When you think of the great quarterbacks who played for the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, the list is really quite short.  Actually, I can only think of two during my lifetime.

Louisiana Tech’s Terry Bradshaw led the black and gold to four Super Bowl rings during the 1970’s.  More recently, it was former Miami of Ohio quarterback Ben Roethlisberger taking Pittsburgh to two additional NFL titles during his three Super Bowl appearances with the team.

In between those Hall-of-Fame talents, Pittsburgh’s quarterback duties have been handled by a variety of players unlikely to see the NFL Hall-of-Fame without paying for admission.  Check out the list.

“Here we go, Steelers!”

Terry Bradshaw – 1970-1982

Cliff Stoudt  – 1983

Mark Malone – 1984-1987

Bubby Brister – 1988-1990

Neil O’Donnell – 1991-1995

Mike Tomczak – 1996

Kordell Stewart – 1997-2001

Ben Roethlisberger – 2002-2021

Every quarterback on that list was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers except Mike Tomczak.  The Steelers rarely reach outside of their own organization at the quarterback spot.  In the past, they have depended heavily on their own college draft picks to become their primary signal callers.

“There they went, Steelers!”

That long-time quarterback trend in Pittsburgh abruptly ended over the past month.

The entire three man quarterback group for the 2023 Pittsburgh Steelers has completed vanished.  If you thought it was because the team was really bad, you would be wrong.  Pittsburgh went 10-7 during the 2023 regular season but lost in the opening round of the NFL playoffs at Buffalo.

Can you remember any NFL playoff team shedding its entire quarterback squad following a playoff season?  I can’t.   If the Steelers’ quarterback trio was so bad, why have all three of them already found a spot on another team?

Let’s investigate the mysterious disappearance of last year’s Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks

* Third stringer Mitch Trubisky was originally selected in the first round out of the University of North Carolina by the Chicago Bears (remember that name) with the 2nd overall pick in the draft in 2017. After four years in the Windy City, he was traded to Buffalo in 2021.  Trubisky then signed with Pittsburgh for 2022 and 2023 and played as the team’s third team QB for the past couple of years.   Mitch Trubisky was released by Pittsburgh in February but quickly signed a contract to play once again in Buffalo this year.

* Second-team quarterback Mason Rudolph was drafted by the Steelers in Round 3 of the 2018 NFL draft. This highly successful college quarterback at Oklahoma State became the primary back-up to long-time Steelers’ starter Ben Roethlisberger.  Unfortunately, Mason Rudolph displayed a tendency to throw interceptions at key times of the game when inserted into the line-up.   In 2023, an injury to starting quarterback Kenny Pickett gave Rudolph a chance to shine.  He led Pittsburgh to victory in the team’s final two regular season games to secure a playoff spot.  Mason Rudolph just signed a new deal to play for the Tennessee Titans next season. 

* The starting quarterback in 2023 was Kenny Pickett. Drafted near the end of the first round only two years ago in 2022, Pickett was considered to be a hometown hero.  A first team All-American quarterback at the University of Pittsburgh, Pickett played his college football games on the same field and stadium used by the Steelers.  He quickly became the starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers in his rookie season and again in 2023.  Unfortunately, Pickett’s strong self-confidence didn’t necessarily translate into top-tier NFL stats.  Some blame it on Pittsburgh’s woeful former offensive coordinator Matt Canada.  Others believed that KP had become a locker-room problem for the Steelers.

About twenty years ago, my Mother-in-Law briefly moved to a small town in south-central Texas called Brackettville.

Located two hours west of San Antonio on US Highway 90, the Brackettville region was home to a US military fort which was operational from 1852 until the end of World War II.  I also discovered the native jackrabbits of the region to be Texas-sized, too!

Men’s March MadnessTournament – opening weekend update

Speaking of a different kind of Bracket-ville, my CBSSports.com men’s NCAA basketball picks were a big stinker during Week #1 of March Madness.  My entry (SwampSwamiSports) is ranked in 1,310,822nd place after the first two rounds concluded Sunday night.

Though I played a lot of basketball growing up, I am still “O-for-March Madness” in creating a winning bracket.

My zeal to pick 30-win McNeese State to advance in the first two games (they lost in Round 1) contributed to my lousy current ranking.  The same goes for putting an unintentional hex on the SEC’s Mississippi State and South Carolina to win their first two games as well (they also lost in Round 1).

