Emphasizing a "one-and-only" theme for a "one-and-only" event, here is Day 16 of a treasure-trove of tantalizing NCAA Tournament trivia questions from CollegeHoopedia.com (10 per day from Selection Sunday through the championship game) tracking the only coach, conference, player or school to be linked to a distinguished or dubious achievement (click here for answers or conduct research digesting historical morsels in CollegeHoopedia.com's year-by-year highlights):

1. Name the only school to have four players score more than 14,000 points in the pros after never participating in national postseason competition (NCAA playoffs and NIT). Hint: One member of the foursome left college early after just one season of eligibility when he averaged 30 points per game and another is the highest scorer in NBA history to never participate in the NBA playoffs.

2. Name the only father-son combination to be on the rosters of two teams from the same school to win NCAA Tournament championships. Hint: Both of them were underclassmen when their teams captured NCAA titles.

3. Who is the only player to never appear in the NBA or ABA after averaging more than 20 points per game for a team reaching an NCAA Tournament final? Hint: A college teammate was a member of the NBA championship team that drafted him.

4. Who is the only undergraduate non-center to average more than 23 points per game for a national champion? Hint: He is the last player to score the most points in a single game of an NCAA Tournament and play for the championship team.

5. Who is the only player to appear at a minimum of two Final Fours and be the game-high scorer in every Final Four contest he played? Hint: His brother is an NFL Hall of Famer.

6. Who is the only coach to win an NBA championship after directing a college to the Final Four? Hint: His college squad was implicated in a game-fixing scandal.

7. Who is the only player to grab more than 41 rebounds at a single Final Four? Hint: He is the only player to retrieve more than 21 missed shots in a championship game and the only player to score more than 20 points and grab more than 20 rebounds in back-to-back NCAA finals.

8. Who is the only Final Four Most Outstanding Player to later coach a school other than his alma mater to the playoffs? Hint: He coached for more than 20 years in the same conference against UCLA legend John Wooden. He is also the only Final Four Most Outstanding Player to complete his college playing career attending another university.

9. Who is the only junior college player to later be selected Final Four Most Outstanding Player? Hint: He won the award when the Final Four was held in his home state and eventually became an NBA head coach.

10. Name the only school with a losing league record to defeat a conference rival by more than 20 points in a season the opponent wound up winning the national championship. Hint: The school with a losing league mark participated in the NCAA playoffs the next season for the first time since reaching the Final Four more than 20 years earlier when a consensus first-team All-American became the only player in school history to average more than 25 points in a season.

Answers (Day 16)

Day 15 Questions and Answers

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In 1987, Jim Boeheim (Syracuse) and Rick Pitino (Providence) each made their Final Four debut. Indiana won the championship that year but they both subsequently captured at least one NCAA title.

This year, John Beilein (Michigan) and Gregg Marshall (Wichita State) are Final Four newcomers. They better enjoy the experience while they can. Although their two counterparts have ascended to this plateau multiple times, it's difficult enough to get there and most mentors don't return.

Since the start of the NCAA Tournament in 1939, no coach ever took longer in his four-year college career to reach the DI Final Four than Beilein (31 seasons). The five other coaches to take more than 20 years were Jim Calhoun (27), Dick Bennett (24), Gary Williams (23), Jim Larranaga (22) and Norm Sloan (22).

There has been at least one fresh face among the bench bosses at the national semifinals all but twice in the last 29 years (1993 and 2012). Following is a look at the coaches who advanced to the Final Four for the first time since the field expanded to at least 64 teams in 1985:

