Will Wade, rehired by Louisiana State, boasts an opportunity to achieve something rare in the major-college coaching community. The Tigers reeled Martin back in despite a trend where resurrected mentors failed to come anywhere close to duplicating success during previous tenure. Wade won 67.3% of his games in previous five-season stint.

Although eight of them posted losing marks during initial stint, Ronnie Arrow (South Alabama), Jim McCafferty (Loyola LA) and Ritchie McKay (Liberty) are the only three of the 42 mentors a total of 44 times in this "Comeback Club" category over the last 60-plus years to compile a higher winning percentage the second time around.

Several years ago, Xavier's Sean Miller reupped to align with Lou Carnesecca (St. John's) and Lake Kelly (Austin Peay State) as the only coaches to win NCAA playoff games in two different stints with the same school. Wade is the fourth active coach on the following alphabetical list of coaches returning to their former major-college stomping grounds if their tenures weren't interrupted solely by World War II:

NOTES: VBK also had two stints at Hofstra, but Hofstra wasn't at the major-college level his first stint there. . . . OCU de-emphasized its program to the NAIA level after Lemons returned. . . . ORU wasn't always at the Division I level for either of Trickey's stints.

Unless you're busy hoarding toilet paper to wipe derriere of George Soros butt boy NYC attorney Alvin Bragg, trying to help Supreme Court Justice define a woman or cowering in fetal position awaiting directive from deity Dr. Fraudci, it's your opportunity to start taking online tests for 23 quarantined days symbolic of normal time frame from Selection Sunday to Monday evening championship contest.

We need something to occupy our minds during quarantine from much of the invective-infected #MessMedia. Emphasizing a "one-and-only" theme for a "one-and-only" event, here is Day 12 of a treasure-trove of tantalizing NCAA Tournament trivia questions from CollegeHoopedia.com tracking the only coach, conference, player or school to be linked to a distinguished or dubious achievement (click here for answers or conduct research digesting historical morsels in CollegeHoopedia.com's year-by-year highlights):

1. Who is the only championship team player to have a season scoring average of less than six points per game entering a Final Four but tally more than 30 points in the national semifinals and final? Hint: He is the only player with a single-digit season scoring average to score more than 25 points in an NCAA championship game.

2. Who is the only player to score at least 25 points in eight consecutive NCAA playoff games? Hint: He is the only player to rank among top five in scoring average in both NCAA Tournament and NBA playoffs. He was denied a championship ring in his only Final Four appearance when a player who would become an NBA teammate tipped in decisive basket in the closing seconds.

3. Name the only Final Four Most Outstanding Player who wasn't among the top five scorers on his team. Hint: The only other player to earn the award who wasn't among top four scorers on his team attended same university.

4. Who is the only individual to be named the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player and NIT Most Valuable Player? Hint: As a freshman, he shared one of the awards with a teammate.

5. Who is the only U.S. Congressman to become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee after playing in the NCAA Tournament championship game? Hint: Starting out as a Democrat, he became a 12-term Republican Congressman from Illinois.

6. Who is the only individual to be named Final Four Most Outstanding Player and NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in back-to-back seasons? Hint: He holds the NBA Finals single-game record for most points by a rookie.

7. Name the freshman who had the highest season scoring average for a team to reach the NCAA Tournament championship game until Carmelo Anthony achieved the feat for 2003 champion Syracuse. Hint: The word "Boss" is tattooed to his chest for a good reason because he also led his team in assists as freshman.

8. Who is the only freshman to score more than 30 points in a national semifinal or championship game before failing to score more than half that total in his next four playoff outings? Hint: He didn't score more than 15 points in any of his next four NCAA playoff games, all defeats, and averaged a modest 8.2 points per game in an eight-year NBA career with an all-time pro season high of 11.4 ppg and game high of 28.

9. Who is the only freshman on a Final Four team to score more than 20 points in as many as four tournament games? Hint: He did not play in the national championship game and his school lost in the NCAA playoffs to opponents with double-digit seeds each of four seasons before he arrived.

