The March Midterm

1. Just one of the 16 head coaches whose teams survived the first weekend competed in the Sweet 16 as a player. Name him.

a. UCLA's Ben Howlandb. Xavier's Sean Millerc. Western Kentucky's Darrin Hornd. Washington State's Tony Bennett

2. Of the 11 Catholic schools in the original field, only Villanova and Xavier remain. Name the last Catholic school to win the national championship.

a. Georgetownb. Marquettec. Seton Halld. Villanova

3. Which of the following multi-talented athletes DID NOT play on an NCAA tournament team?

a. Donovan McNabb, Syracuseb. Kenny Lofton, Arizonac. Terrell Owens, Chattanoogad. Randy Moss, Marshall

4. Name the last school from the Southern Conference to win an NCAA tournament game prior to Davidson's surprising double this weekend.

a. Chattanoogab. College of Charlestonc. Appalachian Stated. Elon

5. Which of the following NCAA regulations DOES NOT apply to team bands?

a. The national anthem is played by the higher seed's band.b. Uniforms may bear one manufacturer label or trademark not to exceed 2.25 square inches.c. Cowbells are strictly prohibited.d. Bands may not use electronic instruments or play songs affiliated with any products or pro teams.

6. Memphis enters the Sweet 16 with a 35-1 record despite making just 59.2 of its free-throw attempts on the season. Name the only national champion since the tourney expanded to 64 teams to shoot worse than 65 percent from the stripe.

a. Louisville, 1986b. Nevada-Las Vegas, 1990c. Arkansas, 1994d. Connecticut, 2004

7. Three double-digit seeds advanced to this year's Sweet 16, two short of the record set during which tournament?

a. 1986b. 1995c. 1999d. 2006

8. Nine teams in this year's Sweet 16 have one or more McDonald's High School All-Americans on their rosters. Name the only NCAA Division I men's basketball champion since 1979 -- the year following the event's 1978 inception -- which did not have a single McDonald's All-American.

a. Villanova, 1985b. Michigan State, 2000c. Maryland, 2002d. Florida, 2006

9. Many Southern hoops fans are hoping for an I-40 national championship game between Memphis and Tennessee. How many times have schools from the same state faced one another in the national title game?

a. Oneb. Twoc. Threed. It's never happened

10. UCLA's Ben Howland has carved out a reputation as one of the game's premier defensive minds, a field of emphasis with roots tracing back to his playing days. At which school did Howland win a pair of Big Sky defensive player of the year awards during the 1970s?

a. Weber Stateb. Northern Arizonac. Eastern Washingtond. Montana

11. Match the famous non-basketball alumnus/alumna with the Sweet 16 school attended:

a. Chris Hansen, To Catch A Predator hostb. Mayim Bialik, Blossom starc. Chelsea Clinton, First Daughterd. Bill James, baseball sabermetriciane. Don Knotts, Mr. Furley from Three's Companyf. Edward R. Murrow, father of broadcast journalism

1. Kansas2. West Virginia3. UCLA4. Michigan State5. Washington State6. Stanford

12. Michigan State's Tom Izzo, Louisville's Rick Pitino and North Carolina's Roy Williams are four wins away from their second national championships. How many active coaches have won multiple titles?

a. Oneb. Twoc. Threed. Four

13. TRUE OR FALSE: The term "Final Four" wasn't coined until the 1970s.

a. Trueb. False

14. Sweet 16 participants North Carolina and Wisconsin share the record for most losses by a Final Four team, setting the mark during the 2000 tournament when both schools advanced to the national semifinals as No. 8 seeds. How many losses did those Tar Heels and Badgers have entering the tournament?

a. 13b. 14c. 15d. 16

15. Consecutive opening-weekend flameouts have snapped Duke's streak of nine consecutive Sweet 16 appearances -- four short of the all-time record held by which school?

a. North Carolinab. Kentuckyc. Louisvilled. Georgetown

16. Kansas State's Michael Beasley, who spirited the Wildcats to their first NCAA tournament victory since 1988, owns each of the following cell phones EXCEPT:

a. iPhoneb. T-Mobile Sidekickc. Verizon LGd. Sprint BlackBerrye. Motorola RAZR2

CLICK BELOW FOR ANSWERS

1. (C) Western Kentucky's Darrin Horn. The fifth-year coach of the Hilltoppers also attended WKU and played in the Sweet 16 as a sophomore, after the Sun Belt champs defeated Memphis and second-seeded Seton Hall during the opening weekend of the 1993 NCAA tournament.