The good news on the men’s side of “Bracket-ville” is that my pick to win it all (the University of Houston) survived Texas A&M’s frantic “Hack attack foul fest” to beat the Aggies in overtime late Sunday night.  The Cougars had four of its players foul-out against Texas A&M.  They must regroup quickly as they now face the #4 seed, Duke, on Friday night (8:30PM CDT on CBS).

Things could be worse…I could be a Kentucky basketball fan!

Though I picked #3 seed (and perennially overrated) Kentucky to lose in Round 2, they exceeded expectations once again this year.  The SEC Wildcats found a way to lose in the opening round to a surprisingly good #14 seeded Oakland University (Michigan) Grizzlies team from the Horizon League.

Much to the chagrin of Big Blue fans, Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart announced Tuesday that Coach John Calipari will return next season after the Cats lost in the first round for the third consecutive year.

“As we normally do at the end of every season, Coach Calipari and I have had conversations about the direction of our men’s basketball program and I can confirm that he will return for his 16th season as our head coach,” said Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart.

Here is SwampSwami’s truth serum translation:  “If we wanted to fire Coach Calipari right now, it would cost the University of Kentucky almost $35 million to buy-out his contract and send him home.”

Kentucky’s long-time basketball coach continues to successfully recruit blue chip players.  The problem is that he has become ineffective in recent years in converting former high school prima donnas into a championship college basketball unit.

NC State’s D.J. Burns for President!

At least the #11 seeded North Carolina State Wolfpack came through for ol’ SwampSwami last weekend!

The “Double DJ Duo” (guard D.J. Horne and center D.J. Burns) score nearly thirty points per game for the surprising 24-14 Wolfpack team.  Winners of five games in five days to capture the ACC tournament title, the Wolfpack dispatched #6 Texas Tech in the NCAA’s Round 1 and #14 Oakland University during Round 2 to reach the Sweet 16 this week.

A fifth-year senior, NC State’s D.J. Burns is 6’9” and is listed at a svelte 275 pounds.  For a big man,

Much like Charley Brown and his annual attempt to kick that football while Lucy holds the ball for him, this weekend marks the debut for the latest and greatest spring professional football venture – at least since last year.

Welcome to the UFL!

Actually, the new United Football League is the result of a merger between last year’s two spring football leagues – the USFL and the XFL.  Two games apiece will be played this Saturday (Fox) and Sunday afternoon (ESPN).

For the past two springs, the carefully (OK, cheaply) operated United States Football League (owned 100% by Fox Sports) played a spring football schedule.  During its start-up campaign in 2022, Birmingham, Alabama was the only location where the USFL played its football games.  Not surprisingly, the home team Birmingham Stallions won the inaugural USFL title.

In 2023, the USFL opted to play games in half of its eight markets to see if it could generate more fan interest in a few of its home cities.  That didn’t exactly work, either.  The Birmingham Stallions captured the USFL title once again in 2023.

Also in 2023, the third iteration of the XFL debuted.  This time, wrestling’s Vince McMahon was not in charge.  However, his former mega-star named “The Rock” (real name:  Dwayne Johnson) and his former wife, Dani Garcia, teamed-up to promote and run the league.

Unlike the USFL, the XFL dived head first into playing all of its games in the local markets.  They also kicked-off in late February – a full month before its competitor in the USFL started play.

Though the XFL’s St. Louis BattleHawks posted a solid 35,000 fans per home game during 2023, the other seven teams in the league failed to average 15,000 paying customers per home opener.  The costs of associated with leasing football stadiums and weekly operations contributed to massive financial losses for the XFL during its first year in 2023.

To make matters worse, the XFL’s 2023 championship team had a losing record for the season!  That’s right!  The 4-7 Arlington (Texas) Renegades somehow qualified for the playoffs.  They won two straight playoff games to finish with a 6-7 record and captured the 2023 XFL title.

One thing is certain.  Spring pro football has been a big money loser!

According to one report, the 2023 version of the XFL lost $60 million.  Perhaps that explains why 51-year old Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (with a reported net worth of $800 million) has decided to participate in the upcoming April 6 and 7 WWE WrestleMania event in Philadelphia.

Fox Sports’ ownership of the USFL has not provided any specific numbers about how much money the league lost in 2023, but the company had already invested over $70 million into the venture in 2022.   If the USFL had been making money for Fox Sports in 2023, they would never have agreed to merge with the money-losing XFL late last year.

