Answers (Day 11)
1. Terry Dischinger averaged 28.3 points per game in his three varsity seasons at Purdue (1960-61-62), but the Boilermakers didn't participate in a national postseason tournament in that span. He appeared in the NBA playoffs in just one of his nine seasons as a pro (with Detroit in 1968). The Pistons had a 2-1 edge over Boston in the Eastern Division semifinals before the Celtics advanced by winning the next three games en route to their ninth NBA title in 10 years.
2. Dominique Wilkins, a seven-time All-NBA selection who went over the 26,000-point plateau in the 1996-97 season before recently signing with the Orlando Magic, never reached the conference finals in the NBA playoffs after failing to appear in the NCAA Tournament in his three seasons at Georgia (1980-81-82).
3. Matt Furjanic was at the helm when Robert Morris (1982) and Marist (1986) appeared in the playoffs for the initial time.
4. Texas, a winner in just one non-conference game in the 1973-74 campaign, is the only school with a losing record to secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning a regular-season league title. The Longhorns were 12-14 overall entering the playoffs after compiling an 11-3 mark in SWC competition.
5. Minnesota has two graduates - Lou Hudson (class of '66) and Kevin McHale ('80) - among the 10 highest scorers in NBA history who played at least two years of varsity basketball at a major college but never appeared in the NCAA Division I playoffs. Hudson scored 17,940 points in the NBA and college teammate Archie Clark scored 11,819. McHale finished his NBA career last season with 17,335 points after college teammates Mychal Thompson and Ray Williams retired with 12,810 and 10,158 points, respectively.
6. Wyoming, the 1943 national champion, has compiled an all-time playoff mark of 9-19. The Cowboys lost both of their tournament games in 1941 (against Arkansas and Creighton) when longtime network broadcaster Curt Gowdy was a member of the team and went scoreless in the playoffs.
7. Three schools located in Utah had all-time NCAA playoff records at least nine games below .500 - Brigham Young (15-30), Utah State (6-21) and Weber State (6-15).
8. The shortest Final Four Most Outstanding Player from a championship team was 5-11 Kenny Sailors of Wyoming in 1943. Bobby Hurley, Duke's 6-0 guard selected as the Most Outstanding Player at the 1992 Final Four, was the shortest player to earn the award since 5-11 Hal Lear led Temple to a national third-place finish in 1956.
9. Dick Harp scored a team-high 15 points for Kansas in a 43-42 victory over Southern California in the 1940 national semifinals before the Jayhawks bowed to Indiana in the final (60-42) when their leading scorer, Ralph Miller, was held without a field goal. Harp, the successor to legendary Kansas coach Phog Allen, guided the Wilt Chamberlain-led Jayhawks to the 1957 championship game, where they lost to North Carolina (54-53 in triple overtime). Dean Smith, who played under Allen on KU teams reaching the national final in 1952 and 1953, and Miller, who directed three different schools to the playoffs (Wichita State, Iowa and Oregon State), are among the 10 winningest coaches of all time. Harp concluded his major college coaching career as an aide to North Carolina's Smith, the all-time leader in NCAA Tournament victories.
10. Indiana lost two opening-round games as defending national champion in the East Regional - 65-64 against Notre Dame in 1954 and 72-69 against Richmond in 1988.