History

March Madness is upon us as the NCAA’s men’s basketball tournament takes place and there are the same questions this year as there are every year, who will be the Cinderella of the big dance, what big seeds will lose early, and the most important one who will make the Final Four.

Final Four is a term that is applied to the last four teams remaining in a playoff tournament. The most common use of the term is in reference to the final four teams in the annual NCAA basketball tournament. 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 Indianapolis with the semi-final games to be played on April 1st.

There are claims that the phrase Final Four was first used to describe the final games of Indiana’s high school basketball tournament held every year. The NCAA, which has a trademark on the term, states the Final Four was originated by a Cleveland sportswriter named Ed Chay who in a 1975 article that appeared in the Official Collegiate Basketball Guide. The article Chay wrote said that Marquette University “was one of the final four” in the 1974 tournament. The term was capitalized before the 1978 tournament.

This year the favorites and number 1 seeds in each of their respective regions are Villanova, Duke, Connecticut, and Memphis. No number 1 seed has ever lost in the first round in the history of the tournament. Villanova in their stunning victory over Patrick Ewing’s heavily favored Georgetown team in 1985 is the lowest seeded team to win the tournament as they were the number 8 seed. The lowest seed to make the Final four was Louisiana State University in 1986 as the number 11 seed. Only three times since 1985 has three number 1 seeds reached the Final Four.

The term March Madness is definitely true as in the last 20 years only three teams that were top ranked in country at the end of the regular season won the championship. Being the number one seed does not guarantee a spot in the Final Four as since 1985, when the field expanded from 48 teams to its present 64 teams, there has not been one Final Four in which all four number one seeds met.

Below are some of the individual records for the Final Four

• Points in a game – 58, Bill Bradley Princeton vs. Wichita 1965
• Rebounds in a game – 27, Bill Russell San Francisco vs. Iowa 1956
• Assists in a game – 18, Mark Wade UNLV vs. Indiana 1987
• Blocks in a game – 6 Danny Manning Kansas vs. Duke 1988
• 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 in the excitement level as the next couple of weeks is the most exciting time in college basketball with all the schools trying to get to the heralded Final Four.