13 fun facts to March into Madness

Earlier this season, seniors Garrett Spaun of Calvert and Bryce Burns from Columbian reached the pinnacle 1,000-point club on the same night while Bryce's teammate, Logan Beaston, notched his 1000th points only a few weeks ago during his junior year. Calvert Coach Jon Otterbacher is also to be commended after just being named "Coach of the Year" in D-IV for northwest Ohio. Basketball season is still going strong around the country with March Madness, the phrase first coined by Brent Musburger in connection with the 1982 NCAA basketball championship forty years ago, about to take off like a rocket ship headed into the wild blue yonder. After Baylor and Stanford won the respective men's and women's basketball tournament crown last year, the landscape is a bit different for 2022. For the first time, the women's DI collegiate championship will also be branded as March Madness in response to last year's viral media post by a University of Oregon player who depicted the disparities in food, facilities and amenities among the male and female tournament sites. The women's field will also be expanded to 68 teams to mirror the men's tournament roster. Additionally, 2022 marks the first time for name, image and likeness [NIL] deals between brands and college athletes. Before March Madness officially tips off, Yahoo Sports, Outback Steakhouse, Popeyes and the Dollar Shave Club are among companies that have crafted NIL deals with top players from programs expected to make a deep run in the tournament. Other brands are keeping a close eye on potential rising stars from an upset Cinderella team. Whether filling out a bracket for fun or for a wager, it's always interesting to ponder a few key facts about the tournament and the NCAA, the rights owner for March Madness who banks a pretty penny from media deals. For one, New Orleans, the host city for the men's Final Four, is expected to sustain a $200 million economic impact. Perhaps of greater importance is the amount of beer and pizza expected to be consumed in the month of March. According to statistics compiled by Wallet Hub, March pizza sales increase by almost 20% and American breweries produce almost three million more barrels of beer (18 million total) compared to 14 million produced in a normal month. Here are other fun and memorable March Madness facts:1. $10 billion is the estimated amount to be wagered on the 2022 NCAA tournament which is approximately 30% more than Super Bowl bets.2. While COVID-19 canceled the 2020 tournament, the NCAA earned $1.16 billion in revenue in 2021. 3. The NCAA distributed $169.4 million in basketball-related funds to D1 schools from the 2021 tournament. 4. The highest-paid basketball coach is still Kentucky's John Calipari who will earn $8.1 million for the season before performance bonuses kick in.5. No fifth-seeded team has ever won the men's tournament.6. The lowest-seeded team to win the men's championship was the eighth-seeded Villanova Wildcats who upset the Georgetown Hoyas on April Fool's Day in 1985. 7. In 2018, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County became the first and only 16th seed to ever knock out a number one seed (University of Virginia).8. The most points scored in a single game before the 3-pt shot was adopted; 61 in 1970 by Austin Carr, the future Cleveland Cavalier who was playing for the University of Notre Dame.9. The highest-scoring game was a 149-115 final in a 1990 second-round men's game between Loyola Marymount and the University of Michigan.10. The University of Connecticut is the only institution to ever win both the men's and women's national championships in the same year, and they did it twice! 2004 AND 2014.11. In the 2017 women's final four, the University of Mississippi ended the University of Connecticut's 111-game consecutive win streak on a buzzer-beater.12. The 2022 tournament will mark 40 years since the first women's championship in 1982 compared to 83 years for the men's championships first held at Northwestern University in 1939.13. The seating capacity for the 2022 Women's Final Four at the Target Center in Minneapolis is 18,067 compared to 76,000 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, the host arena for the men's championships.Hopefully, March Madness will be enough this year to fill the appetite of those that have been missing MLB spring training games (thank goodness a settlement has been reached to save a majority of the season). If not, The Paralympics are begging for viewers! Stay tuned next month for more interesting sports stories from around the world, across the nation, within the state, or right here in the great community of Tiffin, Ohio.