2. (D) Villanova. The Wildcats were the last team representing a Catholic university to win the national title. The suburban Philadelphia school stunned lopsided favorite Georgetown with a 66-64 upset on Apr. 1, 1985.

3. (D) Randy Moss, Marshall. McNabb earned two letters for the Orange, making a Final Four appearance in 1996. Lofton played point guard for the Wildcats, coming off the bench for their 1988 Final Four team. Owens was a deep reserve on the Chattanooga side which won the Southern Conference and advanced to the NCAAs in 1995. (T.O. dressed but didn't play in UTC's first-round loss at the hands of UConn.)

4. (A) Chattanooga. The Mocs collected a pair of major upsets in advancing to the Sweet 16 in 1997. As the No. 14 seed in the Southeast Region, Chattanooga topped No. 3 Georgia and No. 6 Illinois to match Cleveland State as the lowest-ever seed to make the regional semifinals.

5. (C) Cowbells are strictly prohibited. Fear not, Blue Oyster Cult fans. Cowbell prohibition is not among the regulations enforced by the NCAA according to a Mar. 23 story in USA Today on team bands.

6. (D) Connecticut, 2004. The Huskies made just 62.3 of their freebies throughout the regular season and the NCAA tournament on their way to the program's second national title in five years. The most egregious offenders included Taliek Brown (55.3 percent), Emeka Okafor (51.8), Hilton Armstrong (47.5) and Josh Boone (40.5).

7. (C) 1999. A record five double-digit seeds crashed the Sweet 16 party in '99: No. 10 Purdue and No. 12 Missouri State advanced out of the East Region, No. 10 Miami (Ohio) and No. 13 Oklahoma advanced of the Midwest and No. 10 Gonzaga came out of the West.

8. (C) Maryland. While Villanova's Ed Pinckney, Michigan State's Mateen Cleaves and Florida's Corey Brewer participated in the annual event for the nation's elite prep players, the Terrapins did not have a single McDonald's All-American on their roster when the school won its first and only national title in 2002. Standout shooting guard Juan Dixon, who would garner Most Outstanding Player honors for that tournament (surpassing Len Bias as the program's all-time leading scorer in the Sweet 16 victory over Kentucky), was a lightly recruited prospect out of Calvert Hall in nearby Towson.

9. (B) Twice. And it happened in consecutive seasons. Cincinnati defeated Ohio State in 1962 and 1963 title games.

10. (A) Weber State. Howland was twice named the conference's defensive player of the year while playing for the Utah school from 1978 through 1980. Coincidentally, Howland drew his alma mater as a first-round opponent in last year's NCAAs, when the Bruins eliminated the Wildcats with a 70-42 victory.

11. A-4, B-3, C-6, D-1, E-2, F-5. Blossom, a UCLA fan? Whoa!

12. (C) Three. Duke's Mike Kryzyzweksi won the tournament in 1991, 1992 and 2001. Connecticut's Jim Calhoun cut down the nets in 1999 and 2004. Billy Donovan's Florida squad won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007. Bob Knight started the season on this list but announced his retirement on Feb. 4.

13. (A) True. The term first arose in 1975. In the national preview-review section of that year's Official Collegiate Basketball Guide, Ed Chay of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer wrote, "Outspoken Al McGuire of Marquette, whose team was one of the final four in Greensboro, was among several coaches who said it was good for college basketball that UCLA was finally beaten."

14. (A) 13. North Carolina and Wisconsin backed into the 2000 tournament with identical 18-13 records before embarking on surprising Final Four runs.

15. (A) North Carolina. The Chapel Hill school played in every Sweet 16 from 1981 through 1993 under Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith. Boston College snapped the streak with a 75-72 upset of the top-seeded Tar Heels in the 1994 tournament.

16. (E) Motorola RAZR2. A Mar. 11 story in the Washington Times brought attention to the future lottery pick's telephonic arsenal.