College in 1956) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Chris Collier (23 vs. Centenary in 1990) set Georgia State's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent.
2 - Junior forward Ralph Jukkola became the only LSU teammate to outscore NCAA all-time leading scorer Pete Maravich in a regular-season game (22-17 in 74-71 loss at Tennessee in 1968) when Pistol was limited to fewer than 20 points for the lone time in college. Jukkola averaged 9.1 ppg in his three-year varsity career compared to Maravich's lofty mark of 44.2 ppg. . . . Campbell's Chris Clemons (51 points vs. UNC Asheville in 2017 Big South quarterfinals) and San Francisco's Tim Owens (45 vs. Loyola Marymount in 1991 WCC quarterfinals) set conference tournament single-game scoring records. . . . Colgate's Jonathan Stone (52 vs. Brooklyn in 1992), McNeese State's Michael Cutright (51 at Stephen F. Austin in double overtime in 1989), New Mexico's Marvin Johnson (50 vs. Colorado State in 1978) and Southern Methodist's Gene Phillips (51 at Texas in 1971) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Johnson's output is also a Western Athletic Conference record in league competition. . . . Oklahoma tied an NCAA single-game record by converting all 34 of its free-throw attempts (against Iowa State in 2013). . . . Penn State's school-record 45-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Penn (85-79 in 1955). . . . Jameel Warney (23 vs. UMBC in 2016 America East Conference Tournament quarterfinals) set Stony Brook's single-game rebounding record against a DI opponent.
3 - Jacksonville's Dee Brown (41 points vs. Old Dominion in 1990 quarterfinals) set Sun Belt Conference Tournament single-game scoring record and Monmouth's Rahsaan Johnson (40 vs. St. Francis NY in 2000 quarterfinals) set Northeast Conference Tournament single-game scoring record. . . . Drake's Philip "Red" Murrell (51 vs. Houston in overtime in 1958), Lafayette's Bobby Mantz (47 vs. Wilkes College PA in 1958), Maine's Jim Stephenson (54 vs. Colby in 1969), Robert Morris' Gene Nabors (38 vs. St. Francis PA in 2000 Northeast Conference Tournament quarterfinals at Trenton, NJ), St. John's Bob Zawoluk (65 vs. St. Peter's in 1950), Santa Clara's Carlos "Bud" Ogden (55 at Pepperdine in 1967), Temple's Bill Mlkvy (73 at Wilkes College PA in 1951), Tulsa's Willie Biles (48 vs. Wichita State in 1973) and UNLV's Trevor Diggs (49 vs. Wyoming in 2001) set school single-game scoring records. Diggs' output is also a Mountain West Conference record in league competition. . . . Florida State's Al Thornton (45 vs. Miami in 2007) and Tennessee-Martin's Lester Hudson (42 vs. Tennessee Tech in 2009) set school single-game scoring records against a Division I opponent. . . . Kentucky's Adolph Rupp became the coach to compile 800 victories the fastest with a 90-86 win at Auburn in 1969 (974 games in 37th season). . . . Army's Todd Mattson (24 vs. Holy Cross in 1990), Delaware State's Kendall Gray (30 vs. Coppin State in 2015), Iowa's Chuck Darling (30 vs. Wisconsin in 1952) and Minnesota's Larry Mikan (28 vs. Michigan in 1970) set school single-game rebounding records.
4 - Houston Baptist's Reggie Gibbs (43 points at Texas-San Antonio in 1989), Marshall's Skip Henderson (55 vs. The Citadel in 1988 Southern Conference Tournament quarterfinals at Asheville, NC) and Montana State's Tom Storm (44 vs. Portland State in 1967) set school single-game scoring records against NCAA Division I opponents. Henderson's output is also a Southern Conference Tournament single-game record. . . . Army's Mark Lueking (43 vs. Bucknell in 1995 quarterfinals) tied Patriot League Tournament single-game scoring record. . . . Villanova's school-record 72-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by St. Francis PA (70-64 in 1958). . . . San Francisco's Bill Russell (35 vs. Loyola Marymount in 1955) and Santa Clara's Ken Sears (30 vs. Pacific in 1955) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Collis Jones (25 vs. Western Michigan in 1971) set Notre Dame's single-game rebounding record against a Division I opponent. . . . One of the most tragic moments in college basketball history occurred in semifinals of 1990 West Coast Conference Tournament at Loyola Marymount when Hank Gathers, the league's all-time scoring leader and a two-time tourney MVP, collapsed and died on his homecourt during the Lions' game with Portland.
