Listen to Hair Band Friday - 3/30/12

Shaving French Texters

Here are a couple links I've been meaning to post that have nothing to do with each other.

1.  I'm sure by now you've seen or heard of the Dollar Shave Club.  Basically, it's a hilarious website that actually sends men's razors for as low as $1 a month.  Check it out, if for nothing else than the video on the home page.  Thanks to Jamie for the link.

2.  Here's a link to a video of a Peugeot (that's a French car maker) racing down a mountain next to a skier.  Seems a bit dangerous, but then again, French women don't shave their armpits.  I think I have a cheap solution to that problem.

3.  Speaking of things with armpits, here's a link to a text exchange between a man and woman after a first date.  I am infinitely thankful that no one had cell phones when I was in college.  We couldn't text anyone.  All we could do was call someone's room and leave a message, and then call again and leave another message, and then call again and leave another message, and then go to every bar in town, and then go home and drink a bottle of Dark Eyes and hook up with someone else.

Retro Video of the Week: "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes

I am not ashamed to admit that this is one of the handful of albums that I had on tape and repurchased when I converted to CDs.  Interesting tidbit:  lead singer Linda Perry, in addition to wearing giant hats with giant goggles on them as if were socially acceptable (which it was in 1992, by the way), has written songs for Pink, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, and Alicia Keys, including 3 Top 10 hits.

Tuesday Top Ten: List Sent to Me by Random Website-Related People in the Last Month

As you may have noticed, people associated with random websites –- usually containing the words "best," "colleges," and/or "online" in them -- send me emails now and then with links to a list on their respective websites.  The email usually goes something like this:

Hi,We at thebestcollegesofalltimethatareonline.org recently came across your blog, and we think you or your readers would be interested in our article, "10 Hilarious Serial Killer Blunders," which we posted on our website at http://www.thebestcollegesofalltimethatareonline.org/blog/10-hilarious-serial-killer-blunders.  Given the overlap with the subject matter of your blog, we thought you might be interested in sharing the link with your readers. It has been a sincere pleasure reading your blog.  Keep up the great work! Sincerely,John Coctostan

Over the last month, I've received a deluge of these types of emails.  Only a handful have really overlapped with the subject matter of this here abortion I call a blog, such as ones about March Madness or St. Patrick's Day.  Others, however, do not appear to have much to do with anything I have ever posted.  Thus, I feel like some of these people might not actually read GMYH.  And that hurts.

With that in mind, here are the top ten articles I have received in the last month (that I haven't already posted), in order from least relevant to most relevant.

10 (tie).  "Top 50 Google+ Circles for Cutting-Edge Educators" from OnlineCollege.org.  This was sent to me because of "overlap in subject matter with your blog," since it is clearly about hair bands, college basketball, retro videos, eavesdropping in the Midwest, ripping on Purdue, dressing up as Ace Frehley and/or Maverick, boozing, and stone cold pimpin'.

10 (tie).  "10 Oft-Overlooked Irish Novels to Honor This Month" by AccreditedOnlineColleges.com.  On a related note, I overlook all Irish novels that honor March.  [NOTE:  I removed the link at the request of AccreditedOnlineColleges.com]

9.  "16 Essential Blogs for Parents Planning for College" from BestCollegesOnline.com.  This makes sense, since I'm always blogging about tips for saving for your children's college education.  Thankfully, mine are going to get full rides, so I don't need to save shit.

8.  "25 Gmail Tips That Make You Look More Professional" from OnlineCollege.org.  Apparently, the fact that they emailed this article to a Yahoo address didn't clue them into the fact that I don't use Gmail.

7.  "7 Apps to Gamify Your Life" from OnlineCertificatePrograms.org.  In case your life isn't gamified enough.

6.  "10 Common Illegal Alterations Made to Cars" from CriminalJusticeDegreeGuide.com.  Oddly enough, smoke screen and oil slick are not on the list.  Then again, there is nothing common about The Blaab.

