Things You Didn’t Know about the NCAA Basketball Championships
First held in 1939, the annual NCAA basketball championship, known around the world as “March Madness,” will kick off this year in mid-March. The 68 teams will be announced on Sunday, March 16, with the first games scheduled for Wednesday, March 19. This year’s Final Four will take place the first weekend in April, at the Alamodome in San Antonio. In the long, storied history of March Madness, here are some facts you may not know:
- The first tournament had only eight teams. Oregon beat Ohio State 46-33 in the championship game. The Ducks then went 78 years before making the Final Four again.
- The championships have only been cancelled once, as a result of the COVID pandemic in 2020. The 1940 Summer and Winter Olympics were both cancelled because of the war, but the NCAA tournament was held throughout.
- A number 16 seed has only defeated a number 1 seed in the first round once, in 2018, when the University of Maryland, Baltimore County drubbed the top-seed Virginia Cavaliers, 74-54. It was a good lesson for the Virginia Squad, as they returned the next year and won the title. Saint Peter’s became the first #15 seed to get through to the Elite Eight in 2022. An 11 seed has made it to the Final Four on five occasions, most recently when UCLA got there in 2021.
- The most points ever scored by a single player in one game was 61, by Notre Dame star Austin Carr in a game against the University of Ohio. Duke stalwart Christian Laettner holds the career scoring record in the tournament with 407 points.
- The Kentucky Wildcats have made it to the Big Dance 59 times, more than any other team. The North Carolina Tar Heels hold the record for Final Four appearances, with 21.
- John Wooden, who coached the UCLA Bruins to 7 straight national championships in the late 60s and early 70s, has earned the most titles, with 10. Mike Krzyzewski of Duke holds the all-time tournament win record, with 107 games, surpassing his nearest rival by some 30 victories. He’s also taken Duke to 13 Final Fours, the most for any coach in history.
- The most watched game in the history of the tournament?—the 1979 game that featured future NBA Hall-of-Famers Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
- Investor Warren Buffett once offered a billion dollar prize to anyone who could put together a perfect bracket, accurately predicting the winner of every game in the tournament. It’s never happened…not surprising, as the odds are calculated at about 9 quintillion to one.
