1. Virginia — The school offers a course in ‘Game of Thrones.’

And if Justin Anderson doesn’t start playing better, expect the basketball equivalent of a red wedding on the opening weekend.

2. BYU — The Cougars can’t play on Sundays (for religious reasons).

This makes them like Chick-fil-A or the New York Jets.

3. Gonzaga — Despite making every tournament since 2002 (13 appearances), the Zags have seen the second weekend just twice.

In other news, Peyton Manning once considered playing quarterback at Gonzaga.

4. Wisconsin — Player of the Year candidate Frank Kaminsky appears on this week’s cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline “Frank the Tank.”

It’s a good thing the Badgers play Friday/Sunday, because Frank has a nice little Saturday planned. He’s going to Home Depot and maybe Bed, Bath and Beyond, and he doesn’t know if he’ll have enough time.

5. Northeastern — The school has made the tournament eight times, more than fellow Boston schools Harvard and Boston University.

And in a clear sign that Biggie > 2pac, NorthEASTern has its eight appearances, while NorthWESTern is one of five original teams to never play in the Big Dance. Also, eat it, Harvard.

6. Texas — For all his love of Texas football, Matthew McConaughey rarely gives UT basketball any love.

Just think of the pep talk he could have given.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcGhLcVqxf0

The hoop? It’s just a cylinder. A circle that shows where we’ve been and where we’re going. Around and around it goes, like the Earth — the circle of life. It’s not about wins and losses, men. It’s about the journey. The road. The path. Wins and losses? Never heard of ’em. I only deal in the here and now.

7. Xavier — Only about 120 words in the dictionary begin with X, with Xavier being one of them.

And those words should be celebrated! It’s complete garbage when you’re reading an A-B-C book to a toddler and they try to pass off “box” or “fox” as an X word. Don’t dumb it down. What’s wrong with going “tomato,” “umbrella,” “violin,” “walrus” and “xanthodontous” (having yellow teeth). Did we not heed the words of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young who told us to teach our children well?

8. Hampton — Before Tuesday’s play-in game, the Pirates had a one-in-932,647,504 chance of winning the NCAA tournament.

So, about the same odds of a Duke player getting called for a charge on the way to the basket.

Syracuse

Oh, sorry. I forgot.

9. Duke — By the time Jahlil Okafor was born, Coach K had won two titles, been to five national championships and coached in seven Final Fours.

He has also whined to the refs approximately 6.2 million times and made thousands of sarcastic comments on the bench to Pete Gaudet, Johnny Dawkins, Jon Scheyer, and his rotating crop of floor-slapping assistants.

Duke (bonus) — Coach K’s mind works in mysterious ways.

There’s an oft-told story about Duke getting blown out 109-66 in the 1983 ACC tournament by Ralph Sampson and Virginia. As the tale goes, the Duke coaches were at dinner later that night and someone proposed a toast: “To forgetting tonight.” Krzyzewski, still angry that Sampson played the whole game, said, “here’s to never forgetting tonight.” In the years that followed, Coach K would often talk about that loss and the particular sting and insult of Sampson staying in for the entire blowout. But the box score is clear: Sampson played a total of 14 minutes.

10. Oregon — Oregon’s a cappella group On The Rocks, is considered the top a cappella group in the country.

Aside from the one featuring the girl from Up In The Air and the one from Bridesmaids, of course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNSx1RdPl04

11. Stephen F. Austin — The real Stephen F. Austin was an empresario who was known as The Father of Texas.

Being an empresario gets a college named after you? Does this mean there will one day be a Diddy University that offers courses in “Taking That 101,” “Refusal to Be Held Down 200” and “Lip-licking 400?” (Yes, I know the Puffy impresario is spelled differently, but don’t ruin my fun. I have like 35 more to go.)

12. Texas Southern — The toughest non-conference schedule in the country belonged to — you guessed it — Texas Southern.

The team with the second-worst odds to win the tournament actually played the toughest out-of-conference schedule according to the Pomeroy Ratings. TAKE THAT, DUKE. Among the tournament teams Texas Southern played (all on the road, mind you): Indiana, SMU, Baylor, Gonzaga, and Michigan State, with a victory over the Spartans being Texas Southern’s lone, impressive win against top-75 competition. (The team also beat Kansas State, which beat Kansas, so by virtue of the transitive property, they should be a No. 2 seed.)

13. Eastern Washington — Though about as subtle as a Duke player taking a charge, the Eagles have a pretty cool design element in their logo.