5.  "20 Cases Solved By Using Facebook" from CriminalJusticeDegreeGuide.com.  Once again proving that the more you're on social media, the better it is for society.

4.  "15 Books That Should Be on Every Grammar Geek's Bookshelf" from OnlineColleges.Net.  Presumably this was sent to be because of my clear command of the English language.  The Chicago Manual of Style is on there, which I support.  After all, I am not one of those assholes who puts only an apostrophe to indicate a possessive of something ending in an "s."  It's Chris's toy, not Chris' toy, unless it is owned by several people named Chri.

3.  "College Mascot Showdown" from BestCollegesOnline.com.  This was sent exactly one week after my post that contained links to college mascot-related articles that other people from theses types of websites sent me.

2.  "8 Athletes Who Retired in Their Prime" from TopOnlineColleges.com.  Not on the list?  Me, despite the fact that I retired from sports at the age of 18, in my athletic prime.

1.  "The 10 Worst Love Scenes in Cinematic History" from BestOnlineColleges.com.  Some of these should actually be included in the ten best love scenes in cinematic history.  I mean, Lea Thompson riding a duck?  It doesn't get any better than that.

Moving Cars and Final Fours

This weekend was up and down.  Friday afternoon, Jester, Daughter, Lollipop, and Harley piled into The Blaab, picked me up at work, and we drove to the greater Roanoke, Indiana area to visit Jester's sister to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her birth.

On the way there, we were on US-30 in Wanatah, Indiana –- a town whose claim to fame is that it was a stop on the Abraham Lincoln Funeral Train -- when we decided it would be a good time for a "shit break" (Daughter's words, not mine).  We got into the left turn lane to pull into the Speedway right there at the US-30/US-421 intersection.  you know the one.  We're behind this white Nissan Maxima circa 1996.  The arrow turns from red to green, and nothing happens.  I honk.  The woman in the car in front of me raises her hands as if to say "What do I do?"  I point at the green light and honk again.  Same response.  I tell Jessie, "Give me my samurai sword.  Things are about to get massacre-y."  "Fine," she says, unsheathing the greatest white elephant party gift ever.  I give her one last warning honk.  This chick, probably 18 or 19, clearly corn fed, pops out of her car.  "Bitch wants to tango," Daughter says.  "Then tango we will," I respond, rolling down my window in preparation for a lazy man's lancing.  The chick says, "My battery's dead."  "That's not all that's gonna be dead if you don't move your fucking –- oh," Jester screams.  The chick returns to her car.  Lollipop just sits there, staring stoically at a small stuffed octopus.  Her silence speaks volumes.  Jester implores me to push her car into the Speedway parking lot.  It's been a while since I've been involved in World's Strongest Man type competitions, but why not?

Now bear in mind, I'm still in my business casual work clothes –- a polo shirt tucked into khakis, covered handsomely by a light jacket.  I sprint up to this chick's driver's window, which is rolled down.  She is bawling.  I ask her if she wants me to push her car into the parking lot, and she says something about her boyfriend being on the way to help.  "I didn't ask for your life story," I say, "Just whether you want some fucking help."  "Snatch her ass in a bear trap," I hear Daughter hiss, muffled through the car windows.  The chick says, "Ok" to my extremely generous offer, so I go behind the car.  The green arrow lights up, and I start to push, but nothing is happening.  I pop up and the chick says, "I don't know what to do!"  "Put the car in neutral and steer," I respond, with half a mind to leave her in the middle of the intersection. 

Once I start pushing, though, muscle memory kicks in, and I start hauling ass.  I high-knee it into the parking lot, where it comes to rest in a parking spot.  The chick, still crying because I assume her parents have made it so that she is incapable of handling adversity, says "thanks" and doesn't get out of her car.

