Fun Facts about the Chris Krauss Invitational and Basketball

  • CKI: Highest player point total : 209 points - Hop in 2009
  • CKI: Lowest player point total : 71 points - Stud B in 2000
  • CKI: Highest player pick percentage : 84% - Hop in 2009
  • CKI: Lowest player pick percentage : 35% - MJR in 1999 (No wonder Mary Jane is always asking for a losers pot).
  • CKI: Lowest player pick percentage to win the pool : 63% - Flied in 1997
  • CKI: A father and son have finished in the money three times:
    •      2001:  #2 Al's Ghost  and  #1 Gus
         2006:  #2 Moose  and  #3 bean
         2012:  #3 Hickory  and  #1 K MAN
  • CKI: Youngest player to win the CKI - 11 year old Gus in 2001
  • CKI: Largest number of entrants : 186 in 2010
  • Recent teams to enter the tournament undefeated were Kentucky in 2015 and Wichita St in 2014. The next prior team was UNLV in 1991.
  • The last undefeated national champion was Indiana during the 1975-76 season.
  • 2014 - The state of Indiana is shut out of the big dance, for only the second time in 42 years.
  • Brent Musberger is generally credited with coining the phrase "March Madness". The madness began with the first NCAA tournament in 1939 with 8 teams.
  • Only one team has scored more than 100 points in the NCAA final game - UNLV beat Duke 103 to 93 in 1990.
  • The lowest seeded team to ever win the tournament was #8 Villanova in 1985.
  • The only team to make it to the championship game in their 1st tournament appearance were the Indiana St Sycamores with Larry Bird
  • In 2009, President Obama made his picks public. He finished in 63rd place (out of 157) in the Chris Krauss Invitational proving that 40% of CKI participants are smarter than a president.
  • Basketball became an official Olympic event at the Summer Games in Berlin, Germany in 1936. Hitler was overheard to say, "Aryans will always dominate this game."
  • In 2009, the 2nd place finisher based her picks on the prowess of team mascots, as in 'A Musketeer can beat up a Seminole, he's got a gun right?' Sorry, Connie, for giving up your secret.
  • The Mar 16, 2018 loss of Virginia to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (54-74) was the first ever loss of a No. 1 seed to a No. 16 seed in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. Virginia had entered the tournament as the overall No. 1 seed.
  • All #1 seeds have made it to the Final Four only once - in 2008, when Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA, and Memphis all won their regionals.
  • Updated 2020: 44 42 Division I teams have never made the tournament: NJIT, Kennesaw St., Stetson, N Alabama, USC Upstate, Hartford, UMass-Lowell, New Hampshire, Maine, Sacramento St., High Point, Gardner-Webb, Presbyterian, Longwood, UC Riverside, William & Mary, Elon, Youngstown St., Quinnipiac, Bethune-Cookman, Savannah St., Maryland-ES, St. Francis, Sacred Heart, Bryant, UT-Martin, SIUE, Army, Citadel, Central Ark., Abilene Christian, Incarnate Word, S. Dakota, Denver, IPFW, Nebraska-Omaha, Western Illinios, Grambling, Utah Valley, Grand Canyon, UTRGV, UMKC, Chicago St., California Baptist
  • The odds of filling out a perfect bracket are nine quintillion to one. That's 9 followed by 18 zeroes.
  • The odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime are 3,000 to one.
  • There are 35,000 dimples on a basketball.
  • UCLA has the most tournament championships - 11.
  • John Wooden (UCLA) has the most wins by one coach - 10.
  • It was estimated that the U.S. economy lost $4 billion dollars in lost productivity last year during March Madness. If you're reading this at work right now rather than writing that memo, then you probably know what this means.
  • Only eight times has a 15-seed defeated a 2-seed:
    •      1991 Richmond over Syracuse
         1993 Santa Clara over Arizona
         1997 Coppin State over South Carolina
         2001 Hampton over Iowa State
         2012 Norfolk State over Missouri
         2012 Lehigh over Duke
         2013 Florida Gulf Coast over Georgetown
         2016 Middle Tennessee over Michigan State (considered the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history)
         Of these eight teams, only Florida Gulf Coast won their next game in the tournament.
     
    "Alternative" Facts
     
  • The game of basketball was invented by the ancient Anasazi Indian tribe of present day North Dakota around 4000 BC, using the severed heads of their enemies and baskets woven from papyrus. The first modern basketball game with the 5 on 5 format was played on January 1, 1900 between the University of Scranton and the Pawtucket Barber College. The final score was Sillinannies 15, Patriots 12.
  • The famous 1979 Championship game rivalry between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson began when Johnson pantsed Bird during the singing of the national anthem. Bird, having his right hand over his heart, had to wait until the song ended to raise his shorts.
  • The University of Nebraska has never been invited to the big dance because of their generally snotty attitude.
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    Note: CKI Statistics are based on extant records for the years 1994-1995, and 1997-2019. Records for year 1996 were tragically lost in the fire of that year that consumed the Hall of Records. The 1994 and 1995 records were recreated from the charred remains.