March Madness is upon us! One of my favorite times of the year. Check out these fun facts about the men’s NCAA basketball tournament:
Started in 1939: In the first year there were only 8 teams and the Oregon Webfoots defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes.
March Madness Phrase: It was first uttered by Brent Musberger in 1982 during the tournament telecast.
First NCAA bracket pool: In 1977 the first bracket pool was invented at Joey’s Club Forest bar in Staten Island, NY. It was a draft, there were 88 teams and it was $10/team. The pool was up to $1.5m in 2005 and was shut down in 2006 by the IRS due to tax evasion.
NCAA tourney single-game scoring record: Notre Dame shooting guard Austin Carr scored 61 points in an opening-round game vs. Ohio. David Robinson is 2nd all-time scoring 50 points in a game for Navy in 1987.
One coach has won NCAA and NBA titles: This was accomplished by Larry Brown with Kansas in 1988 and the Detroit Pistons in 2004.
UCONN Men and Women: UCONN is the only school that has fielded the men’s and women’s champs in the same year having done it twice in 2004 and 2014.
The most NCAA titles: UCLA has won the most titles with 11. They won 7 in a row under legendary coach John Wooden from 1967-73. Kentucky is in 2nd place all-time with 8 titles.
16 seed vs. 1seed: This year the #16 seed UMBC aka the University of Maryland Baltimore County beat #1 seed Virginia Cavaliers for the first time in NCAA tourney history!
The lowest seed to win: The 8th seeded Villanova Wildcats were the lowest seed to ever win the tournament in an epic game beating Georgetown in 1985 when there was no shot clock.
Betting and work loss: Wallethub estimates $1.9b in lost hourly corporate losses due to workers’ productivity being diverted to the NCAA. Other than the Super Bowl, the NCAA tournament is the 2nd most betted sporting event of the year!