5 - Bradley's Hersey Hawkins (41 points vs. Indiana State in 1988 Missouri Valley quarterfinals), Holy Cross' Rob Feaster (43 vs. Navy in 1994 Patriot League semifinals) and Texas Tech's Rick Bullock (44 vs. Arkansas in 1976 SWC semifinals) set conference tournament single-game scoring records. . . . Cal State Northridge's Mike O'Quinn (39 vs. Eastern Washington in overtime in 1998 Big Sky Tournament quarterfinals at Northern Arizona), Cornell's George Farley (47 at Princeton in 1960), Michigan's Cazzie Russell (48 vs. Northwestern in 1966), Minnesota's Eric Magdanz (42 at Michigan in 1962) and Wichita State's Antoine Carr (47 vs. Southern Illinois in 1983) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Carnegie Tech's Melvin Cratsley set Eastern Intercollegiate Conference single-game scoring record with 34 points vs. West Virginia in 1938. . . . Boston University's Kevin Thomas (34 vs. Boston College in 1958), Delaware State's Kendall Gray (30 vs. Coppin State in 2015), Pacific's Keith Swagerty (39 vs. UC Santa Barbara in 1965) and Saint Louis' Jerry Koch (38 vs. Bradley in 1954) set school single-game rebounding records. . . . Baylor's Jerome Lambert (26 vs. Southern Methodist in 1994) and Wyoming's Leon Clark (24 vs. Arizona in 1966) set school single-game rebounding records against a DI opponent.
6 - Texas Christian's Mike Jones (44 points vs. Fresno State in 1997 quarterfinals) set WAC Tournament single-game scoring record. . . . Duquesne's Ron Guziak (50 vs. St. Francis PA at Altoona in 1968), Fairfield's George Groom (41 vs. Assumption MA in 1972), Minnesota's Ollie Shannon (42 vs. Wisconsin in 1971), Missouri's Joe Scott (46 vs. Nebraska in 1961) and Sam Houston State's Senecca Wall (45 vs. Texas-Arlington in double overtime in 2001 Southland Conference Tournament quarterfinals) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Ohio State set an NCAA single-game record by making 14 consecutive three-point field-goal attempts (against Wisconsin in 2011).
7 - North Carolina's Lennie Rosenbluth (45 points vs. Clemson in 1957 ACC quarterfinals) and Longwood's Michael Kessens (36 vs. VMI in 2013 Big South quarterfinals) set conference tournament single-game scoring records. . . . Houston Baptist's Reggie Gibbs (43 vs. Georgia Southern in 1989 TAAC Tournament quarterfinals), Lehigh's Daren Queenan (49 vs. Bucknell in double overtime in 1987 ECC Tournament semifinals at Towson State), Notre Dame's Austin Carr (61 vs. Ohio University in first round of 1970 NCAA Tournament Mideast Regional) and Rhode Island's Tom Garrick (50 vs. Rutgers in 1988 Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament quarterfinals at West Virginia) set school Division I single-game scoring records. Carr's output is also an NCAA playoff single-game record and outputs by Garrick and Gibbs are single-game records in respective league tourneys. . . . Oklahoma State center Arlen Clark established an NCAA standard for most successful free throws in a game without a miss when he converted all 24 of his foul shots against Colorado in 1959. . . . In 1928, Butler beat Notre Dame, 21-13, in inaugural game at legendary Hinkle Fieldhouse, which was the largest basketball arena in the U.S. at the time and retained that distinction until 1950.
