MARCH MADNESS TRIVIA QUESTIONS
(answers below)
1. The first jump shooter in major college basketball led his team to the
NCAA title. Who was he?
a. Hank Luisetti—Stanford
b. George Kaftan—Holy Cross
c. Bob Cousy—Holy Cross
d. Kenny Sailors—Wyoming
e. Don Schlundt—Indiana
2. Who was the first undefeated national champion?
a. Wisconsin in 1943
b. Kentucky in 1949
c. Indiana in 1953
d. San Francisco in 1956
e. North Carolina in 1957
3. Which national champ won both their semi-final and championship
games in triple overtime, playing 110 minutes in the Final Four?
a. LaSalle in 1954
b. North Carolina in 1957
c. California in 1959
d. Cincinnati in 1962
e. Loyola of Chicago in 1963
4. Which school first made it to five consecutive Final Fours?
a. Kentucky
b. North Carolina
c. Duke
d. UCLA
e. Cincinnati
f. Ohio State
g. Indiana
5. Which school first made it to three consecutive Final Fours two different
times?
a. Ohio State
b. Oregon
c. Stanford
d. Oklahoma A&M
e. New York U.
f. Bradley
g. City College of New York
6. Which national champ placed nobody on their conference’s all league
1st or 2nd teams, yet beat the teams with two best players
in the nation and two of the best of all time in the semi-finals and finals?
a. Wisconsin in 1943
b. Kansas in 1952
c. Kentucky in 1958
d. California in 1959
e. Texas Western in 1966
7. Name those two great players and their respective teams that lost to the
correct answer in #6.
8. Which NCAA champ was the first to shoot better than 50% from the field for
that season?
a. Ohio State in 1960
b. UCLA in 1965
c. UCLA in 1967
d. UCLA in 1972
e. Indiana in 1976
9. Which national champ was the first to average better than 80 points per
game for that season?
a. Kentucky in 1951
b. Indiana in 1953
c. Ohio State in 1960
d. Loyola of Chicago in 1963
e. UCLA in 1964
10. Who was the first national champ to win their championship game by 20
points?
a. Kentucky in 1948
b. Kentucky in 1951
c. San Francisco in 1955
d. Ohio State in 1960
e. UCLA in 1967
11. Which venue hosted the most Final Fours?
a. Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City
b. Freedom Hall (Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center) in Louisville
c. Los Angeles Sports Arena
d. Houston Astrodome
e. Madison Square Garden (the prior one at 50th St. &
8th Ave.)
f. Cole Field House in College Park, MD
g. Louisiana Superdome
Now for questions without multiple choice answers:
12-14. In the early days of the NCAA Tournament, the Eastern Press used their
literary clout to keep the NIT number one in prestige. That began to change
when the NCAA champ beat the NIT champ in a post-season game for the benefit of
the Red Cross. Which NCAA champ beat the NIT champ in this clash of
giants? Name the giant centers for the winner and for the loser?
Q. What were these great Kentucky players’ collective team nicknames?
15. Louie Dampier, Pat Riley, Larry Conley, Tommy Kron, Thad Jaracz
16. Vernon Hatton, Johnny Cox, Ed Beck, John Crigler, Adrian Smith
17. Ralph Beard, Alex Groza, Wallace “Wah Wah” Jones, Cliff Barker, Kenny
Rollins
18. John Pelphrey, Deron Feldhaus, Richie Farmer, Sean Woods
19-20. Which big man scored 31, 44, 33, and 33 points in his team’s march to
the NCAA Title? Which bench warmer on that team went on to direct another
school to two national titles?
Q. This national champ saw all five of its starters play in the
NBA. While this was not the first time this happened, one of these starters
went to the same high school and was best friends with a future 300-win pitcher
in the Major Leagues.
21-25. Can you name the starting five basketball players
26-27. Which of these basketball players and which pitcher were teammates and
friends?
28. Which national title game first saw teams from the same state play?
29. In which national title game did the team with the nation’s best
offensive scoring average beat the team with the nation’s best defensive scoring
average?
30. Prior to UCLA winning 38 consecutive NCAA tournament games from 1964 to
1974, which was the last team to beat them in the tournament?
31. Which national title team outscored their championship opponent 16-0 in a
2 minute and 34 second stretch in the first half to put the game away?
32. Which player first scored 40 or more points in the national title
game?
33. This player in #32 did not win the Most Outstanding Player
award. Who did, and what did he do to win it?
34. Following the 1965 national title won by UCLA over Michigan, Lew Alcindor
began to change his mind about going to another school and moved UCLA to the top
of his list. Can you name the runner-up school that lost his services?
35. Who was the former NBA star and hall of famer who would have been
Alcindor’s coach if he had not gone to UCLA?
36-38. Now, can you name the other three schools that were on Alcindor’s
final list?
39-40. When Texas Western shocked the world and beat Kentucky in 1966, tiny
guard Bobby Joe Hill stole the ball twice in a row from different Wildcat
players and scored lay-ups to take the steam out of the Cats. In order,
which two players did he steal the ball from?