• 2013 - John Beilein (Michigan/31st season as head coach at the four-year college level) and Gregg Marshall (Wichita State/15th).
• 2012 - All returnees.
• 2011 - Shaka Smart (Virginia Commonwealth/2nd).
• 2010 - Brad Stevens* (Butler/3rd).
• 2009 - Jay Wright (Villanova/15th).
• 2008 - Bill Self* (Kansas/15th).
• 2007 - Thad Matta* (Ohio State/7th) and John Thompson III (Georgetown/7th).
• 2006 - John Brady (Louisiana State/15th), Ben Howland* (UCLA/12th), Jim Larranaga (George Mason/22nd).
• 2005 - Bruce Weber (Illinois/6th).
• 2004 - Paul Hewitt (Georgia Tech/7th).
• 2003 - Rick Barnes (Texas/16th) and Tom Crean (Marquette/4th).
• 2002 - Mike Davis (Indiana/2nd) and Kelvin Sampson (Oklahoma/20th).
• 2001 - Gary Williams* (Maryland/23rd).
• 2000 - Dick Bennett (Wisconsin/24th) and Billy Donovan* (Florida/6th).
• 1999 - Jim Calhoun* (Connecticut/27th), Tom Izzo* (Michigan State/4th) and Jim O'Brien (Ohio State/17th).
• 1998 - Bill Guthridge* (North Carolina/1st), Rick Majerus (Utah/14th) and Tubby Smith (Kentucky/7th).
• 1997 - Clem Haskins (Minnesota/17th).
• 1996 - John Calipari* (Massachusetts/8th) and Richard Williams (Mississippi State/10th).
• 1995 - Jim Harrick (UCLA/16th).
• 1994 - Lon Kruger (Florida/12th).
• 1993 - All returnees.
• 1992 - Bob Huggins* (Cincinnati/12th).
• 1991 - Roy Williams* (Kansas/3rd).
• 1990 - Bobby Cremins (Georgia Tech/15th) and Nolan Richardson* (Arkansas/10th).
• 1989 - P.J. Carlesimo (Seton Hall/14th) and Steve Fisher* (Michigan/1st).
• 1988 - Billy Tubbs (Oklahoma/14th).
• 1987 - Jim Boeheim* (Syracuse/11th) and Rick Pitino* (Providence/7th).
• 1986 - Mike Krzyzewski* (Duke/11th).
• 1985 - Lou Carnesecca (St. John's/17th), Dana Kirk (Memphis State/14th) and Rollie Massimino (Villanova/14th).

*Subsequently returned to the Final Four.

Emphasizing a "one-and-only" theme for a "one-and-only" event, here is Day 15 of a treasure-trove of tantalizing NCAA Tournament trivia questions from CollegeHoopedia.com (10 per day from Selection Sunday through the championship game) tracking the only coach, conference, player or school to be linked to a distinguished or dubious achievement (click here for answers or conduct research digesting historical morsels in CollegeHoopedia.com's year-by-year highlights):

1. Who is the only individual to play for two NCAA champions, play for more than two NBA champions and coach two NBA champions. Hint: He was the first of four players to be a member of an NCAA championship team one year and an NBA titlist the next season as a rookie. He won the high jump in the West Coast Relays his senior year.

2. Who is the only individual to average fewer than four points per game as a freshman and then be selected Final Four Most Outstanding Player the next season as a sophomore. Hint: He had more three-point baskets in two Final Four games than he managed his entire freshman season.

3. Who is the only player named to an All-NCAA Tournament team not to score a total of more than 10 points in two Final Four games? Hint: He had the same point total in each Final Four game for a team whose star had the same last name.

4. Who is the only Final Four Most Outstanding Player to later coach his alma mater in the NCAA Tournament? Hint: The guard was named Most Outstanding Player although he was his team's fourth-leading scorer at the Final Four that year.

5. Name the only school to have two of the six eligible teams ranked among the top five in the AP and/or UPI final polls to not participate in either the NCAA Tournament or the NIT in the days before teams other than the conference champion could be chosen to the NCAA playoffs as at-large entrants. Hint: The school lost three regional finals in one four-year span and hasn't reached the Final Four in the last 48 years.

6. Who is the only coach to lose more than five regional final games? Hint: His regional final defeats were by an average margin of 10 points and his biggest nemesis was the Big Ten Conference.

7. Who is the only individual to become NBA Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player to participate in the NCAA Tournament but never win an NCAA playoff game? Hint: He shared the NBA Rookie of the Year award with another player who was on the losing end in his only NCAA Tournament appearance. Two years later, he was NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player the same season he was named league MVP.

8. Of the more than 40 different players to be named NBA Most Valuable Player, score more than 20,000 points in the pros or be selected to an All-NBA team at least five times after participating in the NCAA Tournament, who is the only one to average fewer than 10 points per game in the NCAA playoffs? Hint: He is believed to be the youngest Hall of Famer to appear in an NCAA championship game at the tender age of 16 and was later named to 12 consecutive All-NBA teams.

9. Who is the only guard to score more than 35 points in an NCAA final? Hint: He led his team in scoring in back-to-back Final Fours but wasn't named Final Four Most Outstanding Player either year. He is the only championship team player to have a two-game total of at least 70 points at the Final Four and is the shortest undergraduate to average more than 20 points per game for an NCAA titlist.