I start walking to the Speedway when I realize all of the blood in my body is rushing to my quads.  For the next 2-3 minutes, I was woozy.  I thought I was going to pass out and/or have a heart attack.  "This is how it ends, you beautiful bitch," I huffed to myself, "In a fucking Speedway parking lot in a Lincoln Funeral Train community after performing a good deed."  I took some deep breaths and eventually got my heart rate down below 140 for long enough to piss and change Lollipop's diaper.  I don't think I got back to normal breathing for another 10-15 minutes.  Great workout, though.  Here is photographic evidence of my near-death experience.

So we go on our way and arrive in Roanoke to virtually no fanfare.  Friday night, of course, was IU's Sweet 16 match-up with Kentucky.  If you would have told me before the game that IU was going to score 90 points, I would have assumed we would have won.  I also would have assumed we wouldn't give up 102 points.  It's tough to beat a team that goes to the line 37 times and makes 35.  It's also tough to beat a team of paid professionals.  When Calipari hightails it out of Lexington to coach the Knicks, and it turns out some or all of UK's players were ineligible, be it from taking money, falsifying academic records, or whatever else has happened under Calipari's watch in the past, I wonder if UK will still hang the vacated banner in Rupp.  I bet they will.

Saturday night, we saw Jim Gaffigan live in Ft. Wayne.  That was pretty solid.  He did a set of new material (or new to me, anyway), and then did an encore with his Hot Pockets routine.  The man is quite funny.

And, of course, the Sweet 16 was whittled down to a Final Four:  Kentucky (evil), Ohio State (evil), Louisville (rapey), and Kansas (destroyer of my brackets).  For the first time since 2009, we have a Final Four without one of those annoying cinderellas.  The four teams have a combined 13 national titles (Kentucky 7, Kansas 3, Louisville 2, Ohio State 1) and 49 Final Four appearances (Kentucky 15, Kansas 14, Ohio State 11, Louisville 9).  You didn't think I was going to let you go without dropping some statistical knowledge on your hair, neck, and shoulders, did you?  DID YOU?!  Well, here we go.

Based on past performance of national titles per Final Four appearances, here is how the teams stack up as far as percentage of national titles per Final Fours:

1.  Kentucky:  50% (7/14)

2.  Louisville:  25% (2/8)

3.  Kansas:  23% (3/13)

4.  Ohio State:  10% (1/10)

This year is rare because each of the Final Four teams has already won an NCAA title.  This is only the seventh time this has happened since the NCAA tournament began in 1939.  The other years in which this occurred were 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2007, and 2009.

The 13 combined national titles (which will become 14 come next Monday) is also relatively high.  If you look at every year since the tournament began and count all of the Final Four schools' national titles (whether it was won that year, prior, subsequent, or later vacated), this will be only the 23rd time (out of 73) that the Final Four schools' combined national titles is 12 or greater.  Of course, everything is skewed whenever UCLA is in the Final Four, since they have 11 titles, so below is the list, with the non-UCLA Final Fours in bold.  As you can see, this is only the 6th time the Final Four schools' combined national titles is 12 or greater when UCLA was not in the Final Four.

1.  1975:  21 - UCLA (11), Kentucky (7), Louisville (2), Syracuse (1)

2 (tie).  2008: 19 - Kansas (3), Memphis (0), UCLA (11), North Carolina (5)

2 (tie).  1995:  19 - UCLA (11), Arkansas (1), North Carolina (5), Oklahoma State (2)

4.  1972:  18 – UCLA (11), Florida State (0), North Carolina (5), Louisville (2)

5 (tie).  1976:  17 – Indiana (5), Michigan (1), UCLA (11), Rutgers (0)

5 (tie).  1974:  17 – NC State (2), Marquette (1), UCLA (11), Kansas (3)

5 (tie).  1968:  17 – UCLA (11), North Carolina (5), Ohio State (1), Houston (0)

8 (tie).  1993:  16 - North Carolina (5), Michigan (1), Kentucky (7), Kansas (3)

8 (tie).  1973:  16 – UCLA (11), Memphis State (0), Indiana (5), Providence (0)