That’s an E, W and U in the wings of the Eagle. And if you don’t get it, don’t even try to understand. Just find a place to make your stand and take it easy. Take it easy. Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy. (Guitar solo.)

14. Maryland — The Terps left the ACC for the Big Ten last year.

They should thus be branded traitorous cowards, like Benedict Arnold, The Rosenbergs and Justin Timberlake when he left ‘N SYNC.

15. Georgia State — Lefty Driesell, one of the most underrated coaches of all time, led Georgia State to its one, and only, NCAA tournament victory.

The father of “Midnight Madness,” who couldn’t quite turn Maryland into the “UCLA of the East,” as promised, was the first coach to win 100 games at four different schools (James Madison, Davidson, Maryland and Georgia State) and took each of those universities to the NCAA tournament. If not that for that classic 1974 ACC championship game loss to N.C. State by a score of 103-100 in a game long considered the best in the history of the sport, Lefty might have even raised a banner at Cole Field House.

16. Utah — The team’s name — the Utes — comes from an Indian tribe of the same name.

I had always just figured it was either a nickname for people from Utah or a My Cousin Vinny tribute.

17. Valparaiso — A member of the Drew family has been the head coach of Valpo since 1988.

Father Homer coached from 1988 to 2002, then handed the reins to his son, Scott, for the 2002-03 season before Scott bolted to Baylor after one year to take over the mess Dave Bliss left there. Homer then came back for 11 more years before Bryce, of NCAA tournament highlight reel fame, took over four years ago. And here you thought the Bush/Clinton dynasty was something!

18. Ohio State — Thad Matta downs two cups of Starbucks, cowboy style, before every game.

No wonder he has to chew gum on the bench. That has to make one’s breath, uh, potent.

19. Lafayette — The Leopards have the longest winning drought of any team in the field.

Lafayette last won an NCAA tournament game in 1957. The next-longest drought belongs to Robert Morris, which last won in 1983. Six teams in the field have either never won a game in their previous tournament appearances (with Belmont and Boise State tied for worst at 0-7), while three have never played in the tournament (Buffalo, North Florida and UC Irvine).

20. Wyoming — The Cowboys are one of 21 teams to have won the national championship before.

Wyoming won the 1943 title and lest you think the victories came against now-defunct Division I schools such as CCNY or NYU or former powers turned welcome mats (Dartmouth or Holy Cross), the Cowboys had to go through Oklahoma, Texas and Georgetown to win the eight-team tournament.

21. Purdue — The Indiana university has the highest ratio of male-to-female students for any tournament team.

At Purdue, 59% of the undergrads are men. That’s what a quarter-century of Gene Keady’s comb-over will do to a university’s gender ratio.

22. North Dakota State — There are 14,000 students at NDSU, which makes the university the 10th biggest city in North Dakota.

The states of North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota and Washington make up 12,884 of the fall 2014 enrollment at NDSU. The other 46 states contribute 936 students.

23. St. John’s — The Johnnies have a senior guard named Sir’Dominic Pointer.

What a great name. Oh, he has a twin sister. Her name is Miz’Unique.

24. UAB — One in every 33 jobs in Alabama is due to UAB.

It’s the single biggest employer in the state of Alabama.

25. Buffalo — I neither knew that Buffalo had a basketball team, nor that Bobby Hurley was its coach.

In a lot of these games, the only rooting interest most people have is in their own bracket. But the presence of Hurley gives you a fine reason to root against the Bulls.

26. Baylor — The school holds a Dr. Pepper hour for students and faculty every week, a tradition going back to 1953.

Students that don’t yet have their doctorate are forced to go to the Mr. Pibb Minute.

27. New Mexico State — The university is home to the Chili Pepper Institute.

It’s “the only international, non-profit organization devoted to education and research related to Capsicum or chile peppers.” In other words, Buffalo Wild Wings’ ability to affect the outcome of games simply by a bartender hitting a switch all starts here, with the peppers that go into those wings. This institute also made for one of the greatest ESPN clips ever.

28. Coastal Carolina — The school is 11 miles from the beach.

In Myrtle Beach weather reports, they refer to Conway (where Coastal Carolina is located) as “inland.” So basically, the school is built upon one big lie. This should be the plot of Nicolas Cage’s next National Treasure movie.

29. West Virginia — In the past 15 years, over 2,432 street and dumpster fires have been set in Morgantown.

Gracious. Just imagine if they actually won something for a change.

