NCAA Tournament “4” Year Notes

The NCAA Tournament Round Of Sixteen commences with 4 tilts Thursday and ends with four on Friday.

“4” is a # worth citing, as in the “4” year, this being the ninth such with NCAA Tournament play (’44-‘2024).

It also tilts toward citing defending champion Connecticut, the plurality tournie favorite and “4” year title winners both 10 and 20 years ago (’14 and ’04).

Both Connecticut and Duke have won 5 crowns, Duke, doing so in the last 34 events, all in the 34 final rounds with Jim Nantz as the lead announcer, which no longer is the case.

Connecticut also won all of its 5 in the “Nantz years,” not winning one until beating Duke in the ’99 final.

Twice, Duke made and lost the tournament final in a “4” year as the first of their 8 national semis sans a crown was in ’64, when U.C.L.A. which has 11 titles, won its first and in ’94, when a tremendous 4 year run that included titles in ’91 and ’92, ended with a final loss to Arkansas.

Continuing with “4” years as Houston a round of sixteen team in ’24 lost in the ’84 final.

N.C. State, cited a few times here, made it to the regional semis/round of 16 with an overtime win vs upstart Oakland on the exact 50 year anniversary of their classic semi-final win vs U.C.L.A.

Now they face Marquette, tonight being the exact 50 year anniversary of State’s final round win vs Marquette.

Then known as Walt Hazzard, later Abdul Rahman, he was the star UCLA player as they won their first crown sixty years ago.