Tuesday Trivia

NCAA men’s basketball tourney is the topic

Jim Valvano displays the net after his North Carolina State team beat Houston for the 1983 NCAA basketball title. That game is generally regarded as the top moment in tournament history.

It’s been a while, but Tuesday Trivia has returned. For one week anyway.

The topic for the return is the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

The answers are below.

If you have any ideas on what you’d like to see as a theme for Tuesday trivia, let me know. Contact me at sportsdr44@hotmail.com.

Hopefully this feature will occur on a more frequent basis.

Questions

• 1. Who had the idea for the NCAA Basketball Tournament?

• 2. When was the first tournament held and who won?

• 3. Which team won the NCAA and NIT the same year?

• 4. Which school has the most wins in NCAA tournament history?

• 5. Who scored the most points in an NCAA tournament game?

• 6. Who scored the most points in a Final Four game?

• 7. What player has scored the most career NCAA tournament points?

• 8. Triple-doubles have only been recognized since 1987. There have been nine recorded. One was a by a Minnesota-born player in Minnesota. Who is it?

• 9. What city has hosted the most Final Fours?

• 10. How many times has the national championship game been held in Minnesota?

Answers

Ohio State basketball coach Harold Olsen is credited for the idea of the NCAA basketball tournament.

1. Harold Olsen, coach at Ohio State and chairman of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Basketball Committee, is credited with the idea of creating the NCAA tournament.

Oregon won the first NCAA basketball tournament in 1939.

2. The first NCAA men's basketball tournament took place in 1939 and featured eight teams. Oregon defeated Ohio State 46-33 in the championship game at Northwestern's Patten Gymnasium in Evanston, Ill.

CCNY celebrates winning the 1950 NCAA basketball tournament. The Beavers had earlier won the NIT.

3. In 1950, the City College of New York (CCNY) achieved the unprecedented feat of winning both the NIT and NCAA tournaments in the same year. Both tournaments were held at Madison Square Garden in New York. CCNY defeated Bradley in both championship games, 69-61 in the NIT on March 18 and 71-68 in the NCAA on March 28. Changes in tournament eligibility rules have since prevented any team from competing in both tournaments in the same season.

Dean Smith cuts the net after winning the 1982 NCAA title. He was the head coach for 65 of North Carolina’s 134 NCAA tournament victories.

4. North Carolina has the most tournament wins with 134. The Tar Heels are 134-50 in the tournament. Kentucky (133-57) is second.

Notre Dame’s Austin Carr scored an NCAA tournament record 61 points vs. Dayton in 1970.

5. Notre Dame’s Austin Carr scored 61 points as the Fighting Irish defeated Ohio 112-82 in the Mideast Regional first round in Dayton, Ohio in 1970.

Princeton’s Bill Bradley scored a Final Four record 58 points in the Tigers’ win over Wichita State in the third-place game of the 1965 tournament.

6. Bill Bradley of Princeton scored 58 points vs. Wichita State in the third-place game of the 1965 tournament in Portland. The Tigers won 118-82.

Christian Laettner scored two of his NCAA tournament record 407 points on “The Shot” vs. Kentucky in the 1990 East Region finals in 1990.

7. Duke’s Christian Laettner scored 407 points in 23 tournament games from 1989-1992, an average of 17.7 per game.

Cole Aldrich of Kansas had a triple-double in a 2009 win over Dayton at the Metrodome.

8. Cole Aldrich, who played high school basketball for Bloomington Jefferson, had 13 points, 20 rebounds and 10 blocks for Kansas in a 60-43 win over Dayton 60-43 in the second round of the Midwest Regional at the Metrodome in 2009. FUN FACT: Brett Larson attended that game.

Bill Russell led San Francisco, with three Black starters, to the 1955 NCAA men’s basketball title in Kansas City, one of nine Final Fours at Municipal Auditorium.

9. Kansas City, Missouri has hosted the most Final Fours, nine. The years are 1940, 1941, 1942, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1961, and 1964.

Kentucky won the 1951 NCAA championship at Williams Arena with a 68-58 win over Kansas State. Only the championship and third-place games were played in Minneapolis.

10. The Final Four has been held four times at three sites in Minneapolis. It was at Williams Arena in 1951, the Metrodome in 1992 and 2001, and U.S. Bank Stadium in 2019.