8 (tie).  1969:  16 – UCLA (11), Purdue (0), Drake (0), North Carolina (5)

8 (tie).  1967:  16 – UCLA (11), Dayton (0), Houston (0), North Carolina (5)

8 (tie).  1964:  16 – UCLA (11), Duke (4), Michigan (1), Kansas State (0)

13 (tie).  2007: 15 - Florida (2), Ohio State (1), UCLA (11), Georgetown (1)

13 (tie).  1971:  15 – UCLA (11), Villanova (1), Western Kentucky (0), Kansas (3)

15 (tie).  1998:  14 - Kentucky (7), Utah (1), North Carolina (5), Stanford (1)

15 (tie).  1962:  14 – Cincinnati (2), Ohio State (1), Wake Forest (0), UCLA (11)

17 (tie).  2006: 13 - Florida (2), UCLA (11), LSU (0), George Mason (0)

17 (tie).  1997:  13 - Arizona (1), Kentucky (7), Minnesota (0), North Carolina (5)

17 (tie).  1991:  13 - Duke (4), Kansas (3), North Carolina (5), UNLV (1)

17 (tie).  1980:  13 – Louisville (2), UCLA (11), Purdue (0), Iowa (0)

21 (tie).  1992:  12 - Duke (4), Michigan (1), Indiana (5), Cincinnati (2)

21 (tie).  1957:  12 – North Carolina (5), Kansas (3), San Francisco (2), Michigan State (2)

Moving on to another worthless statistic, if you just look at how many titles the schools had won up to that point (and not including that year's title), this year is even rarer.  Here are the top ten years for number of prior national titles for the Final Four teams (with the number of titles up to, but not including, that year):

1.  2008: 17 - Kansas (2), Memphis (0), UCLA (11), North Carolina (4)

2.  1995:  16 - UCLA (10), Arkansas (1), North Carolina (3), Oklahoma State (2)

3.  2007: 14 - Florida (1), Ohio State (1), UCLA (11), Georgetown (1)

4 (tie).  2012:  13 - Kentucky (7), Kansas (3), Louisville (2), Ohio State (1)

4 (tie).  1975:  13 - UCLA (9), Kentucky (4), Louisville (0), Syracuse (0)

6.  1976:  12 – Indiana (2), Michigan (0), UCLA (10), Rutgers (0)

7 (tie).  2006: 11 - Florida (0), UCLA (11), LSU (0), George Mason (0)

7 (tie).  1998:  11 - Kentucky (6), Utah (1), North Carolina (3), Stanford (1)

9 (tie).  1980:  10 – Louisville (0), UCLA (10), Purdue (0), Iowa (0)

9 (tie).  1993:  10 - North Carolina (2), Michigan (1), Kentucky (5), Kansas (2)

Another interesting tidbit:  there are 9 schools with 8 or more Final Fours:  UCLA (18), North Carolina (18), Duke (15), Kentucky (15), Kansas (14), Ohio State (11), Louisville (9), Indiana (8), and Michigan State (8).  This is the 27th year in a row and the 55th year out of the last 56 that at least one of those 9 teams has been in the Final Four.  In fact, one of those teams has been in all but eight Final Fours (1941, 1943, 1947, 1950, 1954, 1955, 1956, and 1985).  Three of those teams have appeared in the same Final Four ten times (1957, 1968, 1972, 1975, 1986, 1991, 1993, 1999, 2005, 2008), but this is the first time the Final Four includes four of those teams.  Chew on that for a minute.

Listen to Hair Band Friday - 3/23/12

Top March Madness Twitter Feeds

I'm not on Twitter, so I don't Tweet or follow anyone on Twitter.  However, if you do and you like March Madness, the good people at TheBestColleges.org sent me a link to their article "Top 30 Twitter Feeds for Following March Madness."  It includes Tom Crean, so you know it's legit.  On a related note, go Hoosiers.