10. Name the only season-leading scorer of a titlist to be held more than 14 points below his average in the NCAA championship game. Hint: He was named national player of the year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. He is one of four Final Four Most Outstanding Players held scoreless in their NCAA Tournament debuts in a previous season. He is also the only individual to become a member of three NCAA titlists after playing one season in junior college.

Answers (Day 12)
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Siena has lost five different head coaches this century after Gerry McNamara returned to his old stomping grounds at Syracuse. A striking number of mid-major schools have had even more bench bosses depart for greener pastures. For instance, Ryan Odom's departure to Virginia a year ago enabled Virginia Commonwealth to become the first school to lose nine head coaches to other major colleges or the NBA. VCU, which moved up to NCAA Division I level in the mid-1970s, had six bench bosses bid adieu for power-conference members in the last 20 years.

Incredibly, Tulsa lost four coaches in a seven-year period from 1995 to 2001. The following list shows Idaho (11 years from 1983 to 1993), Princeton (12 years from 2000 to 2011), Murray State (14 years from 1985 to 1998), New Orleans (14 years from 1994 to 2007), Penn (15 years from 1971 to 1985), Louisiana Tech (16 years from 1974 to 1989) and Xavier (16 years from 1994 through 2009) losing four coaches in comparable short spans:

Virginia Commonwealth (nine head coaches departed for other schools) - Dana Kirk (Memphis State/1979), J.D. Barnett (Tulsa/1985), Mike Pollio (Eastern Kentucky/1989), Jeff Capel III (Oklahoma/2006), Anthony Grant (Alabama/2009), Shaka Smart (Texas/2015), Will Wade (Louisiana State/2017), Mike Rhoades (Penn State/2023), Ryan Odom (Virginia/2025)

Murray State (eight) - Ron Greene (departed for Indiana State/1985), Steve Newton (South Carolina/1991), Scott Edgar (Duquesne/1995), Mark Gottfried (Alabama/1998), Mick Cronin (Cincinnati/2006), Billy Kennedy (Texas A&M/2011), Steve Prohm (Iowa State/2015), Matt McMahon (Louisiana State/2022)

Xavier (eight) - Ned Wulk (Arizona State/1957), Bob Staak (Wake Forest/1985), Pete Gillen (Providence/1994), Skip Prosser (Wake Forest/2001), Thad Matta (Ohio State/2004), Sean Miller (Arizona/2009), Chris Mack (Louisville/2018), Sean Miller (Texas/2025)

Idaho (seven) - Dave MacMillan (Minnesota/1927), Dave Strack (Michigan/1960), Joe Cipriano (Nebraska/1963), Don Monson (Oregon/1983), Tim Floyd (New Orleans/1988), Kermit Davis (Texas A&M/1990), Larry Eustachy (Utah State/1993)

Kansas State (seven) - Jack Gardner (Utah/1953), Tex Winter (Washington/1968), Cotton Fitzsimmons (Phoenix Suns/1970), Lon Kruger (Florida/1990), Dana Altman (Creighton/1994), Bob Huggins (West Virginia/2008), Frank Martin (South Carolina/2012)

Louisiana Tech (seven) - Scotty Robertson (New Orleans Jazz/1974), J.D. Barnett (Virginia Commonwealth/1979), Andy Russo (Washington/1985), Tommy Joe Eagles (Auburn/1989), Jim Wooldridge (assistant with Chicago Bulls/1998), Michael White (Florida/2015), Eric Konkol (Tulsa/2022)

Montana (seven) - Jud Heathcote (Michigan State/1976), Jim Brandenburg (Wyoming/1978), Mike Montgomery (Stanford/1986), Stew Morrill (Colorado State/1991), Pat Kennedy (Towson/2004), Larry Krystkowiak (assistant with Milwaukee Bucks/2006), Wayne Tinkle (Oregon State/2014)

Penn (seven) - Howie Dallmar (Stanford/1954), Jack McCloskey (Wake Forest/1966), Dick Harter (Oregon/1971), Chuck Daly (assistant with Philadelphia 76ers/1977), Bob Weinhauer (Arizona State/1982), Craig Littlepage (Rutgers/1985), Fran Dunphy (Temple/2006)