Instead of giving up on spring football entirely (perhaps a wise idea?), the ownership of the USFL and XFL announced a merger over the winter.  Television ratings for both leagues failed to meet expectations.  Neither league could draw more than 500,000 television viewers per week on average.  Attendance also lagged projections for most teams in both leagues.

Nevertheless, the joint ownership of this newest spring pro football league (the UFL) must believe that this year is somehow going to be different!  The USFL’s original stated goal in 2022 was to build a weekly television audience of one million home viewers per televised game and create a premium advertising vehicle for sponsors.

Two years of spring football later, that lofty goal was never reached.

If you remember the name of the young Marine on TV who uttered that phrase, you’re likely approaching or past the age of 60.  Private Gomer Pyle awkwardly found himself in Sergeant Vince Carter’s wrath every week on television back in the late 1960’s.

Private Gomer Pyle (hometown: Mayberry, USA) was a likable but very quirky and naïve country bumpkin.  Known for iconic phrases such as “Gol-ly” and “Sha-zam!” my personal favorite “Gomerism” was “Surprise, surprise, surprise!”

Every season, the NCAA March Madness men’s and women’s basketball tournaments feature several surprise teams which have defied the late-season odds to earn a spot in the field of 64.

This year’s men’s field will feature one team (Grambling State University) which had never even played in the NCAA tournament before this week.

The Tigers had to win their “First Four” qualifier on Wednesday night as they beat Montana State 88-81 in overtime.  The #16 seed G-men will now take a bus to Indianapolis and face #1Midwest seed Purdue on Friday night.

Another team (Long Beach State) actually fired their long-time head coach prior to the start of the Big West Conference basketball tournament.  The school’s athletic director allowed Coach Dan Monson to finish the season, though.  The Sharks of Long Beach State won the Big West title last weekend and will face #2 West seed Arizona on Thursday afternoon in the NCAA March Madness tournament.

Then there’s an ACC team (#10 seed North Carolina State) which had to win five games in five days in their conference tournament just to earn a March Madness spot.  The Wolfpack beat Louisville, Syracuse, Duke, Virginia, and North Carolina on consecutive days.  They may be tired, but 22-14 NC State is happy to be dancing!

The women’s field is filled with several pre-tournament favorites, but it also has the best collection of team nicknames I’ve seen in years.

There are Dragons (Drexel), Jackrabbits (South Dakota State), Anteaters (UC-Irvine), Black Bears (Maine), Skyhawks (UT-Martin), and Spiders (Richmond),   Outside of the animal kingdom, there are the Lancers (California Baptist), Pilots (Portland), Pioneers (Sacred Heart), and the stocking-wearing Blue Hose of Presbyterian College.

Nuts and Bolts…!!!

For all of the lucky teams which made the men’s and women’s March Madness field, there were several disappointed teams which failed to receive an invitation.

The NCAA utilizes its own sophisticated “NET” computerized ratings to determine the relative strength of each team during the season.  You might think that the March Madness tournament selection committee will utilize that list to make some of those tough choices for the final teams to make the field.  However, it always seems like the smaller market teams such as 27-6 Indiana State (with a NET ranking of 28) keep getting left out of the field.

Wouldn’t it be nice if someone with the NCAA actually admitted the truth?

Just once, I would like to hear, “We chose a mediocre 23-10 Virginia team with a NET ranking of 54 over Indiana State because the Cavaliers will bring more fans watching on television than the Sycamores will.”

Why even bother with a ranking system if the selection committee is driven by television ratings when making some of its final determinations (see also – the College Football Playoffs).

Can you beat the Swami this year? 

Let’s start with the Women’s bracket

Last season, Coach Kim Mulkey’s LSU Tigers were handed a #3 seed and navigated their way to a national championship in the coach’s second season in Baton Rouge.  Team chemistry was a big reason why LSU claimed the title in 2023.

This season, LSU earned another #3 seed with an impressive 28-5 record.  However, the 2024 Tigers are struggling with a lack of depth this season.  They also have one very big obstacle standing in their way to re...

Yes, that’s right!  The head basketball coach at Louisiana State University in Shreveport is having one heck of a season.

After eleven very successful years as the men’s basketball coach for the NAIA (small college) LSU-S Pilots, Kyle Blankenship was given a rare opportunity to double his fun this season.

Less than two weeks prior to the start of the 2023-2024 college basketball season, the women’s basketball coach at LSU-S resigned.  The school’s athletic department budget and staff is, well, quite small at this public university in northwest Louisiana.  The clock was ticking with few viable options available to find a coach for the women’s basketball team.