41. In this lopsided championship game which losing team started out 0 of 8
from the field, trailed 20-4 in the opening 10 minutes, and were down 76-47
before the winning team’s coach pulled his starters?
Q. Three great dominant big men led their teams to the national title with
such impressive fashion that the NCAA changed the rules of the game.
42. Who forced the NCAA to establish rules about goaltending?
43. Who forced the NCAA to widen the lane and create the 3-second rule?
44. Who forced the NCAA to outlaw the dunk shot?
45. Which undefeated and top-ranked team lost by 32 points in the national
semi-finals after trailing by as much as 44 points to the second-ranked team and
eventual national champs?
46. What National Championship game team featured a starting front line of
players that were 7-02 and 7-00 and a top reserve who was 6-10?
47-49. One of those seven-footers and a hot-shooting guard on that team from
#46 had nicknames from a popular TV show and the comic books. Who were the
two players and their nicknames?
50-52. In one semi-final game, this team’s head coach and top assistant got
into a heated verbal argument on the bench during the game, and it had to be
broken up by a player on the team. The assistant coach left after that
season and immediately put his new team in the Final Four the next
year. The player who broke up the fight also became a head coach at his
Alma Mater’s arch-rival. Name the three people involved.
53. Which NCAA Champion finished the season with the highest ever scoring
margin of 30.3?
54. Which player played on back-to-back national championship teams, never
started a game in college, yet became a 1st round draft choice in the
NBA?
55. When was the last year the NCAA title game was played on a Saturday?
56. When Memphis State lost in the 1973 NCAA title game to UCLA, what did
Tiger players Larry Finch and Billy Buford do to leave a lasting mark in Final
Four history?
57. What was the first year more than one team per conference could go to the
NCAA tournament?
58. Which national champion won their title game by 30 points and scored more
than 100 points for the only time in title game history?
59. What year saw two undefeated teams make the Final Four?
60. Who was the last player to score more than 40 points in the Championship
game?
61. Who was the last team to make it to the NCAA Championship game
undefeated?
62. Who was the last team to make it to the Final Four undefeated?
63-65. Name the three freshmen who have been named Most Outstanding player of
the Final Four.
MARCH MADNESS TRIVIA ANSWERS
1. (D) Kenny Sailors was the first jump shooter. He led
Wyoming to the 1943 NCAA title. Luisetti was famous for the first
one-handed set shot, not a jump shot.
2. (D) San Francisco went 29-0 in 1956. USF won the last
26 games of 1955, and their first five games of 1957 to establish a since broken
record of 60 consecutive victories.
3. (B) North Carolina won the 1957 title by defeating both
Michigan State and Kansas in triple overtime. Kansas was led by center
Wilt Chamberlain.
4. (E) Cincinnati went to the Final Four 1959-60-61-62-63.
They won the title in 1961 and 1962.
5. (A) Ohio State went to the Final Four in 1944-45-46 and
1960-61-62. They won the title in 1960.
6 & 7. (D) California in 1959 failed to place a single
player on the All-Coast 1st or 2nd team. They won the NCAA title by
defeating Cincinnati with Oscar Robertson and West Virginia with Jerry
West. The Big O averaged 32.6 points, 16.3 rebounds, and 6.9 assists per
game, while West averaged 26.6 points and 12.3 rebounds per game. The two
are considered among the best 10 players ever. Cal's captain Al Buch
averaged 9.2 points per game. At the end of the season, a new poll awarded
an 11th spot on the All-Coast team in Buch's honor.
8. (C) UCLA in 1967 shot 52% from the field to just 39.2% for
the opposition. Lew Alcindor shot 66.7% from the field while averaging
29.0 points and 15.5 rebounds per game.
9. (B) Indiana averaged 81.2 points per game in 1953.
10. (D) Ohio State defeated defending champion California
71-51 in the 1960 title game.
11. (A) The Kansas City Municipal Auditorium hosted nine Final
Fours (1940-41-42-53-54-55-57-61-64). Old Madison Square Garden hosted
seven, Freedom Hall has hosted six, and The Superdome has hosted
four.
12. In a 1945 post-season benefit game for the Red Cross, NCAA
titlist Oklahoma A&M defeated NIT champion DePaul.
13 & 14. Oklahoma A&M's Bob Kurland got the best of
DePaul's George Mikan.
15. Rupps' Runts
16. The Fiddlin' Five
17. The Fabulous Five
18. The Unforgettables
19. Clyde Lovelette, Kansas in 1952
20. Dean Smith, future coach of North Carolina
21-25. This starting five came from Ohio State in
1960. They were Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek, Larry Siegfried, Mel Nowell,
and Joe Roberts. (Bobby Knight was a key reserve).
26 & 27. Havlicek was a high school teammate and close
friend of Atlanta Braves pitcher Phil Niekro.
28. 1961: Cincinnati defeated undefeated Ohio State.
29. 1963: Top offense Loyola of Chicago defeated top
defense Cincinnati.
30. In 1962, Wake Forest defeated UCLA for third place in the
Consolation game of the Final Four. Wake's star guard was a kid named
Billy Packer.