30. Oklahoma — An OU coach once got a technical foul for what he said to the crowd on a microphone.

In a 1988 game that featured dubious officiating, Oklahoma coach Billy Tubbs was told to get on a microphone to tell fans to stop throwing items on the floor. Initially reluctant, Tubbs did as he was told by ref Ed Hightower. He later explained: “So I walked to the mic and simply said, “Regardless of how terrible the officiating is, do not throw stuff on the floor.'” He later told Erik Brady of USA TODAY Sports, “And, surprisingly, I got a technical for that.”

31. Dayton — The Flyers will play a home game on Wednesday night despite NCAA rules prohibiting such things.

Well it’s the rule except in First Four games, if Dayton should happen to play in one, even though there were plenty of teams (cough, UCLA AND INDIANA, cough) that could have gone on to play a play-in game in Dayton instead. So, the NCAA will allow the skirting of a rule in this case, but if you buy dinner for a recruit it’s practically a felony.

32. Georgetown — The main chant from Georgetown fans — “Hoya Saxa” is meaningless, as is the team’s nickname.

There are many theories as to how “Hoya Saxa” came to be, but the accepted one is that there was once a team called the Stonewalls and a student mixed Latin and Greek to come up with the term, which means “what rocks” when translated. It’s basically indecipherable, sort of like the end of a Christopher Nolan movie.

33. UCLA — Among the many films shot at the Los Angeles school was Legally Blonde.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NotqNgDLzU4

Okay, maybe UCLA did deserve the bid. I bet Steve Alford did the bend and snap. Works every time.

34. UC Irvine — Speaking of movies …

… UC Irvine boasts on its school’s official website that a scene from Ocean’s 11 was filmed at the campus’s Gillespie Neuroscience Research Facility. But it doesn’t explain why Don Cheadle spoke with a horrible British accent throughout that trilogy.

35. Belmont — Belmont is the only school in the tournament not named after a location or person.

The Nashville university is named after a mansion belonging to Adelicia Hayes Acklen Cheatham, a wealthy 19th century socialite. So, basically like Paris Hilton? The home is 19,000 square feet and has 36 bedrooms.

36. Harvard — Professors have been accused of inflating grades, with the median grade being an A- and the most frequent grade being an A.

If any professor gets fired for such actions, I’m sure the North Carolina Athletic Department would hire them lickety-split.

37. Indiana — Like other great mistakes-turned-inventions such as the potato chip and ice cream cone, Crest toothpaste was accidentally created at Indiana.

Via Dentalcare.com, writing about how a team of Indiana professors were trying to make fluoride more compatible with other ingredients:

One night, one of the graduate students forgot to take a sample out of the furnace. It was a lucky mistake. When heated overnight, the calcium phosphate converted to calcium pyrophosphate, which was about 50 percent compatible with fluoride.

The NCAA tournament selection committee immediately awarded those graduate students a bid to the NCAA tournament.

38. Michigan State — The university offers the class: SW290: Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse – Disasters, Catastrophes, and Human Behavior.

Just get them to listen to Magic Johnson provide basketball analysis for 30 minutes. They’d get super-bored and then just go back underground.

39. Manhattan — Coach Steve Masiello took a job at South Florida last year only to have the offer rescinded when it turned out he never had actually graduated from Kentucky.

I’d say Masiello made out well on that one. The Rick Pitino protege got another year to show his coaching prowess at Manhattan and avoided the giant sinkhole that is South Florida athletics. Plus, who needs a college degree to coach college basketball anyway? Unless Kentucky starts offering FL320: Mastering the Flex Offense, what’s the difference?

40. Notre Dame — The Notre Dame Marching Band is 97 years older than the NCAA tournament.

It was founded in 1842 and has been in existence ever since, making it the oldest marching band in the country. Lou Holtz played tuba for the inaugural squad.

41. Villanova — The Wildcats didn’t really pull “the greatest upset in history” over Georgetown in the 1985 final.

Even (especially) the most fanatical Wildcats fan knows this. Villanova played Georgetown twice that year, losing by two in their first meeting in Philadelphia, then by seven points in their game on Georgetown’s home floor. Two games, nine point differential. This takes nothing away from the win: Georgetown with Patrick Ewing was the far better team, but it’s not as if the win came out of nowhere. Villanova played the Hoyas tough all year and the old adage about it being hard to beat a team three times proved correct. Now, getting to the final? That may have been a miracle.