Lucas Morgan, the Director of Athletics at LSU-S, came up with a novel idea.  He asked his lone remaining head basketball coach to handle both the men’s and women’s teams for this season.

“There was a very short timeline,” said men’s coach Kyle Blankenship. “He came into my office and just ran the idea by me. At first, I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know if we can make that work.’  He went back to his office, put the game schedules right in front of me, and said there’s only one day that you couldn’t do both – if you could make it happen.”

Coach Kyle Blankenship accepted the challenge.  His two teams at LSU-Shreveport have won a combined 54 basketball games (and counting) this season.

But wait, there’s more!

In what must be some type of national record, Coach Kyle Blankenship just guided both the LSU-Shreveport men’s and women’s teams into the NAIA national tournament last week and each won their opening round games.

Unfortunately, the Lady Pilots lost on Saturday in Round 2.  However, the #12 seeded LSU-S men pulled-off two consecutive upsets of higher seeded teams to advance to Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium Arena this Friday at 1PM to play in a quarterfinal game against Langston State University (Oklahoma).

The not-so-glamorous basketball history of LSU-Shreveport

This commuter school opened its doors in south Shreveport in 1967 as a two-year college.  By 1975, LSU-Shreveport began awarding degrees to its first four-year graduating class.

LSU-S (which happens to be where my lovely wife and I earned our bachelor’s degrees a few decades ago) is home to about 3,000 local students and has a robust online enrollment for several of its Master’s degree programs.

Alums like me fondly remember the good ol’ days when the school had just three buildings plus the lovely “Snack Shack” portable building which housed a few vending machines and the school’s bookstore.

Basketball was simply an intramural college sport.  With no gym on the campus at that time, our games were played in the Louisiana National Guard’s Fort Humbug Armory building south of downtown Shreveport.

Playing basketball on a dusty, slippery wooden floor surrounded by a dozen Army tanks is an experience which many LSU-S students from my generation will always remember!

As the years rolled by, the LSU-S campus started to grow to accommodate its local students.

The Health and Physical Education building was constructed and opened in the 1980’s.  However, it took several more years before the LSU-S administration finally agreed to dip its toes into the arena of competitive athletics (including basketball) in 1990.  Unfortunately, the LSU-S basketball program was shut down in 1997 due to fiscal constraints.

LSU-S relit the “Pilot” light and resumed basketball after a six-year hiatus in 2003

LSU-Shreveport found the money necessary to resurrect the basketball program again in 2003.

Chad McDowell, a former player at LSU-S during the early 1990’s, was hired to become the new men’s coach.

If America wants a blueprint on how to quickly turn around a college athletics program, take a look at this year’s McNeese State University men’s basketball team in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

After finishing 11-23 last season, this year’s Cowboys have raced out of the chute to post an amazing 28-3 record as of this post.  The team’s current NCAA “NET” ranking of #58 may get them into the NCAA March Madness field even if the Pokes should lose a game during next week’s Southland Conference basketball tournament.

Did I mention that the Southland Conference tournament will be played in Lake Charles at the home gymnasium of 28-3 McNeese State?

A brief history of McNeese State University

Founded in 1939 as Lake Charles Junior College, it was initially a 2-year college and part of the LSU system.  In 1940, the school was renamed for an innovative former local educator named John McNeese.

By 1950, the school had evolved into a four-year institution.

Today, there are about 7,000 students on the wooded campus deep in southwest Louisiana called McNeese State University.

Since Interstate 10 passes north of Lake Charles, the city may be more famous for being home to Louisiana’s biggest thrill ride known as the I-10 Calcasieu River bridge.  If you have driven up and over that very steep four-lane monster, you know what I’m talking about!

Though the Lake Charles area is home to several major chemical facilities and a growing LNG export business, the city of 75,000 residents looks to its local university as a rallying point for sports entertainment.

Alas, the Cowboys of McNeese State University have remained relatively quiet on the national sports scene of late.  Neither the school’s football program nor men’s basketball programs have appeared on the national stage in more than twenty years.  The men’s basketball team last qualified for the NCAA March Madness field in 2002.

As interest sagged in the school’s basketball program, the 8,500 seat arena being used by the university (Burton Coliseum – built in 1976) had become a virtual echo chamber during most McNeese State men’s and women’s college basketball games.