8 - Marshall's DeAndre Kane (40 points vs. Tulsa in 2012 C-USA quarterfinals), William & Mary's Marcus Thornton (37 vs. Hofstra in double overtime in 2015 CAA semifinals) and Wright State's Bill Edwards (38 vs. Illinois-Chicago in 1993 Summit League final) set conference tournament single-game scoring records and Kentucky's Melvin Turpin (42 vs. Georgia in 1984 quarterfinals) tied SEC Tournament single-game scoring record. . . . Harvard's Brady Merchant (45 vs. Brown in 2003), Miami of Ohio's Ron Harper (45 vs. Ball State in 1985 Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinals) and Vanderbilt's Tom Hagan (44 at Mississippi State in 1969) set school single-game scoring records. Harper's output is also a MAC Tournament single-game scoring record. . . . Brown's Gerry Alaimo (26 vs. Rhode Island in 1958) and Georgia's Bob Lienhard (29 vs. Louisiana State in 1969) set school single-game rebounding records against a Division I opponent.
9 - Greg Ballard (43 points at Oral Roberts in 1977 NIT first round) set Oregon's single-game scoring record. . . . Marcus Mann (28 vs. Jackson State in 1996) set Mississippi Valley State's single-game rebounding record against a Division I opponent.
10 - North Texas State's Kenneth Lyons (47 points vs. Louisiana Tech in 1983 Southland quarterfinals), Northwestern's Michael Thompson (35 vs. Minnesota in 2011 Big Ten opening round) and Washington State's Klay Thompson (43 vs. Washington in 2011 Pac-12 quarterfinals) set single-game scoring records in their respective conference tournaments. Lyons' output is also a school single-game scoring record. . . . Paul Williams (45 at Southern California in 1983) set Arizona State's single-game scoring record. . . . John Lee (41 vs. Harvard in 1956) set Yale's single-game scoring record against a Division I opponent. . . . Lamar's school-record 80-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Louisiana Tech (68-65 in 1984 SLC Tournament). . . . Ed Robinson (32 vs. Harvard in 1956) set Yale's single-game rebounding record.
11 - Connecticut's Donyell Marshall (42 points vs. St. John's in 1994 Big East quarterfinals), Texas Tech's Mike Singletary (43 vs. Texas A&M in 2009 Big 12 opening round), Cal State Fullerton's Josh Akognon (37 vs. UC Riverside in 2009 Big West opening round) and Bethune-Cookman's Richard Toussaint (49 vs. Morgan State in 2003 MEAC first round) set single-game scoring records in their respective conference tournaments. . . . Brigham Young's Jimmer Fredette (52 vs. New Mexico in 2011 Mountain West Tournament semifinals at Las Vegas), Montana's Anthony Johnson (42 at Weber State in 2010 Big Sky Tournament final) and Nebraska's Eric Piatkowski (42 vs. Oklahoma in 1994 Big Eight Tournament quarterfinals at Kansas City) set school single-game scoring records. Outputs for Fredette, Johnson and Piatkowski are also single-game scoring records in their respective conference tourneys. . . . Quinton Hooker (38 vs. Weber State in 2016 Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinals) set North Dakota scoring record against a Division I opponent. . . . Indiana (95) and Michigan (57) combined for an NCAA single-game record of 152 rebounds in 1961. Walt Bellamy (33) set IU's individual rebounding record in the contest.
12 - Bradley's Bob Carney set NCAA Tournament single-game record by converting 23 free-throw attempts (against Colorado in 1954 regional semifinals). . . . Stony Brook's Jameel Warney (43 points vs. Vermont in 2016 America East final) and Eastern Washington's Tyler Harvey (42 vs. Idaho in 2015 Big Sky quarterfinals at Montana) tied conference tournament scoring marks. Warney's output is also a school standard since moving up to NCAA Division I level. . . . DePaul's George Mikan (53 vs. Rhode Island State in 1945 NIT semifinals), Fairleigh Dickinson's Elijah Allen (43 vs. Connecticut in 1998 NCAA Tournament first round) and Navy's David Robinson (50 vs. Michigan in first round of 1987 NCAA Tournament East Regional) set school Division I single-game scoring records. . . . Syracuse outlasted Connecticut, 127-117, in six overtimes in 2009 Big East Conference Tournament quarterfinals in longest postseason game in NCAA history.