42. Arizona — The school recently became the first to offer a Bachelor of Arts in Law.

Arts? Law? I can only assume this is a course of study for trial sketch artists and future producers of Judge Judy.

43. Butler — A Butler coach basically invented the orange basketball.

From basketball’s birth, the ball was mainly brown. It took Butler legend Tony Hinkle, in tandem with Spalding, to create a new, orange ball that was used in the 1958 Final Four and finally approved by the NCAA.

44. Louisville — You’re STILL pronouncing it wrong.

There is no “e” sound in the name. It’s either LOO-A-VUL or LOO-A-VILLE, though the locals tend to go toward the latter and jumble the syllables together like they’re talking with a mouthful of marbles.

45. N.C. State — Jim Valvano once got a technical for what he was thinking. (Or not.)

The classic story goes something like this: The legendary Wolfpack coach was upset about calls from Hall of Fame ref Hank Nichols, which led to this exchange.

Valvano : “Hey Hank, can I ask you a question?”

Nichols: “Sure Jimmy, what?

Valvano: “Can you tee me up for what I’m thinking.”

Nichols: “No.”

Valvano: “Good. In that case, I think you suck.”

As Nichols, a Hall of Fame ref told John Feinstein, the line was too good to T-up Valvano, though the late coach would always punctuate his telling of the story by saying he was T’d up anyway.

46. Albany — The past seven winners of the NCAA tournament had all won multiple titles before cutting down the nets.

Kansas (title No. 3 in 2008), North Carolina (No. 5 in 2009), Duke (No. 4 in 2010), UConn (Nos. 3 and 4 in 2011 and 2014), Kentucky (No. 8 in 2012) and Louisville (No. 4 in 2013) are the past seven winners, which is really bad news for Albany. Sorry guys. Thought you had a swinger’s chance.

47. Robert Morris — The university is located on the Moon.

This Google summary isn’t lying:

But it maybe/certainly is a little misleading. The school is located in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh. Ergo, the school isn’t exactly on the moon … but it’d be a lot cooler if it was.

48. North Carolina — If the Tar Heels lose, Roy Williams won’t wear that same suit in a game ever again.

Good thing Matt Doherty didn’t have that same rule when he was at UNC. He’d be broke.

49. Davidson — Students at the school receive free laundry service.

Since 1920, the small North Carolina college offered full laundry service for students, who could drop off clothes and get them back folded or on a hanger. Appallingly, this service will be discontinued in May, ending 85 years of tradition and laundry workers trying to get who-knows-what out of dudes’ shirts from Friday nights.

50. SMU — This is the 13th team — college and professional — Larry Brown has coached in his career.

And even though he’s only been there since 2012, it’s already tied for his 7th-longest coaching stint.

51. North Florida — This is the Ospreys first time in the tournament.

Other teams with one all-time tournament appearance: Springfield, Catholic, Tufts, Trinity, West Texas A&M, Cal State LA, Lebanon Valley and Wayne State. None of those schools play Division I anymore.

52. Kansas — Teddy Roosevelt said “Rock, chalk, Jayhawk” was the best college chant he’d ever heard.

If he’d known that:

a) A Jayhawk doesn’t exist and b) The chalk part comes from KU’s affinity for “a transposition of chalk rock, the name for the limestone outcropping found on Mount Oread, site of the Lawrence campus” he might have changed his mind. Also, while undeniably cool, I had no idea the chant sounds like a bunch of Benedictine monks.

53. Oklahoma State — Pistol Pete, the school’s mascot is available for birthday parties.

A 30-minute appearance by the stubbly, gun-toting, vest wearing Pete is only $100 and $0.75 per mile, a small price to pay for terrifying your child on his or her birthday.

54. Georgia — UGA basically stole the Green Bay Packers’ logo.

From the Pack’s website:

The Packers ‘G’ logo was invented by Dad Braisher specifically for the Packers in 1961. Georgia began using a similar looking logo in 1964. According to Georgia’s official website, head coach Vince Dooley “had been impressed with the look of the helmet worn by the Green Bay Packers, which featured the oval ‘G’ but in a different color scheme. Dooley settled on the black oval ‘G’ surrounded by a white oval background resting on each side of the bright red helmet. A white stripe was placed over the top.”

55. Iowa State — Only three schools with “State” in their names have won the national championship

Those teams are: Ohio State (1960); North Carolina State (1974, 1983) and Michigan State (1979, 2000). That’s bad news for the Cyclones, Wichita St., San Diego St. and Oklahoma St. It’d be bad for Boise St. too but they got jobbed by having to play Dayton at Dayton in a play-in game, so they’ve had enough bad news to deal with recently.