Tulsa (seven) - Ken Hayes (New Mexico State/1975), Nolan Richardson Jr. (Arkansas/1985), Tubby Smith (Georgia/1995), Steve Robinson (Florida State/1997), Bill Self (Illinois/2000), Buzz Peterson (Tennessee/2001), Danny Manning (Wake Forest/2014)

Need an example showing how scoring is down in college basketball? Disregard the freak set of circumstances in 2008-09 when eventual NBA MVP Stephen Curry went scoreless against Loyola (Md.). Unsure if it is a byproduct of doomed civilization stemming from eco-fascist climate change, but only one NCAA Division I player averaged in excess of 30 points per game in the 21st Century (since LIU's Charles Jones in 1996-97). He was Campbell's Chris Clemons, who barely achieved the feat six seasons ago (30.1 ppg).

This campaign, Brigham Young freshman AJ Dybantsa became the fifth scoring leader in the last six seasons to averaged fewer than 26 ppg. Yale's Tony Lavelli posted a modest 22.4 ppg in 1948-49. As a means of comparison to an era when scorers flourished, an average of 17 players annually posted higher scoring marks than Dybansta in a four-season span from 1967-68 through 1970-71, including a high of 24 in 1969-70 when LSU's Pete Maravich dwarfed Dybantsa's output with 44.5 ppg despite the absence of the three-point field goal.

Glenn Robinson Jr. (30.3 ppg for Purdue in 1993-94) was the only player from a power six league to pace the country in scoring in a 41-year span from 1971-72 through 2011-12 (South Carolina was independent in 1980-81 and TCU was SWC member in 1994-95). Dybantsa joined the following list citing the high and low games for players during the season when they led DI in scoring average:

NOTE: Leaders are unofficial from 1935-36 through 1946-47.

Unless you're still busy hoarding toilet paper to wipe big butts of New York's woeful fat attorneys, wondering how many translators are required for world leaders to try to understand former President Plagiarist Biledumb, seeking to drink margaritas with illegal-alien criminals like #Dimorat politicians or cowering in fetal position from latest Dr. Fraudci deity directive, it's your opportunity to start taking online tests for 23 quarantined days symbolic of normal time frame from Selection Sunday to Monday evening championship contest.

We need something to occupy our minds during quarantine from much of the invective-infected #MessMedia. Emphasizing a "one-and-only" theme for a "one-and-only" event, here is Day 11 of a treasure-trove of tantalizing NCAA Tournament trivia questions from CollegeHoopedia.com tracking the only coach, conference, player or school to be linked to a distinguished or dubious achievement (click here for answers or conduct research digesting historical morsels in CollegeHoopedia.com's year-by-year highlights):

1. Who is the only one of the 60 or so two-time consensus first-team All-Americans since 1946 never to participate in the NCAA Tournament or the NIT? Hint: His school was a total of 10 games over .500 in Big Ten Conference competition in his junior and senior seasons. He never played on a team to win playoff series in his nine-year NBA career.

2. Who is the only player to score more than 20,000 pro points yet never reach the conference finals in the NBA playoffs after playing at least two seasons of varsity basketball at a major college and never participating in the NCAA Division I playoffs? Hint: The college he attended made its NCAA Tournament debut the first year after he left school early to become third pick overall in NBA draft.

3. Who is the only coach since the tourney field expanded to at least 48 teams to take two different universities to the playoffs when the schools appeared in the tournament for the first time? Hint: His last name begins with a "F" and he no longer is Division I head coach.

4. Name the only school with a losing record to secure an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs by winning a regular-season conference title. Hint: The league started a postseason tournament two years later and the school in question has lost all six times it reached conference tourney championship game.

5. Name the only major university to have two graduates score more than 17,000 points in the NBA after playing at least three varsity seasons in college and failing to appear in the NCAA Tournament. Hint: The school has had three other players score more than 10,000 points in the NBA after never appearing in NCAA playoffs.

6. Name the only former titlist to have an all-time playoff record 10 games below the .500 mark. Hint: Longtime network broadcaster Curt Gowdy played in the tournament for the school.