10. Who is the only player to have as many as 20 field goals in an NCAA championship game? Hint: He scored fewer than seven points in both his tourney debut and final playoff appearance.

Answers (Day 15)

Day 14 Questions and Answers

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Day 12 Questions and Answers

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Steve Alford, an All-American for Indiana in 1986 and 1987, is the only active coach to have been an All-American player before coaching an All-American (New Mexico's Darington Hobson in 2010). Indiana native John Wooden is the only All-American player to coach All-Americans for two different universities (Indiana State and UCLA) with neither of them being his alma mater (Purdue). Alford, after being lured to UCLA to try to recapture Wooden's glory years, likely will join Wooden, Howie Dallmar (Penn and Stanford), Jim O'Brien (Boston College and Ohio State) plus John Oldham (Tennessee Tech and Western Kentucky) as former All-Americans who coached comparable players for two different schools.

Indiana's Branch McCracken, the only one of 48 All-Americans who became major-college mentors to compile a higher winning percentage as a coach than as a player, coached 14 All-Americans with his alma mater. He is among the following alphabetical list of 15 major-college All-Americans who went on to coach major-college All-Americans:

Should I stay or should I go? Steve Alford was experienced in dealing with that question when he virtually ignored a 10-year commitment to New Mexico after the bright lights of UCLA came wooing him. Alford previously had three years remaining on his contract with Southwest Missouri State when he left for Iowa and four years left upon departing the Hawkeyes to join the Lobos.

It's a good thing some universities play in mammoth arenas because the egos of their "Pompous Pilots" wouldn't fit any other place. Much of the excess in the canonization of coaches is perpetrated by coaches-turned-television commentators who shamelessly fawn over their former colleagues.

The analysts should be more concerned about encouraging coaches to spare fans the pious blather about the sanctity of a contract or agreement. Granted, it's survival of the fittest amid the offer-you-can't-refuse backdrop. But in a great many cases, schools have been little more than convenient steppingstones for "larger-than-life" coaches along their one-way street to success. It's understandable in many instances that mercenaries are leaving the minute they're appointed because coaches are in a distasteful "hired-to-be-fired" vocation, where a pink slip is only one losing season or poor recruiting year away.

Nevertheless, loyalty has become too much of a one-way street. Players considering their options occasionally are grilled by coaches and commentators for contemplating transfers or leaving early for the NBA. There are countless examples of schools holding a player's eligibility hostage out of sheer vindictiveness. How much more one-sided can it be when that lame double standard exists?

After all, the value systems for high-profile coaches are sufficiently open-minded to permit running out on contracts when more lucrative jobs come open. Contracts are understood to be for the protection of the coach, not the team, whose players are somehow indentured to the schools for as many as four years of eligibility unless of course a coach chooses not to renew their scholarships. Perhaps that's why many believe incoming recruits should be allowed out of their letter-of-intent to seek another destination if the coach they signed with departs before they even get to campus.

Maybe it shouldn't be that way, but that's most definitely the way it is as contracts don't appear to mean squat to a striking number of meandering mentors who abandon ship like so many rats at high tide. Lon Kruger departed three different schools with at least four years remaining on pacts before leaving UNLV with two seasons left.

Many "leveraged" coaches have been preoccupied of late with attempting to virtually extort raises and extensions on already hefty packages. But in recent years, administrations at Boston College, Kent State, Marist, Miami (Fla.), St. John's and Wyoming seemed to be guinea pigs of sorts by fighting back via adherence to buyout clauses in trying to regain control of the situation in this big business atmosphere.

In mid-July 2010, a New York State Supreme Court Justice made a possible precedent-setting ruling in favor of Marist, which contended that coach Matt Brady's contract required him to secure written consent before negotiating with another school and forbade him from offering "a scholarship to current Marist players or to persons that he or his staff recruited to play at Marist" if he ever took a comparable job.

Brady clearly negotiated with James Madison in 2008 without "written" consent and Marist compiled a list of 19 prospects Brady recruited on behalf of Marist that it believed he should have been unable to recruit to JMU per the details of his contract. Four players on that "off-limits" list - Trevon Flores, Devon Moore, Andrey Semenov and Julius Wells - ultimately signed with JMU.

The judge ruled in favor of Marist's claims that Brady had an enforceable contract when he discussed leaving Marist with JMU, that JMU knew of the contract's existence, that JMU intentionally induced Brady to violate his fiduciary obligations under the contract, and that Marist incurred damages as a result of the breach of those obligations. Marist also filed a separate civil suit against Brady. In mid-May 2011, Kent State sued Geno Ford for more than $1.2 million in damages stemming from his departure for Bradley.

