Steeped in Tradition- A History of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament
A comprehensive and in-depth history of the NCAA men's basketball Tournament offers a genuine look at individual and collective adversities and strengths. It is a looking glass for human hope, excellence and positive social change. It is, in short, a microcosm of the human existence, with all of its exuberance, tragedy and triumph.
The excitement and tradition of "March Madness" as we know it today has been shaped by many significant events in NCAA tournament history: The first NCAA men's basketball tournament was held in 1939 with the first championship game held at Northwestern on March 27, 1939. Only eight teams competed in two regions. Oregon defeated Ohio State in the championship, and the West region held a third-place game.
Although the NCAA tournament now determines the national champion, that was not always the case. Until the 1950's, the NIT was considered a more prestigious tournament than the NCAA, and teams often chose to enter the NIT and bypass the NCAA tourney. Because of this dichotomy, two of the best centers of the 1940's never met in an NCAA tourney. George Mikan's DePaul team traditionally entered the NIT, while Bob Kurland's Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) won two NCAA titles. Several schools entered both tournaments. One such team, City College of New York (CCNY) led by Irwin Dambrot, won both in 1950. Ironically, CCNY defeated Bradley University in the finals of both tournaments. Another school, Utah in 1944, entered the NIT, lost in the first round, and then went on to win the NCAA title. Kentucky pulled off a similar accomplishment in 1949, losing in the second round of the NIT and then going on to win the NCAA Tournament.
In 1941, the East region added a third-place game into the schedule, and in 1946, a national third-place game was held for the first time; the game would be a fixture until 1980. In 1951, the tournament expanded to 16 teams, and in 1952, Seattle was the site of the first true "Final Four," with both semifinal games and the championship game in one city. It was 1956 when the tournament was divided into four regions. Some of the most astounding and telling events in college basketball were to follow: North Carolina defeated Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas 54-53 in three overtimes to win the title in 1957. The legend of dominance emerged in 1962 when John Wooden's UCLA team makes the first of 13 Final Four appearances over the next 15 seasons.
Reflecting the race and civil rights issues of the time, Loyola (Illinois) was matched up with Mississippi State in a 1963 men's basketball tournament regional semifinal. Mississippi State, an all-white team, fled the town in the middle of the night despite protests from the governor and state police of Mississippi to play a Loyola team that features four black starters. Mississippi State overcame an unwritten Mississippi rule against playing integrated teams with a cloak-and-dagger flight to the North just one step ahead of a court injunction. Triumphantly, Loyola beat Mississippi State and went on to win the title. In 1966, Texas Western (now UTEP), with an all-black starting five, defeats an all-white Kentucky team to win the national title.
In 1973, with the championship game held on Monday night for the first time, UCLA behind Bill Walton's 44 points on 21 of 22 shooting, won its seventh straight championship, defeating Memphis State. NC State, led by David Thompson, ends UCLA's title run in 1974, defeating the Bruins in the national semifinals in double overtime.
The following year, the NCAA tournament expanded to 32 teams, and then allowed more than one school from each conference to participate. Prior to this ruling, the restriction prevented several great teams from competing in the tournament, including the 1974 Maryland team. They finished the season nationally ranked #4, yet lost the ACC Conference final game to top-ranked NC State prior to the start of the tournament. After that, the NCAA began to allow more than one team per conference to participate. In 1976, Bobby Knight's Indiana Hoosier squad completed an undefeated season with a victory over Michigan in the championship game. The Hoosiers are the last team to go undefeated and win the title.
The tournament expanded to 40 teams in 1979, and teams were seeded for the first time. "Magic" Earvin Johnson leads Michigan State over Larry Bird and Indiana State to win the national championship. The game drew the attention of millions throughout the country; its 24.1 TV rating remains the highest ever for a college basketball game and is still considered one of the greatest match-ups in NCAA Tournament history.