7. Name the only state with three schools to compile tournament records at least nine games below .500. Hint: The three institutions from same state are members of different conferences.

8. Who was the only player shorter than Bobby Hurley, Duke's 6-0 guard, to play for a championship team and be selected as the Final Four Most Outstanding Player? Hint: There was another Final Four MOP who was also shorter than 6-0, but he played for a national third-place finisher in the mid-1950s.

9. Who is the only individual to play in an NCAA Tournament championship game and later coach his alma mater to a final? Hint: He served as an assistant to the coach with the most NCAA playoff victories and a college teammate is one of the winningest coaches of all time.

10. Name the only one of the schools with multiple national titles to have two teams participate in the NCAA playoffs as defending champions but lose their opening-round game. Hint: Both of the opening-round setbacks for the school when it was defending champion occurred in East Regional.

Answers (Day 11)
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There is a tendency to overindulge at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Anyone digesting the following assortment of incisive facts on the 16 NCAA Division I Tournament regional semifinalist 16 coaches should find that variety is the spice of this occasionally irreverent smorgasbord. More than half of the Sweet 16 bench bosses did not play major-college basketball. Remember: If a morsel isn't appetizing, don't be a glutton for punishment in trying to comprehend what makes the coaching community tick. Just proceed directly to the next tidbit to marinate on. Sooner or later, there's bound to be a few factoids you can savor among the following 2026 Sweet 16 mentors:

ALABAMA: Detroit-area prep coach Nate Oats joined Bobby Hurley's Buffalo staff directly with junior college recruit Justin Moss in 2013 before Moss became Mid-American Conference Player of the Year the next season and one year before center Raheem Johnson aligned with the Bulls as another J.C. signee. Moss and Johnson played under Oats at Romulus H.S.

ARIZONA: Tommy Lloyd's son, Liam, played in 14 games for the Wildcats after transfer previous competed with in-state schools Northern Arizona and Grand Canyon. During the construction of their home in Spokane while Gonzaga's associate head coach, his family lived in the childhood residence of Zags legend and Hall of Famer John Stockton. Lloyd, known for his international recruiting, spent several months backpacking on several continents before commencing his coaching career in the late 1990s.

ARKANSAS: John Calipari lettered two years for UNC-Wilmington before transferring to Clarion (Pa.) State.

CONNECTICUT: One of Dan Hurley's assistants at previous pitstops Wagner and Rhode Island was brother Bobby Hurley, an All-American guard for Duke's back-to-back NCAA titlists in 1991 and 1992.

DUKE: Jon Scheyer was raised in his father's Jewish religion and became a Bar Mitzvah. Scheyer was known as the "Jewish Jordan" and his Illinois high school state championship squad (Glenbrook North; prep alma mater of Northwestern coach and fellow Blue Devils guard Chris Collins) is the nation's only one known to have included an all-Jewish starting lineup. He received a scholarship offer from then Marquette coach Tom Crean as an eighth-grader before playing in high school under former Illini coach Bruce Weber's brother.

HOUSTON: Kelvin Sampson was a three-year college baseball letterman for Pembroke (N.C.) State.

ILLINOIS: Brad Underwood, as a juco recruit, took a visit to Oklahoma State, where his player host at the time was current Kansas bench boss Bill Self. Underwood's son, Tyler, played sparingly under his father with OSU and the Illini.

IOWA: Ben McCollum posted more than 20 wins each of his last 13 seasons with Northwest Missouri State (appearing 12 times in NCAA DII Tournament and averaging more than 30 triumphs annually in final eight campaigns) after going 22-31 in his first two campaigns in 2009-10 and 20109-11.

IOWA STATE: T.J. Otzelberger was an assistant coach with the Cyclones under his three predecessors - Greg McDermott, Fred Hoiberg and Steve Prohm. Otzelberger's wife, Alison Lacey, was a three-time All-Big 12 Conference selection for ISU women's basketball program.

MICHIGAN: Dusty May served as a student manager at Indiana from 1996 to 2000 under Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight. May's youngest son, Eli, holds a similar position with the Wolverines.