13 - Vermont's Taylor Coppenrath (43 points vs. Maine in 2004 final) set America East Conference Tournament single-game scoring record.
14 - Louisville's Russ Smith (42 points vs. Houston in 2014 semifinals) set American Athletic Conference Tournament single-game scoring record. Smith's output also set a school mark for most points against a major-college opponent.
15 - Andrew Goudelock (39 points vs. Dayton in 2011 NIT first round) set College of Charleston's single-game scoring record against a Division I opponent.
16 - Kentucky's Kenny Walker (11-of-11 vs. Western Kentucky in 1986 second round) became only player in NCAA Tournament history to make all of more than 10 field-goal attempts in a single playoff game. . . . Temple's Fred Cohen (34 vs. Connecticut in 1956 NCAA Tournament East Regional semifinals) set a school and NCAA Tournament single-game rebounding record. . . . Nate Thurmond (31 vs. Mississippi State in 1963 Mideast Regional third-place game) set Bowling Green's single-game rebounding record against a Division I opponent.
17 - Texas' Travis Mays (23-of-27 vs. Georgia in 1990 first round) tied NCAA Tournament single-game record for most free-throws made. . . . Maurice Stokes (43 points vs. Dayton in 1955 NIT semifinals) set Saint Francis (PA) single-game scoring record against a Division I opponent. . . . In 1939, Villanova defeated Brown, 42-30, in the first NCAA Tournament game ever played. . . . Al Inniss (37 vs. Lafayette in 1956 NIT first round) set St. Francis NY single-game rebounding record.
18 - Loyola Marymount's Jeff Fryer (11 three-pointers vs. Michigan in 1990 second round) became the only player in NCAA playoff history to make more than 10 three-point field-goals in a single playoff game.
19 - Louisiana State's Shaquille O'Neal (11 rejections vs. Brigham Young in 1992 first round) set NCAA Tournament single-game record for most blocked shots.
20 - Duke's Mike Krzyzewski passed North Carolina's Dean Smith (65 victories) for the most coaching wins in NCAA Tournament history with a 63-55 second-round triumph against Mississippi State in 2005. . . . Michigan State's Adrien Payne (17-for-17 from free-throw line vs. Delaware in 2014 opener) set NCAA Tournament single-game record for most successful foul shots without a miss. . . . UCLA's Gail Goodrich (18 vs. Michigan in 1965 championship game) set Final Four single-game record for most free throws made.
21 - UNC Wilmington's John Goldsberry became only player in NCAA Tournament history to make as many as eight three-pointers without a miss in single playoff game (against Maryland in 2003 first round).
22 - The only time in major-college history two undefeated major colleges met in a national postseason tournament was the 1939 NIT final between Loyola of Chicago and Long Island University (LIU won, 44-32). . . . University of Chicago ended Penn's school-record 31-game winning streak (28-24 in 1920) and LIU ended Seton Hall's school-record 41-game winning streak (49-26 in 1941 NIT semifinals).
23 - Hal Lear (48 points vs. Southern Methodist in 1956 NCAA Tournament third-place game) set Temple's single-game scoring record against a Division I opponent. . . . San Francisco's Bill Russell (27 vs. Iowa in 1956 championship game) set Final Four record for most rebounds.
24 - Askia Jones (62 points vs. Fresno State in 1994 NIT quarterfinals) set Kansas State's single-game scoring record. . . . Kentucky's De'Aaron Fox (39 vs. UCLA in 2017 South Regional semifinal) set NCAA Tournament scoring record by a freshman.
25 - Eventual 10-year N.L. OF Frankie Baumholtz scored a team-high 19 points for Ohio University in 1941 NIT final defeat against LIU.
26 - UCLA's Bill Walton (44 points vs. Memphis State in 1973) set NCAA Tournament championship game scoring record by sinking a Final Four standard 21-of-22 field-goal attempts (95.5%). . . . DePaul's Mark Aguirre (34 vs. Penn in 1979 national third-place game) set Final Four scoring record by a freshman.