Expansion followed in 1980 to 48 teams, and then in 1983, to 53 teams. In what many believe is the greatest Cinderella story in college basketball, North Carolina State's Lorenzo Charles dunks the ball as time expires in the 1983 championship game to lead the Wolfpack to a 54-52 win over heavily favored Akeem Olajuwon and Houston. Perhaps no one figure in college basketball history more personified the spirit of March Madness than Coach Jim Valvano. His underdog North Carolina State Wolfpack did what many consider a miracle by making an incredible run through the 1983 Tournament. Culminating in the defeat of the highly touted "Phi Slamma Jamma" squad from the University of Houston, Valvano was rocketed into the media limelight and quickly became the symbol of exuberance and enthusiasm. He discovered soon afterward that he had bone cancer, and for a short time became a commentator for college basketball. Before his death at age 47, he was named the recipient of the Arthur Ashe award for courage at the first ESPN ESPY awards. It was at this time he announced the formation of the V Foundation for cancer research.
In 1985 the tournament expanded to 64 teams. A Villanova Wildcat team shot a 22 for 28 field goal percentage to defeat Patrick Ewing and defending champion Georgetown in the championship game. Villanova remains the lowest seed (#8) to win the championship. In 1991, Duke upset undefeated UNLV in the semifinals and went on to win the national championship. In 1997, Arizona, led by Mike Bibby, Jason Terry and Miles Simon, becomes the first school to defeat three #1 seeds en route to the national championship, winning against Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky.
The NCAA Tournament's popularity has grown to rival that of the World Series, the Olympics and the Super Bowl. CBS Sports in 1999 negotiated an 11-year, $6 billion agreement for television, radio, Internet, corporate marketing, licensing, publishing, home video and Hoop City rights for the Division I men's basketball championship.
In 2002, the NCAA tournament committee developed a "pod" system for the first and second rounds. The system allows the top four seeds to play at a site as close to home as possible, without regard to the school's tournament region. In that year's tournament, Maryland became the first school to defeat five former national champions on their way to win their first title. In 2004, the regions became known by the regional final's host city instead of by their geographic names. The Final Four match-ups were set by committee prior to the tournament instead of on a rotating basis. Connecticut, behind center Emeka Okafor, won its second title in six seasons. Last year, 2005, Roy William's North Carolina Tar Heels led by Sean May, held off the Fighting Illini to win the title game by a final score of 75-70.
Adversity, tragedy, and ultimate triumph; the downtrodden and beleaguered emerge through the journey as champions. The drama of hope intensified to euphoria, only to be dashed on the rocks of defeat in the ultimate test of poise and determination. The human experience in all its excellence and all its failures. Yes, this Tournament has it all.
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Keep Your Golf Swing in Shape All Year with a Golf Fitness Program
Some PGA Tour players have been playing for a couple of weeks in Hawaii and California. Others like Vijay and Ernie have been playing on the European Tour. Regardless of how many tournaments the pros have played this year, they have been working on their games for more time than most of us realize. Make no mistake about it: in golf – or baseball, football, basketball or any other pro sport – there is no longer an off-season.
So while this may be the first official shot of the season for some, the training process to get ready to make that shot has been quietly going on for months.
The amateur can learn a great deal from the professional golfer. Many parts of the world it is not possible to play golf year around, but there are ways to keep your golf game in shape all year long. Professionals know how to do it and so can you.
Realistically, there is very little time to take a break and do absolutely nothing for professional golfers. While every pro is different, there is a generic blueprint most will follow. After the pro finishes his last golf tournament, they take a little break. A few weeks off to give the body and mind a little rest. Every pro athlete needs that time to just recharge and give the body – both physically as well as mentally – time to recover. The PGA Tour season is one of the longest in sports and even though they may not play every week, it's very taxing on the body and the time off is essential to ensure positive results when we begin training for the next season.
I would recommend the same recipe for the amateur. Regardless if you are able to play year around or not, take a period of at least 2 weeks to put the golf clubs in the closet. The break away from the game will do wonders. You may even find after you return you are playing better golf and shooting lower scores.
Following the rest time – and like I said, it's longer for some, shorter for others – its time for the tour player to begin ramping up for the next season by physically improving the parameters of the body for the upcoming year. Just like any other golfer – from the Sunday hacker to the scratch golfer to the club pro – the professional golfer will work on trying to increase flexibility, balance, strength, endurance and power.
The amateur during this time of the year (usually the winter when snow is on the ground) can implement a golf fitness program. A golf fitness program will entail developing the physical capacities of the body around the golf swing. The program will look to develop flexibility, balance, strength, endurance, and power in relation to the golf swing. This is the first step for the amateur to keeping their golf swing in shape all year long.