MICHIGAN STATE: Tom Izzo was a teammate in high school (Iron Mountain, Mich.) and college (Northern Michigan) of former Detroit Lions coach Steve Mariucci. Izzo, a running back, and Mariucci, a quarterback, were the best men in each others' weddings.

NEBRASKA: Fred Hoiberg, an Ames, Iowa, product nicknamed "The Mayor," served as Vice President of Basketball Operations with the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves.

PURDUE: Matt Painter's father attended Big Ten Conference rival Indiana.

ST. JOHN'S: Rick Pitino averaged more assists per game (5.6) than points (4.7) in his two-year playing career with Massachusetts. Al Skinner, Boston College's all-time winningest coach, was captain of the 1973-74 UMass squad led in assists by Pitino for the second straight season.

TENNESSEE: Texas' turnaround in 1998-99 (19-13 record after going 14-17 in 1997-98 under Tom Penders) enabled Rick Barnes to become the only active coach to take two different schools to the NCAA playoffs in his maiden voyage with them after they posted a losing mark the previous campaign. He previously achieved the feat with Providence in the late 1980s. Barnes posted the nation's best winning percentage by a first-year major college head coach in 1987-88 when he went 20-10 (.667) in his lone season with George Mason.

TEXAS: Sean Miller was Big East Conference Freshman of the Year in 1987-88 with Pittsburgh (9.3 ppg, 5.8 apg, 85.1 FT%). Miller has the only two single-season free-throw shooting figures higher than 90% in Pitt history (.914 in in 1988-89 and .905 in 1990-91). As a youngster, he made appearance on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show exhibiting his ballhandling ability.

Houston humiliated intra-state rival Texas A&M, 88-57, this year. We learned anew last decade why Kansas, like a masseuse dealing with Deshaun Watson, seeks to avoid Wichita State year upon year after the Shockers clobbered KU in the 2015 Midwest Regional. Ditto Notre Dame and Purdue with their frequent shunning this century of Butler, which took the Irish into overtime in the same regional before losing by only three points against the Boilermakers in second round in 2018. The results, coupled with Abilene Christian's shocking upset of Texas and Loyola leveling Illinois in 2021, showed again why some major schools should be ashamed of themselves for ducking nearby quality opponents. Why in the world did they have to resort to a national tournament assignment hundreds of miles from their fan base to oppose each other?

In a "Days of Whine and Hoses" era when many cash-strapped athletic departments are begging for revenue, they still schedule numerous poorly-attended home games against inferior opponents. It defies logic as to why tradition-rich schools forsake entertaining non-conference contests with natural rivals (example: Virginia Tech vs. Liberty in 2019) while scheduling more than their share of meaningless "rout-a-matics" at home. Fans shouldn't have to wait for an entertaining contest such as Morehead State upsetting Louisville, 62-61, in the opening round of the 2011 playoffs or Florida Gulf Coast taking Florida State to the mat in 2017.

The normal intensity of an NCAA Tournament tilt escalates even more in "bragging rights" games between neighboring opponents such as Texas Tech vs. Stephen F. Austin in 2018 first round that rarely if ever tangle on the same floor unless forced to compete against each other by a postseason bracket. Essentially, it is a sad state of affairs for fans in Kansas to need to hope KU and Wichita State oppose each other every 20 to 25 years in the NCAA tourney for them to meet on the hardwood.

A classic example of the scheduling neglect was an intense 2001 West Regional matchup between Maryland and Georgetown. Of course, the Washington, D.C., area isn't the only region with a scheduling complex. As emotional as it was, the Hoya Paranoia-Terrapin Trepidation confrontation didn't stack up among the following "Sweet 16" intrastate contests in NCAA playoff history including a couple of Kentucky/Louisville duels before they started meeting on an annual basis:

1. 1961 NCAA Championship Game (Cincinnati 70, Ohio State 65 in OT)
Paul Hogue, a 6-9 center who hit just 51.8% of his free-throw attempts during the season, sank only two of 10 foul shots in his two previous contests before putting Cincinnati ahead to stay with a pair of pivotal free throws in overtime in a victory over previously undefeated Ohio State.