Five of Tulsa's previous seven coaches - Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith, Steve Robinson, Bill Self and Buzz Peterson - left the school for more prestigious positions despite each of them having at least three years remaining on their contracts. Tulsa is one of three universities from which Self has bailed. He signed a five-year extension with Illinois in December, 2002, that included a bump in salary to $900,000 and payout of $500,000 if he stayed the life of the contract. There also was a buyout of $100,000 per year remaining on the pact.

Deal or no deal? The length of contracts doesn't seem to carry any weight as a factor in the equation. Although precise information on terms of contracts frequently is akin to Swiss bank account material, following is an alphabetical list detailing coaches who reportedly still had contractual obligations to schools of more than five seasons when they left for greener pastures at some point in their careers:

• Steve Alford (10 years remaining on contract) - left New Mexico/hired by UCLA
• Rick Barnes (6) - Clemson/Texas
• John Beilien (6) - Richmond/West Virginia
• Tony Bennett (6) - Washington State/Virginia
• Dave Bliss (6) - New Mexico/Baylor
• Mike Brey (7) - Delaware/Notre Dame
• John Calipari (10) - Massachusetts/New Jersey Nets
• Jeff Capel III (6) - Virginia Commonwealth/Oklahoma
• Tom Crean (9) - Marquette/Indiana
• Matt Doherty (6) - Florida Atlantic/Southern Methodist
• Larry Eustachy (6) - Utah State/Iowa State
• Dennis Felton (6) - Western Kentucky/Georgia
• Tim Floyd (6) - New Orleans/Iowa State
• Tim Floyd (8) - Iowa State/Chicago Bulls
• Travis Ford (7) - Massachusetts/Oklahoma State
• Billy Gillispie (8) - Texas A&M/Kentucky
• Brian Gregory (7) - Dayton/Georgia Tech
• Leonard Hamilton (7) - Miami (Fla.)/Washington Wizards
• Ben Howland (6) - Pittsburgh/UCLA
• Jeff Lebo (8) - Chattanooga/Auburn
• Gregg Marshall (8) - Winthrop/Wichita State
• Thad Matta (9) - Xavier/Ohio State
• Fran McCaffery (7) - Siena/Iowa
• Sean Miller (9) - Xavier/Arizona
• Dan Monson (10) - Gonzaga/Minnesota
• Lute Olson (7) - Iowa/Arizona
• Buzz Peterson (9) - Appalachian State/Tulsa
• Skip Prosser (6) - Xavier/Wake Forest
• Oliver Purnell (6) - Clemson/DePaul
• Mike Rice Jr. (7) - Robert Morris/Rutgers
• Steve Robinson (7) - Tulsa/Florida State
• Kelvin Sampson (6) - Washington State/Oklahoma
• Tubby Smith (6) - Georgia/Kentucky
• Mark Turgeon (9) - Wichita State/Texas A&M

NCAA Tournament matchups between members from the same league are relatively rare. When Big East Conference rivals Marquette and Syracuse (departing for ACC) met in the East Regional final, it was the 22nd such confrontation but only the second in the last 11 years.

The Big Ten Conference accounted for seven of the first 18 NCAA Tournament games pitting league members against each other. Florida coach Billy Donovan played in one of the playoff intraconference matchups in 1987 when he scored 20 points for Providence in an 88-73 triumph over Georgetown in the Southeast Regional final.

New Northwestern coach Chris Collins knows all about the NCAA Tournament as a player and assistant coach with Duke. But the NCAA playoffs are little more than "Never Never Land" for the Wildcats and the following four other schools never to participate in the national championship tournament despite being designated as major colleges since the late 1940s (number of coaches during that span in parentheses):

Emphasizing a "one-and-only" theme for a "one-and-only" event, here is Day 13 of a treasure-trove of tantalizing NCAA Tournament trivia questions from CollegeHoopedia.com (10 per day from Selection Sunday through the championship game) tracking the only coach, conference, player or school to be linked to a distinguished or dubious achievement (click here for answers or conduct research digesting historical morsels in CollegeHoopedia.com's year-by-year highlights):

1. Who is the only team-leading scorer of a Final Four team to go scoreless when the school was eliminated from championship contention at the national semifinals? Hint: He was a center who along with four teammates averaged between 11 and 12.5 points per game.