56. Wofford — The entire student body at Wofford (appx. 1,500) could comfortably sit in Arkansas’s Walton Arena. Twelve times over.

Wofford is the Muggsy Bogues of the 2015 tournament.

57. Iowa — The university was ranked second-best party school in the country and is the highest party-happy team in the field.

I feel like Andrew W.K. should be involved with this team somehow.

58. Boise State — The Broncos have a regular-looking court.

This is Boise’s home floor. Notice anything — oh, I don’t know — not monstrously blue about it, like the school’s famous football field? What a disappointment. This is like Rihanna showing up to the Grammy’s in mom jeans.

59. Cincinnati — Oscar Robinson was pretty much a monster.

In his three years at Cincy, the Big O averaged 33.8 points, 15.2 rebounds and 7.1 assists. He was a three-time consensus All-American and made two Final Fours, but never cut down the nets.

60. San Diego St. — Some famous folks can call themselves Aztecs, including Apollo Creed.

For a school you don’t hear much about save for basketball appearances, a slew of famous people have an affiliation with the school, such as Gregory Peck, Carl Weathers, Raquel Welch, Marshall Faulk, Tony Gwynn, Kahwi Leonard and Joe Gibbs.

61. Northern Iowa — I’m not saying Northern Iowa isn’t in Northern Iowa, but it isn’t not NOT in Northern Iowa.

Check out this map. I’ve highlighted the northern and southern borders of The Hawkeye State.

I think Cedar Falls falls into central Iowa, at best. Maybe you could say it’s Northern, but that’s playing with geography too much and I don’t like to dabble in such things. The cabal of worldwide geography experts can be ruthless. Also, UNI is right near Waterloo, which was both the site of Napoleon’s downfall and an awesome ABBA song.

62. Wichita State — One year after getting jobbed by the selection committee, Wichita State got a reward and was only jobbed slightly less by the selection committee.

Remember last year, when the Shockers entered the tournament 34-0, only to draw Kentucky — KENTUCKY! — as its eighth-seeded opponent in the second round? Well after that screw job, Wichita State had a slightly lesser one this year, getting a No. 7 seed despite being ranked No. 13 in the USA TODAY Sports men’s basketball coaches poll and No. 14 in the Pomeroy Ratings. But at least there was some benefit to this charade: The Shockers could face in-state rival and constant game-dodger Kansas in the third round.

63. Arkansas — The Razorbacks’ Sidney Moncrief was featured on one of the greatest Sports Illustrated covers of all time.

Aside from the obvious greatness of the cover, I love how only two people in the background realize the thunderous dunk that’s about to go down. See if you can find them. It’s like Where’s Waldo? One is even sort of dressed like him.

64. Providence — The Rhode Island school is the only one in the tournament that shares a name with a short-lived NBC drama that starred Jon Hamm.

Manhattan was also the name of a TV show, but it debuted last summer of WGN and you never heard about it, so let’s just say Providence is the only network television show to share name with a team in the field, unless there’s some Wofford-based program of which I’m unaware.

65. VCU — Shaka Smart is in his fifth year coaching at VCU and is still only 37 years old.

That makes him younger then Peyton Brady, D.J. from Full House, Alicia Silverstone, Ryan Reyonlds, the crazy redhead from Wedding Crashers, Stiffler and Punky Brewster, as well as Vinnie Chase and Kevin from The Wonder Years.

66. Kentucky — Legendary coach Adolph Rupp summed up everything about Kentucky basketball — its coaches, its players and its fans — in a single quote.

“I know I have plenty of enemies,” the coach once said, “but I’d rather be the most hated winning coach in the country than the most popular losing one.”

Also, did you know the team is 34-0 and has a chance to go undefeated?

67. LSU and 68. Ole Miss — These two SEC teams came the closest all year to beating mighty Kentucky.

Can Kentucky be beat? Of course. LSU, Ole Miss and an NIT-bound Texas A&M almost did it in the regular season, but it was LSU (No. 9 seed) and Ole Mis (No. 11) seed that got the closest. On Jan. 6, the Rebels lost an overtime road game in Lexington by three. One month later the ‘Cats traveled to Lexington and trailed by one with just over 90 seconds remaining, then survived an LSU buzzer beater to remain unbeaten.