The amateur during this time of year can also implement swing drills into their training program. The professional may or may not incorporate swing drills into their program at this time year. But for the amateur I recommend it, why? This is the time of year in addition to developing the body for the golf swing. The amateur can work on swing faults that hindered their scores the previous season.
The swing drills can be simply performing "mirror drills" to work on posture and the phases of the golf swing.
You should start putting drills this time of the year. If you are lucky enough to live in a region you can play golf year around, a couple short sessions at the range every week is a good idea. I would recommend the range sessions be kept short and focused on fixing the "problem" areas in your golf swing. The important point is the off-season is a time the amateur can take advantage of working on both their bodies and their golf swing
Professionally when the PGA Tour season approaches, we begin what is essentially the preseason. This is when the player starts to practice the fundamental mechanics of the sport. If it's a golfer, he's on the range working on his swing, if it's a pitcher, he's throwing getting ready for spring training. Physically, we're still training the body, but we tone it down while the player fine tunes his game. But make no mistake about it, even though working on the golf game is 75 percent of the focus of this pre-season training program, we're still working on the basics of flexibility, balance, strength, endurance and power training.
The pre-season for the amateur marks the time of year when the snow is beginning to melt and the "itch" to play golf comes around. I would suggest the amateur follow a similar program as the professional during this time of year. Start spending more time at the range. Working on all aspects of your golf game. Continue with your golf fitness program, but you may want to back off it a little as a result of the increased practice time. Again, keep in mind the body swings the golf club and we must keep the body in shape to do so.
The pre-season program of increased golf practice and a little less golf fitness continues with the professional golfer until their first tournament. This marks the point when we shift to an in-season golf fitness program. The golf fitness exercises don't stop, but we back off on the intensity. The program doesn't change much. We're still focused on flexibility, balance, strength, endurance and power, but the amount or volume of work is much less to accommodate the physical and mental strain of competition.
Four days of tournament play can take a toll on the body. As a result, we must back off on the amount of golf fitness training. The amateur during the golf season is probably in a little different of a situation. They are probably not playing 4 competitive rounds of golf per week plus practice. At most, they may be playing 2-3 rounds per week with a couple practice sessions. As a result of the lower volumes of golf they can spend a little more amount of time with their golf fitness program.
Essentially, the amateur can pretty much stick to pre-season volume of golf fitness training unless they are playing quite a bit. Just make sure the right balance of golf fitness training is in place in relation to your golf practice and playing. This is necessary so that you do not physically over-tax the body. Bottom line if you are looking to keep your golf game in shape and improving year around, I recommend following what the pros do; take a break at the end of the season, implement a golf fitness program, work on your swing faults during the winter, increase your practice time at the range before the season, and during the season keep a good balance of playing, practicing, and working out.
Sean Cochran
About the Author
Sean Cochran is one of the most recognized golf fitness instructors in the world today. He travels the PGA Tour regularly with 2005 PGA & 2004 Masters Champion Phil Mickelson. He has made many of his golf tips, golf instruction and golf swing improvement techniques available to amateur golfers on the website www.bioforcegolf.com. To contact Sean, you can email him at support@bioforcegolf.com.
Which is more dangerous skiing or snowboarding
Snowboarders and skiers are increasing in number every year. As the numbers increase so do the number of injuries. More awareness is being placed on snowboard safety and ski safety.
During the course of a year about 11 milion skiers and 4 million snowboarders in the U.S. alone are on the slopes at least once. The average number of visits to the slopes is around 60 million. For every 1000 skier visits, there are around 2.5 serious medical injuries. This comes out to one injury every 430 days of sking and snowboarding.
The death rate of snowboarders is 40 percent lower than alpine skiers, they are more likely to be hit by skiers gone out of control than the other way around.
When skiers fall they slide alot which causes them to be 3 to 4 times more likely to crash into something or someone. A snowboard on the other hand acts more like a seat anchor, preventing sliding. Death usually is caused from hitting something.
The most common injury faced by skiers is anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) sprains. Those who were injured skied more years, but fewer days per year, were more likely to be female, are older, and fell less often.
Before you begin snowboarding or skiing be sure to take some lessons from a qualified instructor. Plus make certain you have the proper equpment. Ultimately you are responsible for your own safety. The safer you are the more fun you will have on the slopes.
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For safe snowboard gear try K2 snowboards.
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