2. Who is the only player to twice lead the nation in scoring average while playing for teams advancing to the Final Four? Hint: He is the only team-leading scorer to twice be more than 10 points below his season scoring mark when his school was eliminated at the Final Four.

3. Name the only school to lose two national championship games by at least 18 points after leading the finals at halftime. Hint: The two opponents, 17 years apart, combined to win 66 of 68 games those seasons.

4. Name the only school to make as many as eight consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from the year it participated in the event for the first time. Hint: The school's last playoff victory wasn't during this streak, but it later handed UCLA its first West Regional defeat in 14 years.

5. Name the only school to lose as many as 15 opening-round games in the NCAA Tournament. Hint: The university also lost a first-round game in 1984 after winning a qualifying round contest when the playoff field was 53 teams.

6. Who is the only athlete to collect more than 3,000 major league hits, including 465 homers, after playing the entire basketball game for a school when it appeared in the NCAA Tournament for the first time. Hint: The outfielder appeared in 12 All-Star Games and two World Series after never playing in the minors.

7. Who is the only player to have a single-digit point total in a national semifinal game and then increase his output by more than 20 points in the championship game? Hint: The center for two years between two three-time consensus first-team All-Americans shot just over 40% from the floor for the season entering the title game where he had a game-high and career-high point total.

8. Who is the only player to have a decrease of more than 25 points from his national semifinal game scoring total to his championship game output? Hint: He was a member of the first undefeated NCAA champion and subsequently became an NBA first-round draft choice.

9. Name the only school to defeat two eventual Final Four teams by double-digit margins in their conference tournament. Hint: The school was handily eliminated in the NCAA playoffs by one of the two Final Four teams it decisively defeated in their league tourney.

10. Name the only school to reach the NCAA championship game in back-to-back seasons it was defeated by double-digit margins in its conference tournament. Hint: The school swept its home-and-home series in regular-season conference competition against the teams defeating it in the league tourney.

Answers (Day 13)

Day 12 Questions and Answers

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Texas has had more different schools (23) participate in the NCAA Tournament than any state. But the Lone Star State didn't have a lone entrant in this year's event.

Meanwhile, Florida became the 37th school to appear in more than 50 NCAA playoff games. At least 10 of the 37 schools failed to participate each year since the field expanded to at least 64 teams in 1985, including 11 outcasts this season.

Nearly half of the "star schools" stayed home in 2004, including Houston being in the midst of a 17-year drought from 1993 through 2009. Following is a chronological list of big-name universities not in the tourney during since 1985:

1985 (14) - Cincinnati, Connecticut, Florida, Houston, Indiana, Kansas State, Louisville, Marquette, Oklahoma State, Texas, UCLA, Utah, Wake Forest, West Virginia

1986 (12) - Arkansas, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Florida, Houston, Kansas State, Marquette, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Texas, UCLA, Wake Forest

1987 (13) - Arkansas, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Marquette, Maryland, Memphis State, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Texas, Utah, Villanova, Wake Forest

1988 (12) - Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Marquette, Michigan State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Texas, UCLA, Utah, Wake Forest, West Virginia

1989 (15) - Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Kansas, Kentucky, Marquette, Maryland, Michigan State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Purdue, St. John's, Temple, Utah, Wake Forest

1990 (12) - Cincinnati, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Marquette, Maryland, Memphis State, North Carolina State, Oklahoma State, Utah, Wake Forest, West Virginia

1991 (14) - Cincinnati, Florida, Illinois, Houston, Kansas State, Kentucky, Louisville, Marquette, Maryland, Memphis State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, West Virginia

1992 (11) - Florida, Illinois, Kansas State, Marquette, Maryland, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Purdue, UNLV, Utah, Villanova

1993 (15) - Connecticut, Florida, Georgetown, Houston, Maryland, Michigan State, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Syracuse, Texas, UNLV, Villanova, West Virginia

1994 (13) - Houston, Iowa, Kansas State, Memphis, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, St. John's, UNLV, Utah, Villanova, West Virginia

1995 (11) - Duke, Houston, Iowa, Kansas State, Marquette, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, St. John's, UNLV, West Virginia

1996 (11) - Florida, Houston, Illinois, Michigan State, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, St. John's, UNLV, West Virginia

1997 (16) - Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Houston, Kansas State, Memphis, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, St. John's, Syracuse, UNLV, West Virginia