What has been the secret formula to transform a losing basketball program into a winner in just one season?

As the McNeese men’s basketball program has become (almost) a lock for this year’s 2024 NCAA March Madness field, let’s examine how this amazing transformation has taken place in  Lake Charles:

* Build a nice “right sized” new facility and involve key alumni in the process

* Hire an athletic director who is determined to fill-up the facility with paying customers

* Hire a new coach with a proven track record for turning around a sport

* Provide the coach with enough supporting money (NIL) to entice talented transfers

* Get out of the way and cheer on the new coach and team

Step 1 – Legacy Center opens

In 2018, McNeese State unveiled its brand new $40 million on-campus basketball and volleyball arena.  The facility holds about 4,200 fans for basketball.  It was renamed Legacy Center after McNeese received a multi-million dollar donation from the family of a prominent local jeweler.  The expectations were high for a renaissance in the school’s basketball programs.

Step 2 – If you build it, they won’t necessarily come

Before this season, the McNeese men’s basketball program had not finished with a winning record since 2011.  After the opening of their sparkling new basketball arena in 2018, the McNeese men’s basketball teams continued to ...

Give way!  The hogs are now at the trough in major college football.

The days of the four-team College Football Playoffs are officially over.  The 2024 season this fall ushers in a brand new 12-team College Football playoff format.

Well, at least for the next two years.  The push is already underway to expand the playoffs to 14 teams as soon as 2026.

Why stop at 14 teams?  The more playoff teams, the more games to be televised.  The more TV money being generated, the more revenue will go to a few college football conferences!

A brief history of college football playoffs

It may seem hard to believe, but the Associated Press’ #1 and #2 teams played against one another in a post-season bowl game just eight times in the fifty years prior to the advent of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in 1998.

The BCS utilized computers and the national polls to determine the top two college football teams after the traditional New Year’s Day bowl games concluded.  Those two finalists faced off for the national championship one week later.  During its 16-year run, the BCS system seemed to work pretty well to determine a national champion and keep most of the traditional New Year’s Day bowl match-ups intact.

Until it apparently didn’t.

In 2014, a four-team playoff system was devised.  It was called the College Football Playoffs.  The CFP utilized the BCS formula to determine the top four teams.   It pitted the #1 team against the #4 team in one of the traditional New Year’s Day bowl games as a semifinal game and the #2 vs. #3 teams played in another.   The winners matched-up a week later for the title.

The four-team CFP system (with three playoff games instead of just one) also generated hundreds of millions of incremental dollars in television rights fees paid to the major college football conferences.

If three playoff games created more revenue, why not expand the field to 12 teams?

Would someone please answer this question?  “Which deserving #5-ranked team has been shafted in the past decade and left out of the four-team college football playoffs?”

The answer?  No one.

Then why do we need to expand the playoffs from four teams to a dozen beginning this season?

It’s all about the money.  ESPN held the sole rights to the College Football Playoffs since 2014.  In recent years, the sports giant has paid more than $600 million annually for the rights to televise the two semifinals and the championship game.

ESPN wouldn’t offer that level of guaranteed payout to televise the games if they weren’t confident of selling enough advertising to cover such a hefty investment.

Beginning with the 2024 season, ESPN and the College Football Playoff group have agreed (tentatively) to a six-year contract extension through the 2030 season.  In return, ESPN is expected to pay $1.3 billion each year for the rights to the new 12-team playoff field.

However, that new contract between ESPN and the CFP is still not signed.

This is simple math.  More playoff games equal more money for the big boys!

In the past couple of years, the five major conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC) were pushing for this expansion of the playoff system from four to a dozen teams.

Unfortunately, one of the five conferences involved has been effectively disemboweled by three of its former partners.

Last summer, the Pac-12 lost ten of its twelve members as the conference imploded.  A new television contract being offered to the Pac-12 schools contained much less revenue than expected.

So, four teams (Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington) bolted to the Big Ten Conference starting thi...

The names of the 64 teams in the NCAA March Madness college men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be released in a little more than two weeks.

As covered in our last discussion, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament started in 1939 with only eight teams invited.

Since then, the men’s field expanded to 16 teams (1951), then 22 (1953), 32 (1975), 48 (1980), and finally 64 in 1985.   In 2011, the “First Four” concept allowed eight teams to participate in one additional game to claim the last four places in the field of 64 teams.