2. 1998 East Regional second round (North Carolina 93, UNCC 83 in OT)
UNC Charlotte forward DeMarco Johnson outplayed national player of the year Antawn Jamison of the Tar Heels, but Carolina got a total of 55 points from Shammond Williams and Vince Carter to withstand the 49ers' bid for an upset.

3. 1983 Mideast Regional final (Louisville 80, Kentucky 68 in OT)
The first meeting between in-state rivals Kentucky and Louisville in more than 24 years was memorable as the Cardinals outscored the Wildcats 18-6 in overtime to reach the Final Four. The next year in same region's semifinals, UK erased a half-time deficit to upend the Cards, 72-67.

4. 1981 Midwest Regional semifinals (Wichita State 66, Kansas 65)
Mike Jones hit two long-range baskets in the last 50 seconds for Wichita State in the first game between the intrastate rivals in 36 years.

5. 1989 Southeast Regional first round (South Alabama 86, Alabama 84)
In an exciting intrastate battle, South Alabama erased a 16-point halftime deficit. Jeff Hodge and Gabe Estaba combined for 55 points for USA.

6. 1971 West Regional final (UCLA 57, Long Beach State 55)
The closest result for UCLA during the Bruins' 38-game playoff winning streak from 1967 to 1973 came when they had to erase an 11-point deficit despite 29 percent field-goal shooting to edge Jerry Tarkanian-coached Long Beach State.

7. 1971 Mideast Regional semifinals (Western Kentucky 107, Kentucky 83)
This year's game wasn't anything like when WKU, long regarded as poor country cousins by Kentucky, whipped the Wildcats in their first-ever meeting when All-American Jim McDaniels poured in 35 points for the Hilltoppers.

8. 1959 Mideast Regional semifinals (Louisville 76, Kentucky 61)
Second-ranked Kentucky (24-3) hit less than one-third of its field-goal attempts in blowing a 15-point lead against intrastate rival Louisville (19-12). The Cardinals had lost to Georgetown (KY) earlier in the season.

9. 1964 Midwest Regional first round (Texas Western 68, Texas A&M 62)
Jim "Bad News" Barnes took out his do-it-yourself kit and accounted for 61.8% of Texas Western's offense by scoring 42 points.

10. 1962 NCAA Championship Game (Cincinnati 71, Ohio State 59)
Ohio State All-American center Jerry Lucas wrenched his left knee in the national semifinals against Wake Forest, limiting his effectiveness against Cincinnati counterpart Paul Hogue in the Bearcats' 71-59 triumph in the final.

11. 1963 Mideast Regional final (Loyola of Chicago 79, Illinois 64)
Sparked by All-American Jerry Harkness' 33 points (highest ever for Ramblers in NCAA tourney), Loyola's only meeting against the Illini in a 24-year span from 1955-56 through 1978-79 represented the Ramblers' lone win in their irregular series until 1984-85.

12. 1974 East Regional first round (Furman 75, South Carolina 67)
Furman's Clyde Mayes collected 21 points and 16 rebounds to upend the Gamecocks' star-studded roster featuring Mike Dunleavy Sr., Alex English and Brian Winters.

13. 2021 Midwest Regional second round (Loyola of Chicago 71, Illinois 58)
Illini were knocked off #1 regional seed pedestal by the Ramblers.

14. 2021 East Regional first round (Abilene Christian 53, Texas 52)
In their first-ever meeting, #14 seed ACU upset #3 seed Texas on Joe Pleasant's pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining.

15. 1964 Midwest Regional final (Kansas State 94, Wichita 86)
All-American Dave Stallworth's 37 points (highest ever by Shockers in NCAA tourney) and 16 rebounds weren't enough to prevent Wichita's loss against K-State.

16. 1969 Midwest Regional semifinals (Colorado State 64, Colorado 56)
Cliff Meely's 32 points (all-time individual playoff high for CU) were in vain. Cliff Shegogg tallied a team-high 20 points for the Rams.