28 - UNLV's Mark Wade (18 vs. Indiana in 1987 national semifinals) set NCAA Tournament single-game record for most assists. Teammate Freddie Banks established Final Four mark for most three-point field goals with 10. . . . North Carolina's Al Wood (39 points vs. Virginia in 1981) set scoring record for NCAA Tournament national semifinal game.
30 - Princeton's Bill Bradley (58 points vs. Wichita State in 1965 NCAA Tournament national third-place game) and Siena's Doremus Bennerman (51 vs. Kansas State in 1994 NIT third-place game at Madison Square Garden) set school single-game scoring records. Bradley's output was the highest in any Final Four contest.
31 - Villanova made Final Four-record 18 three-pointers (2018 national semifinals vs. Kansas). . . . Kansas' Jeff Withey (7 rejections vs. Ohio State in 2012 national semifinals) set record for most blocked shots in a Final Four game since they became an official statistic.

Memorable Moments in February College Basketball History
Memorable Moments in January College Basketball History
Memorable Moments in December College Basketball History
Memorable Moments in November College Basketball History

After Gonzaga's Mark Few (in 18th tourney appearance) and Oregon's Dana Altman (13th) reached the Final Four for first time in their careers last season, the microscope focused on Notre Dame's Mike Brey as the best active power-league coach participating in more than 10 tourneys never to reach the national semifinals. Brey's chances of advancing to Final Four this year went up in smoke when potential national player of the year Bonzie Colson missed majority of campaign because of fractured left foot. Brey is in same AWOL category with all-time greats John Chaney, Lefty Driesell, Gene Keady and Norm Stewart - four retired luminaries failing to advance to the national semifinals in a total of 64 NCAA Tournaments. "It's so difficult not being able to make that final step," said Chaney, who lost five regional finals with Temple.

Driesell made 11 NCAA playoff appearances with Davidson and Maryland from 1966 through 1986. "I always wanted to get to the Final Four, but not as much as some people think," said Driesell, who lost four regional finals. "I'm not obsessed with it."

Only four schools - North Carolina, Duke, Georgetown and Syracuse - supplied more NCAA consensus first- and second-team All-Americans from 1982 through 1992 than Stewart-coached Missouri (seven). It must have been particularly frustrating for Mizzou fans when the Tigers compiled a 4-8 NCAA tourney worksheet in that span.

But some mentors never will receive the accolades they deserve because of failing to reach the Promised Land, including maligned Dave Bliss, who resurfaced as coach of an NAIA school in Texas. There were 100,000 reasons Sean Miller was expected to join this dubious list in 2017-18 after dismal first-round loss against Buffalo despite bringing freshman phenom Deandre Ayton to Arizona in some form or fashion (cause or no cause). Miller may need a safe space on campus to curl up in a fetal position depending upon content of a FBI recording, but the following "Generation Hex" list includes prominent coaches without a Final Four berth on their resume despite more than 10 NCAA Tournament appearances:

Coach	NCAA Tourneys	Playoff Record (Pct.)	Closest to Reaching Final Four
Gene Keady	18	19-18 (.514)	regional runner-up with Purdue in 1994 and 2000
John Chaney	17	23-17 (.575)	regional runner-up with Temple five times (1988-91-93-99-01)
Fran Dunphy	16	3-16 (.158)	won three opening-round games with Penn and Temple (1994, 2011 and 2013)
Norm Stewart	16	12-16 (.429)	regional runner-up with Missouri in 1976 and 1994
Mike Brey	14	13-14 (.481)	regional runner-up with Notre Dame in 2015 and 2016
Lefty Driesell	13	16-14 (.533)	regional runner-up four times with Davidson and Maryland (1968-69-73-75)
Dave Bliss	11	8-11 (.421)	regional semifinals with Oklahoma in 1979
Pete Carril	11	4-11 (.267)	won two games with Princeton in 1983
Gale Catlett	11	7-11 (.389)	regional semifinals with West Virginia in 1998
Tom Davis	11	18-11 (.621)	regional runner-up with Boston College in 1982 and Iowa in 1987
Mark Gottfried	11	10-11 (.476)	regional final with Alabama in 2004
Tom Penders	11	12-11 (.522)	regional final with Texas in 1990