Only two of these “First Four” teams (VCU in 2011 and UCLA in 2021) have participated in the Final Four in the past 12 years.  Neither team advanced to the championship game.

Let’s count down the winners by their tournament seeding

Each basketball team competing in the NCAA tournament 64-team field (men and women) is given a subjective “seeding” from one to 16 before the first game is played.  These rankings are assigned by the NCAA Tournament selection committee with help of its proprietary NET ratings system.  With four regions of 16 teams, the #1 seed is considered the strongest team in its region.

Every year, upsets happen along the way.  Just one time (2008) have all four of the #1 men’s seeds reached the Final Four together.  It’s happened four times in the women’s tournament history.  That’s a big reason why this basketball tournament is so much fun to watch!

The highest seeded team to have won the national championship remains the 1985 Villanova Wildcats.  They won the title from the #8 spot.

There has been just one #7 seed to take the title, too.  That was the UConn Huskies of 2014.  They won the championship by beating #8 Kentucky.

The #6 seed has taken a couple of men’s basketball titles.

The Cinderella story 1983 North Carolina State Wolfpack team of Coach Jim Valvano surprised the heavily favored Houston Cougars on a buzzer beating tip-in.  In 1988, it was All-American Danny Manning leading the Kansas Jayhawks to a title after starting from the #6 seed position.

Surprisingly, there has not been a #5 seed in the men’s field to win the March Madness tournament yet.  The #5 seed has reached the finals but is 0-4 in title games.  The most recent runner-up was San Diego State last year in 2023.

The #4 seed has claimed just two national titles.  Last year’s winner in 2023 was #4 seed UConn.  The other 4-seed to win it all was the 1997 Arizona Wildcats.  The Cats defeated three “blue blood” #1 seeds (Kansas, North Carolina, and Kentucky) en route to the title.

Third-seeded teams have five national titles on the men’s side of the ledger.  The most recent #3 seed to win it all was UConn back in 2011.

There have been seven winners coming from the #2 seed position.  The most recent title winner as a #2 seed was Villanova in 2016.

The #1 seeds have dominated the men’s March Madness event.  A total of 26 winners have come from the top seeds since the rankings started in 1979.   The Kansas Jayhawks team in 2022 was the most recent #1 seed to take home a championship trophy.

In case you were wondering, there have been only three #9 seeds to even play in the Final Four.   There has been just one #10 seed (Syracuse in 2016) advance into the Final Four.

LSU fans will remember their beloved Coach Dale Brown’s #11-seeded Tigers from 1986.  They and four other teams (the most recent being UCLA in 2021) to advance into the men’s Final Four.

Alas, none of the Final Four teams with a #9, #10, or #11 seed advanced to play in the championship game....

Here we are again.  It’s late February.  With March just days away, it’s time to focus our attention on college basketball.

On Sunday, March 17 (it seems to be getting later every year), the NCAA men’s basketball tournament field will be announced.  The selections for this year’s women’s college basketball tournament will be announced one day later.

The current format of the tournament calls for 64 teams to play first round games beginning on Thursday, March 21 and Friday, March 22.  There are four regions of 16 teams apiece.  The 16 teams in each region are seeded from #1 to #16 based on the determination of the selection committee.

The first round features a fairly even match-up between the #8 vs. #9 teams.  On the other end of the bracket, the game featuring the #1 seed vs. #16 team in the opening round is usually a snoozer unless the underdog jumps to an early lead to get the crowd behind them.

In 2018, the #1 seed Virginia Cavaliers were clobbered 74-54 by a #16 seed commuter college named the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.  That was the first time a 16 seed had beaten a #1 team in Round 1.  The UMBC Retrievers are now a March Madness legend.

Last year in 2023, it happened again.  #1 seed Purdue lost to #16 Fairleigh Dickinson 63-58.  FDU would lose in their second round game.

The all-time record for #1 seeds against #16 teams is now 150-2.  There is a 1.3% chance of this type of upset happening again in March.

On the women’s side, the #16 seed has posted just one victory as well.  In 1998, #16 Harvard took down #1 seeded Stanford 71-67.

Back to the men’s basketball tournament, there have been eleven #15 seeds which have upset a #2 seed during the first round.  That is still a measly 7.2% chance of springing an upset.

However, a #15 seed has taken down a #2 seed in each of the last three years.  In 2021, #15 seed Oral Roberts surprised #2 Ohio State.  St. Peter’s downed #2 seed Kentucky in 2022, while #15 Princeton sent Arizona home after their first game last year in 2023.   Will it happen again in March, 2024?

