68 facts about the NCAA tournaments 68 teams

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Something you may or may not have known about each team in the field, in no particular order:

1. Coastal Carolina: The teams Chanticleer mascot  a rooster  is taken from Chaucers Canterbury Tales.

2. Wofford: Student section is known as Youngstown, after longtime coach Mike Young.

3. Eastern Kentucky: Most famous graduate: Lee Majors, the Six-Million Dollar Man.

4. Harvard: Last years first-round upset of New Mexico was Crimsons first-ever NCAA tournament win.

5. Delaware: The Blue Hen is the state bird of Delaware.

6. Manhattan: Actually located in the Bronx.

7. Gonzaga: Has made it past the first weekend just four times in 14 NCAA tournament appearances under Coach Mark Few.

8. Milwaukee: Coach Rob Jeter was the leading scorer of Portugals pro league in 1992-93.

9. Wichita State: WuShock, the teams mascot, predates the Wu-Tang Clan by 44 years.

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10. Mercer: Making first NCAA tournament appearance since 1985.

11. Virginia: Cavaliers star Joe Harris is a self-professed Katy Perry fan.

12. George Washington: Coach Mike Lonergan won the Division III national title as Catholics coach in 2001.

13. Mount St. Marys: Got away with having six players on the court late in their Northeast Conference quarterfinal win.

14. North Dakota State: Changed nickname to Bison in 1919 because football coach hated Aggies nickname.

15. American: 65.7 percent of the Eagles field goals come off assists, the best mark in the nation.

16. Kansas: The Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk chant originated with the schools Science Club in 1886.

17. Kentucky: Making its 53rd NCAA tournament appearance, the most in the nation.

18. Villanova: One of two programs to make an NCAA tournament appearance in every decade since the 1930s.

19. Ohio State: The other program to make an NCAA tournament appearance in every decade since the 1930s.

20. Creighton: Doug McDermott is likely to become the first three-time first-team all-American since 1985.

21. Florida: One of two schools to repeat as NCAA champion since tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

22. Oklahoma: Lon Kruger is the only coach to take five programs to the NCAA tournament.

23. Massachusetts: Made seven straight NCAA tournaments from 1991 to 1998. Only other appearance was 1962.

24. Dayton: Lost in national title game in 1967. Has won just six NCAA tournament games since then (three in 1984 alone).

25. VCU: Coach Shaka Smart is named after the famous Zulu warrior.

26. Michigan: School does not have a mascot, saying it would be undignified.

27. Wisconsin: Badgers had eight winning seasons from 1954 to 1995. They have had one losing season since then.

28. Michigan State: 17 straight NCAA tournament bids is third-longest active streak behind Kansas (25), Duke (18).

29. Duke: Blue Titans, Blue Eagles, Polar Bears, Royal Blazes and Blue Warriors were also considered for Dukes nickname.

30. North Carolina: Hasnt lost in first round of the tournament since 1999 (11 appearances since).

31. Pittsburgh: As a player at TCU, Coach Jamie Dixon once hit a half-court shot to beat Texas in 1986.

32. Saint Louis: According to the school, a Billiken is an elflike creature with pixie ears, a mischievous smile and a tuft of hair on his pointed head.

33. BYU: Out of this years tournament teams, Cougars have most all-time wins without a national title.

34. Nebraska: Has never won an NCAA tournament game in six appearances.

35. Arizona: Coach Sean Miller shares a home town  Beaver Falls, Pa.  with NFL legend Joe Namath.

36. Saint Josephs: The Hawk mascot flaps his wings an estimated 3,500 times per game.

37. Texas: In 9 of 14 NCAA tournament appearances as Longhorns coach, Rick Barnes has lost to a lower-seeded team.

38. Iowa State: Coach Fred The Mayor Hoiberg scored 1,993 points during his player career for the Cyclones, and he also received several write-in votes during the 1993 Ames, Iowa, mayoral election.

39. Louisville: Plays home games in the KFC Yum! Center, the downtown location of which was decided in a 16-1 vote by a municipal task force; the lone dissenting vote came from Papa Johns founder John Schnatter.

40. Cincinnati: Bearcats nickname dates back to 1914 and was originally Baehr-cats, a reference to star football player Leonard K. Teddy Baehr.

41. San Diego State: Forward Dwayne Polee II is part of just the second father-son duo to win Los Angeles player of the year honors.

42. Connecticut: Last had a losing record in 1986-87, former coach Jim Calhouns first season guiding the Huskies.

43. UCLA: The 31 points scored by Coach Steve Alfords son Bryce against Oregon stand as the second-highest single game total by a freshman in school history.

44. Baylor: Star center Isaiah Austin is blind in his right eye and wears a prosthetic eye cover.

45. Oregon: Honors the U.S. troops it met while opening season in South Korea by breaking huddle with Hoo-ah! instead of the traditional Team!

46. Memphis: Plays at the FedEx Forum, where it has the most home wins in the country since the 2004-05 season.

47. Oklahoma State: In November, Marcus Smart became the first active student-athlete to pick a game on ESPNs College Gameday; he correctly chose the Cowboys to defeat Baylor.

48. Stanford: The Tree is the official mascot of the Stanford Band, not the schools athletic programs.

49. Syracuse: In 1991, John Feinstein (then with the National sports newspaper) called Jim Boeheim the worst in-game coach in America. Boeheim now has 947 career wins.

50. Texas Southern: As No. 15 seed, almost upset second-seeded Arkansas in 1995, when Razorbacks advanced to national title game.

51. Kansas State: Located in Manhattan, Kansas, a little over 1300 miles from Manhattan, New York.

52. Arizona State: 7-2 center Jordan Bachynski broke his own Pac-12 single-season record for shot blocks.

53. Albany: In 2006, No. 16 Great Danes led No. 1 U-Conn. by 12 with 11 minutes left, lost by 13.

54. New Mexico: Home court at The Pit is 37 feet below street level.

55. Western Michigan: Four NCAA tournament bids in 101 years of competition.

56. North Carolina Central:Two teams from Durham, N.C., in NCAA tournament. Indiana, Illinois have zero combined.

57. Tulsa: Almost were called the Golden Tornadoes, but that had been taken by someone else so Golden Hurricane it is.

58. Iowa: Forward Aaron White is the only player in the country to shoot better than 55 percent from the field and 80 percent from the line.

59. Colorado: Making third straight appearance after missing tournament in 12 of previous 14 years.

60. Oregon: Seven of the Ducks 12 NCAA tournament appearances have come this century.

61. Tennessee: Claims one national championship from 1916, before the NCAA existed.

62. Weber State: Forward Joel Bolomboy was born in Russia, where his mother is from; his father is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

63. Stephen F. Austin: Lumberjacks fans make a hand signal meant to convey the phrase, Axe em, Jacks!

64. N.C. State: Assistant coach Dereck Whittenburg put up the air ball that Lorenzo Charles dunked to win the 1983 national title.

65. Providence: Guard Bryce Cotton leads the nation by averaging 39.9 minutes per game and averaged 41.9 minutes per Big East game.

66. New Mexico State: Freshman Tanveer Bhullar is 7-feet-3, 335 pounds, just a little smaller than older brother and teammate, Sim, who checks in at 7-5, 360.

67. Cal Poly: The lowest seed (No. 7) ever to win the Big West tournament.

68. Louisiana Lafayette: The school is adamant that its name should never be abbreviated to ULL.