March Madness and the Final Four Articles | Gambling

By: Richard Bleuze

March Madness and the Final Four

Well, March Madness is finally upon us as the NCAA’s men’s basketball tournament and women's basketball tournament are to take place soon.  A few major questions asked by sports fans every year regarding March Madness are:

1.who will be the Cinderella of the big dance
2. what big seeds will lose early
3. and, of course, who will make the Final Four.

Final Four is a term that is applied to the last four teams that are remaining in a playoff tournament. This term applies in reference to the final four teams in the annual NCAA basketball tournament, better known as March Madness.  Generally speaking, these are the champions of the tournament’s four regional brackets, and the only teams remaining on the tournament’s final weekend.
 
The Final Four this year will be played in Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans with the final game to be played on April 2nd.
 
The NCAA, has put a trademark on the term, Final Four.  The NCAA states that the term, Final Four was originated by a Cleveland sportswriter named Ed Chay.  The article Chay wrote said Marquette University “was one of the final four” in the 1974 tournament.  The term has remained! 

A few facts, that is would like to mention about March Madness are:

1. Villanova in their stunning victory over Patrick Ewing’s heavily favored Georgetown team in 1985 is the lowest seeded team to win the March Madness tournament as they were the number 8 seed.
2. The lowest seed to make the Final Four was Louisiana State University in 1986 as the number 11 seed.
3. Only three times since 1985 has three number 1 seeds reached the Final Four.
4. In the last 20 years only three teams that were top ranked in country at the end of the regular season won the March Madness Tournament.  
 
A few other facts mentioned below might also be of interest to sports fans who enjoy college basketball: 

1. Points in a game scored – 58, Bill Bradley Princeton vs. Wichita 1965
2. Highest number of rebounds in a game – 27, Bill Russell San Francisco vs. Iowa 1956
3. Most assists in a game – 18, Mark Wade UNLV vs. Indiana 1987
4. Most blocks in a game – 6 Danny Manning Kansas vs. Duke 1988
5. Most steals in a game – 7 Tommy Amaker Duke vs. Louisville 1986 & 7 Mookie Blaylock Oklahoma vs. Kansas CH 1988
 
The Final Four this year will be no different than in past years with all the excitement level that the next couple of weeks in college basketball will provide with all the schools trying to get to the heralded Final Four.

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