Gonzaga entered NCAA Tournament final five years ago boasting a school-record winning streak (35) before beaten by Baylor. The Zags should know the fact numerous other teams had the daunting task of capturing the NCAA championship or watch even longer school-record winning streaks come to a halt. Mid-majors James Madison (13 in 2024), UC San Diego (15 in 2025) and High Point (14 in 2026) entered national playoffs the last three campaigns with winning streaks significantly shorter than the following alphabetical list of schools boasting still existing all-time DI winning streaks of at least 25 consecutive victories broken during the NCAA playoffs:

Exit of AJ Dybantsa (Brigham Young) is nothing new for an NCAA consensus first-team All-American failing to reach the national tournament Sweet 16 since 1975 when field expanded to 32 teams and every entrant had to win at least one game before advancing to regional semifinals. Dybantsa joined a lengthy list of them bowing out in the opening round.

Four consensus first-teamers didn't reach Sweet 16 in 2000 and 2022 introduced in 1979. First-teamers from five different Big Ten members failed to advance to the Sweet 16 in 2022 and 2023.

Creighton's Doug McDermott was a first-teamer failing to play in second weekend three straight seasons (2012 through 2014) and DePaul's Mark Aguirre is lone first-teamer to be eliminated in opening round in back-to-back years (1980 and 1981). Following is a list of NCAA consensus first-team All-Americans failing to appear in Sweet 16 since 1975 (listed in reverse order):

^Lost opening-round game.
NOTE: Martin was injured (broke his right leg in 2000 C-USA Tournament).

Packing the court legitimately, the Big Ten and SEC supplied at least four Sweet 16 participants each of the last two seasons (featuring all-time record seven for the SEC a year ago after alliance started with all-time high of 14 delegates). Power conferences comprise the entire Sweet 16 field for the second straight campaign. It is a dramatic turnaround for the SEC, which provided more than two Sweet 16 representatives only once (three in 2007) in a 12-year span from 2001 through 2012 (marred by a goose egg in 2009).

In 2016-17, the national media proclaimed the ACC as perhaps the greatest league in history but that assessment came before the nine-bid alliance was fortunate to have one representative among regional semifinalists (North Carolina overcame five-point deficit in last three minutes against Arkansas). #MessMedia proclaimed the Big Ten as dominant four seasons ago but only one of nine participants survived the first weekend of competition. The Big Ten became the first conference securing at least nine entrants in single tourney and have none of them advance to a regional final in 2022.

In 2009, the Big East became the first conference to boast five playoff teams reaching the regional semifinals in the same year until the ACC duplicated the feat three years ago. The ACC boasted four members advancing that far on eight occasions in a 12-year stretch from 1984 through 1995.

The ACC in 1985 was the only league in this category not to have at least one of the quartet reach the Final Four until the Big East was foiled in 2006. The following list of thoroughbred leagues contributed at least four Sweet 16 participants a total of 35 times since the NCAA Tournament field expanded to at least 48 teams in 1980:

x-Won NCAA championship
y-Finished national runner-up
z-Reached Final Four

Duke's success this year enabled the ACC to extend its streak of Sweet 16 representation since 1979 when the field expanded from 32 to 40 teams after the Blue Devils reached the 1978 tourney final. Duke and North Carolina both lost their openers in 1979. Despite struggling of late, the ACC is the only league not to be shut out of the Sweet 16 at least once since the Big 12 Conference's inaugural campaign in 1996-97. The disbanded Pacific-10/12 Conference was nowhere to be found in the Sweet 16 five times in an eight-year span from 1980 through 1987. Following are the years since 1979 when power conferences failed to have at least one member reach the Sweet 16:

ACC - 1979
Big East - 1986, 1993, 2019 and 2025
Big Ten - 1995, 1996 and 2006
Big 12 (plus Big Eight and SWC) - 1990 and 1998
Pacific-10/12 - 1980, 1981, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1999, 2004, 2012 and 2018
SEC - 1989 and 2009

Symbolic of the West, Boise State has had some decent teams in recent years but is shackled by being winless after 10 playoff outings. The West, featuring multiple other schools even more games below .500, remains the worst as such a viewpoint shouldn't be a surprise unless you put stock in creepy porn lawyer #Avenaughty as a #Dimorat presidential candidate, hideous Hunter's laptop is Russian disinformation or always believe contrived comments from Muslim Brotherhood apologist/former CIA chief John "NBC News' Snoopy" Brennan. Utah State is more games below .500 than any institution in NCAA playoff history (20) with Brigham Young (19) and New Mexico State (17) not far behind. Bowing out of the NCAA playoffs before the Sweet 16 is almost a tradition. Also weighing heavily out West, Wyoming is the only former national champion (1943) to compile an all-time NCAA playoff record more than five games below .500 (9-21).

