The NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship is about to get underway and here are some fun facts about the tournament:
- The tournament was created in 1939 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and was the idea of Ohio University coach Harold Olson.
- UCLA’a legendary coach, John Wooden, led his teams to victory seven years in a row (67-73) and he leads all coaches with a total of 10 wins in the tournament.
- UNLV holds the record for the largest margin of victory. In 1990, Jerry “Tark the Shark” Tarkanian coached the team to beat Duke University by 30 points (103-73).
- CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger used the term “March Madness” during his network’s coverage in 1982 and is credited for bringing the term mainstream.
- North Carolina has the most Final Four Appearances with 18.
- Rick Pitino is the only men’s coach in NCAA history to lead three different schools (Providence, Kentucky and Louisville) to a Final Four. He is also the only coach to lead two different schools (Kentucky and Louisville) to an NCAA Championship.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the only player to have won the “Most Outstanding Player” award three times (1967-1969).
- Harvard holds the record for the longest drought between NCAA Tournament appearances at 66 years (1946-2012).
- The lowest-seeded team to ever win the tournament was #8 Villanova, which went on to beat heavily favored Georgetown in 1985.
Who is going to win this year? Think it will be the Oklahoma Sooners? Place your bets!