1998 (14) - Florida, Georgetown, Houston, Iowa, Kansas State, Louisville, Marquette, Memhis, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Texas, Villanova, Wake Forest

1999 (12) - Georgetown, Houston, Illinois, Kansas State, Marquette, Memphis, Michigan, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, UNLV, Wake Forest, West Virginia

2000 (12) - Georgetown, Houston, Iowa, Kansas State, Marquette, Memphis, Michigan, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Villanova, Wake Forest, West Virginia

2001 (14) - Connecticut, Houston, Kansas State, Louisville, Marquette, Memphis, Michigan, North Carolina State, Purdue, St. John's, UNLV, Utah, Villanova, West Virginia

2002 (15) - Arkansas, Georgetown, Houston, Iowa, Kansas State, Louisville, Memphis, Michigan, North Carolina, Purdue, Syracuse, Temple, UNLV, Villanova, West Virginia

2003 (14) - Arkansas, Georgetown, Houston, Iowa, Kansas State, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio State, St. John's, Temple, UCLA, UNLV, Villanova, West Virginia

2004 (18) - Arkansas, Georgetown, Houston, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas State, Marquette, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Purdue, St. John's, Temple, UCLA, UNLV, Villanova, West Virginia

2005 (15) - Arkansas, Georgetown, Houston, Indiana, Kansas State, Marquette, Maryland, Memphis, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue, St. John's, Temple, UNLV

2006 (14) - Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas State, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Purdue, St. John's, Temple, UNLV, Utah, Wake Forest

2007 (15) - Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Iowa, Kansas State, Michigan, North Carolina State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, St. John's, Syracuse, Temple, Utah, Wake Forest, West Virginia

2008 (14) - Cincinnati, Florida, Houston, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, St. John's, Syracuse, Utah, Wake Forest

2009 (13) - Arkansas, Cincinnati, Florida, Georgetown, Houston, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas State, Kentucky, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, St. John's, UNLV

2010 (15) - Arizona, Arkansas, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Memphis, Michigan, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Oklahoma, St. John's, UCLA, Utah

2011 (10) - Arkansas, Houston, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, North Carolina State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Utah, Wake Forest

2012 (13) - Arizona, Arkansas, Houston, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, St. John's, UCLA, Utah, Villanova, Wake Forest

2013 (11) - Arkansas, Connecticut, Houston, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Purdue, St. John's, Utah, Wake Forest, West Virginia

After an average of four mid-level schools reached the Sweet 16 in a six-year span from 2006 through 2011, the past two seasons could have cemented the premise about mid-major schools deserving more at-large consideration.

But that was before eight mid-level schools - Gonzaga, New Mexico, St. Bonaventure, Saint Louis, Saint Mary's, Southern Mississippi, UNLV and Virginia Commonwealth - were eliminated in games against power six conference members by an average of only four points in 2012 and the Mountain West Conference flopped this season.

Wichita State advancing to the Final Four plus victories by Lehigh, Norfolk State and Florida Gulf Coast the past two years were invigorating but the mid-major community missed out on a potential bonanza. Following is a look at how at least one mid-major conference member advanced to a regional semifinal or beyond since the field was expanded to at least 64 teams in 1985:

Bobby Hurley Jr., who won more than 4/5 of his games as an All-American playmaker with Duke in the early 1990s (119-26, .821), assumes control of the Buffalo coaching position with an impressive pedigree including playing under his famous father in high school and all-time winningest DI coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Blue Devils.

But the odds are overwhelmingly against Hurley compiling a higher winning percentage as a coach than he did as a player. Indiana's Branch McCracken is the only one of the first 47 All-Americans who became major-college mentors to compile a higher winning percentage as a coach.

*Active coaches.

We have been reminded anew how the NCAA playoffs are akin to walking a tightrope, playing Russian roulette or participating in a crapshoot. When March arrives, it's time for Madness while witnessing postseason competition fraught with sentiment and punctuated by compelling drama.

Since your bracket likely already is only good for kindling, it might be worth investing your time steering clear of the nerve-wracking tension and simply focusing on becoming a more astute observer. In addition to testing your skills with CollegeHoopedia.com's daily dose of one-and-only trivia questions or Top 75 games/players in NCAA playoff history, another way to enhance your knowledge might be to assess the wide range of personalities described in our "Who Am I?" collection of former tourney players who went on to distinction in endeavors off the playing court. At the very least, it won't be a win-or-go-home format.