Why are there 64 teams in the March Madness field?

The first NCAA men’s basketball tournament field was comprised of just eight teams in 1939.  The teams selected were determined by a group of basketball coaches.

Twelve years later, the tournament was expanded to 16 teams in 1951.  They restricted the field to just one team from each conference.

That didn’t last long.  The field was stretched to 22 teams in 1953 with ten teams receiving a first-round bye.

The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) actually began one year before the NCAA’s basketball tournament.  With all games played at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, the NIT had more media attention.

Originally just six teams in 1938, the NIT expanded just like the NCAA tournament.  By the early 1950’s, the NIT was making competing offers to teams.  They could choose between the 22-team NCAA invitation or opt to travel to New York City for the NIT.

The NCAA didn’t like being shunned.  They amended their rules in 1971 after future Hall-of-Fame coach Al McGuire’s highly-ranked Marquette team turned down an NCAA bid in order to play in New York City’s NIT tournament.

Expansion of the NCAA tournament field grew to 32 teams in 1975.  By 1980, the field had become 48 teams with the top 16 teams now receiving a first-round bye.

The 64-team field finally became a reality in 1985.  All teams would have to win six games to become the national champion.  Not surprisingly, the NIT’s importance started to fade from national prominence.

When your college basketball team defeats a big rival – at home – for the first time in years, the home team fans may feel the need to release a lot of pent-up emotion right after the game ends.

Rushing onto the basketball court immediately after the final buzzer apparently helps some fans feel like they were a part of the team’s victory, too.

In annual rivalry games, the home team’s fans have likely shown up earlier than normal prior to tip-off.  The crowd will spend the next two hours during the game creating a noisy environment in an attempt to rattle the opposing team.  The game itself may become a very tense back and forth affair.

When the final buzzer goes off with a home team victory, some fans may be even more excited about the surprising victory than their own basketball players are.  Hundreds and even thousands of these arena “benchwarmers” are ready to come down to celebrate with their comrades on the basketball court.

And that’s when the trouble often begins.

The opposing team’s players and coaches are dejected after losing a close game.  Before they have a chance to exit the court, they now see hundreds of exuberant fans rushing onto the hardwood to celebrate with the victorious home team.   On some occasions, the post-game celebration gets a little too rowdy.

Wake Forest fans went wild on Saturday

The Duke Blue Devils traveled down I-40 West to Winston-Salem on Saturday to play an important ACC game against conference rival Wake Forest.

The game was a hot ticket.  This was the first home sell-out basketball game for the 18-9 Demon Deacons since the year 2017.  The students were primed and ready for this game.  A win over the #10 Duke Blue Devils (21-6) would serve to increase the chances for Wake Forest to receive an invitation to the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament field in a few weeks.

Though Duke trailed by four points with just two seconds left in the game, Blue Devils’ coach Jon Scheyer (a former Duke player) was concentrating on a way to create a final shot opportunity to win the game.  He was too focused to think about a sea of Wake Forest fans getting ready to swarm onto the floor in a post-game celebration.

“You’re still trying to hope that somehow you can get fouled at the end,” Scheyer said. “I’m never going to give up in a game. You want to do everything you can do to give yourself the chance.”

Duke’s final attempt failed.  Hundreds of Wake Forest basketball fans immediately descended onto the floor to whoop it up with their basketball team.

Unfortunately, Duke’s starting center Kyle Filipowski sustained a minor injury to his right knee moments after the game ended.  A wild-and-crazy Wake Forest fan bumped into him as Duke’s big man was trying to wade through the crowd to get into the visitor’s locker room.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer later admitted that he should have pulled his starters off the floor before the game ended.  He could have sent them into the locker room before the final buzzer to have avoided possible injuries to key players.

“That’s a mistake on my part,” said Scheyer.

Tigers win!  Tigers win!

Just two days earlier, the LSU Tigers men’s basketball team rallied in the second half to defeat SEC rival Kentucky in Baton Rouge 75-74 on a frantic last second shot.

Like Wake Forest, the 14-13 Tigers were playing in front of their largest home crowd of the season, too.  Beating Kentucky (now 21-9) in college basketball is LSU’s winter equivalent of taking down Alabama during fall football season in Baton Rouge.

As the game ended, LSU fans rushed onto the court right after the winning shot fell into the basket.  Fortunately,