Everett Shelton, coach of Wyoming's titlist, is the only championship team bench boss to finish with a non-winning playoff record (4-12 from 1941 through 1958) and was more games under .500 in NCAA Division I Tournament competition than any coach in history until supplanted by Fran Dunphy (3-17 with Penn and Temple from 1993 through 2019). Also, Shelton is the only coach to lose three consecutive regional final games (1947, 1948 and 1949).

Joining Dunphy and Shelton among the eight coaches more than six games under .500 in NCAA playoff play are Rick Byrd (1-8 with Belmont from 2006 through 2019), Pete Carril (4-11 with Princeton from 1969 through 1996), Don Corbett (0-7 with North Carolina A&T from 1982 through 1988), Hugh Greer (1-8 with Connecticut from 1951 through 1960), Stew Morrill (1-9 with Montana and Utah State from 1991 through 2011) and Mike Vining (0-7 with Louisiana-Monroe from 1982 through 1996).

More than half of the following 11 schools more than 10 games below .500 in NCAA tourney competition are from west of the Mississippi River:

School	Playoff Record	Games Below .500 Mark	Summary of Tournament Tumult
Utah State	8-28	minus 20	lost 22 of last 25 playoff games
Brigham Young	17-36	minus 19	only two victories were by fewer than six points
New Mexico State	11-28	minus 17	lost 12 straight games until ending streak this year after winning seven of 11 contests from 1968 through 1970
Princeton	15-30	minus 15	lost eight of first nine games from 1952 through 1963 and five straight contests since 1998 until reaching 2023 Sweet 16
Iona	1-16	minus 15	15 straight setbacks with first four of them by fewer than four points from 1980 through 1998
Miami (Ohio)	7-20	minus 13	only victory in 10-game span from 1969 through 1992 was in OT against defending NCAA champion Marquette in 1978
Murray State	5-18	minus 13	lost 11 games in a row from 1988 through 2006
Penn	13-26	minus 13	lost last 10 games and 15 of last 16 after entering 1979 Final Four with winning playoff record (11-9)
Montana	2-14	minus 12	won inaugural game in 1975 but lost last five contests since 2012 by an average of nearly 25 points
Wyoming	9-21	minus 12	1943 NCAA titlist before losing 12 of 13 games from 1947 through 1967
Weber State	6-17	minus 11	seven of last nine defeats since 1979 were by fewer than 12 points

Bryan Hodgson won 73.5% of his games in only season (25-9 record) with South Florida before seeking greener pastures at Providence. A surprising number of previous "won-and-done" mentors posted even higher winning percentages in "short-and-sweet" one-year stints since the generally recognized start of the modern era of college basketball in the early 1950s. Drake had two such coaches promptly move on to higher ground upon winning at least 28 games (Keno Davis following 2007-08 campaign and Ben McCollum a year ago after earning distinction as the winningest one-year wonder in NCAA history (31-4).

Fordham improved by 14 games in Digger Phelps' only season with the Rams in 1970-71, a mark that stood for one-year wonders until Chris Beard broke it with a 15-game improvement after UALR (30-5) went 13-18 in 2014-15. Buzz Peterson, the only coach to win a national postseason championship in his only season at a school (NIT with Tulsa), is among the following "one-and-done" coaches - including 2026 NCAA playoff bench bosses Rick Barnes (George Mason), Grant McCasland (Arkansas State), Matt Painter (Southern Illinois) and Brad Underwood (Oklahoma State) plus McCollum - winning more than 60% of their games in one-year tenures in the last 70 years:

*Harding became coach for Minnesota (ABA) for portion of 1968-69 season.