31. In 1964, UCLA trailed Duke 30-27 late in the first
half. The Bruins went on a 16-0 run in just 2:34 to take a commanding
43-30 lead. UCLA forced three turnovers with their 2-2-1 zone press, and
Duke missed 10 consecutive shots in this stretch. The Bruins' devastating
fast break was fueled by guard Gail Goodrich who hit for eight points in
the run.
32. Goodrich scored 42 points in the 1965 title game win over
Michigan.
33. Princeton's Bill Bradley won the MOP award after scoring 58
points in the consolation game win over Wichita State.
34. Boston College lost out to UCLA
35. Bob Cousy
36-38. St. John's, New York U., and Michigan
39 & 40. Louie Dampier and Tommy Kron in that order
41. That ill-fated team was Dayton in 1967. UCLA cleaned
their clock.
42. Bob Kurland--Oklahoma A&M (Later Oklahoma State)
43. Bill Russell--San Francisco
44. Lew Alcindor--UCLA
45. In 1968, undefeated and top-ranked Houston trailed by as
much as 44 points and lost to UCLA 101-69. The Cougars had future
All-NBA stars Elvin Hayes and Don Chaney on their roster.
46. Jacksonville in 1970 had 7-02 Artis Gilmore, 7-00 Pembrook
Burroughs III, and 6-10 Rod McIntyre.
47-49. Gilmore and star guard Rex Morgan were known as
Batman and Robin.
50-52. In the 1971 Final Four Semi-finals against Kansas, UCLA's
head coach John Wooden got in a heated verbal confrontation with assistant coach
Denny Crum. Guard Henry Bibby broke it up. It all started when Crum
attempted to insert backup Terry Schofield into the game for Kenny Booker.
Wooden did not call for this lineup change, and when Schofield entered the game,
Wooden erupted against Crum. Bibby had to separate the two. Crum
left for Louisville at the end of the season and promptly guided the Cardinals
to the 1972 Final Four. Bibby later coached at arch-rival Southern
Cal.
53. In 1972, UCLA outscored its opponents by an average of 94.6
to 64.3.
54. Swen Nater didn't start a game in his two years at
UCLA; he backed up Bill Walton. Yet, he was a first round pick in the NBA
draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. Nater chose to take an offer by the San
Antonio Spurs, then of the American Basketball Association. He led the ABA
in rebounding with a 16.4 average in 1975 and the NBA in 1980 with a 15.0
average. For his career, he averaged 12.4 points and 11.6 rebounds per
game.
55. The last Saturday afternoon title game was in 1972, when
UCLA defeated Florida State at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
56. The two Memphis State players carried Bill Walton off the
floor after the Bruin star hurt his ankle late in the game. Walton had
scored 44 points by then.
57. 1975
58. In 1990, UNLV defeated Duke 103-73.
59. 1976: Both Indiana and Rutgers came to the Final Four
with perfect records. Michigan beat Rutgers, but Indiana beat Michigan for
the title. Rutgers also lost the consolation game to UCLA.
60. Kentucky's Jack Givens scored 41 points in the 1978 title
game victory over Duke.
61. Indiana State in 1979 (Led by Larry Bird)
62. UNLV in 1991
63-65. Arnie Ferrin/Utah/1944, "Never Nervous" Pervis
Ellison/Louisville/1986, and Carmelo Anthony/Syracuse/2003.
Vanderbilt @ Notre Dame
The great Bill Russell had a quote about playing games like
this. He said, "The game is on the schedule; we have to play it; we might
as well win it."
Now, I am not insinuating the Commodores don't care about
playing this game. I believe they are excited to be in the NIT, just like
Coach Stallings said in his post-game press conference following the SEC
Tournament loss to LSU.
Notre Dame is in the same boat as the Commodores. Both
teams lost several close games that could have gone the other way if one or two
key possessions had worked out in their favor. Both teams had a good
deal of talent, some would say enough to get to the NCAA
Tournament. However, they also had liabilities that proved to be too much
to overcome.
Vanderbilt played much better on the road down the stretch than
they did in Nashville. Was this coincidence or just the strength, or lack
thereof, of the opposition? I think there was more to it than that.
Beating South Carolina and Georgia on foreign hardwood, clobbering Ole
Miss at the Tad Pad, and coming within two seconds of beating
Alabama in Tuscaloosa while losing to South Carolina and Georgia at home reveal
that the Commodores may have a tougher mindset when playing away from Memorial
Gym.
The computer consensus is that these two teams are evenly
matched. Notre Dame gets a five-point home court advantage.
Officially, Notre Dame is picked to win 72-67, but I believe the Commodores
currently are at least five points better away from Nashville than at
home. I call this game a tossup. Who wants it more?
The team that realizes that the game is on the schedule; it must
be played, so they might as well win it. That, and above-average
performances by Julian Terrell, DeMarre Carroll, and Alan Metcalfe could move
the Gold Men into the next round. An inside presence will be a must if
Derrick Byars, Shan Foster, and Dan Cage are to get enough open looks to
hit treys.
Coming soon: A scientific approach to picking winners in
the NCAA tournament.