Retro Video of the Week: "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison

More Sweet 16 Shite

I can't stop thinking about college basketball.  I don't even try anymore, even when people walk by my open window, look at the chalk-drawn dinosaurs on the sidewalk below, and say, "look at that dinosaur!," and then start singing in unison what I assume is the instrumental Jurassic Park theme.  All that makes me think of is that every team in the Sweet 16 has played at least one other team in the Sweet 16.  Here is how everyone fared (and which teams they played):

Xavier:  1-0 (Cincinnati)

Kentucky:  6-1 (Kansas (1-0), North Carolina (1-0), Indiana (0-1), Louisville (1-0), Florida (3-0)

Syracuse:  6-1 (Florida (1-0), NC State (1-0), Marquette (1-0), Cincinnati (1-1), Louisville (2-0))

North Carolina:  5-1 (Michigan State (1-0), Wisconsin (1-0), Kentucky (0-1), NC State (3-0)

Michigan State:  6-3 (North Carolina (0-1), Indiana (1-1), Wisconsin (3-0), Ohio State (2-1))

Indiana:  4-4 (NC State (1-0), Kentucky (1-0), Michigan State (1-1), Ohio State (1-1), Wisconsin (0-2))

Marquette:  3-3 (Wisconsin (1-0), Syracuse (0-1), Louisville (1-1), Cincinnati (1-1))

Kansas:  2-2 (Kentucky (0-1), Ohio State (1-0), Baylor (2-0))

Ohio State:  4-5 (Florida (1-0), Kansas (0-1), Indiana (1-1), Wisconsin (1-1), Michigan State (1-2))

Cincinnati: 3-4 (Xavier (0-1), Syracuse (1-1), Marquette (1-1), Louisville (1-1))

Louisville:  3-5 (Ohio (1-0), Kentucky (0-1), Marquette (1-1), Syracuse (0-2), Cincinnati (1-1))

Wisconsin:  3-6 (North Carolina (0-1), Marquette (0-1), Michigan State (0-3), Indiana (2-0), Ohio State (1-1))

Ohio:  0-1 (Louisville)

Baylor:  0-2 (Kansas)

Florida:  0-5 (Ohio State (0-1), Syracuse (0-1), Kentucky (0-3))

North Carolina State:  0-5 (Indiana (0-1), Syracuse (0-1), North Carolina (0-3))

Tuesday Top Ten: Fun Facts About This Year's NCAA Tournament

The first weekend of the NCAA tournament.  St. Patrick's Day.  Eighty-degree weather.  Needless to say, Chicago was a fun place to be last weekend.  To top it off, with a dramatic late 9-point comeback against last year's tournament darling, VCU, my beloved Hoosiers made the Sweet 16 for the first time since their magical run to the title game in 2002.  The rest of the night was a blur of happiness, Thin Lizzy, Guinness, fish, and chips.

The tournament itself was good, with a couple huge upsets, a lot of close games, and a bed shitting by Purdue.  Here are the Sweet 16 teams, along with the last time they made the Sweet 16 (and their region, seeds, game time, and what station is televising the game):

South Region

(1) Kentucky (2011) vs. (4) Indiana (2002) - Friday 3/23 9:45 ET CBS

(3) Baylor (2010) vs. (10) Xavier (2010) - Friday 3/23 7:15 ET CBS

West Region

(1) Michigan State (2010) vs. (4) Louisville (2009) - Thursday 3/22 7:47 ET TBS

(3) Marquette (2011) vs. (7) Florida (2011) - Thursday 3/22 10:17 ET TBS

East Region

(1) Syracuse (2010) vs. (4) Wisconsin (2011) - Thursday 3/22 7:15 ET CBS

(2) Ohio State (2011) vs. (6) Cincinnati (2001) - Thursday 3/22 9:45 ET CBS

Midwest Region

(1) North Carolina (2011) vs. Ohio (1964) - Friday 3/23 7:47 ET TBS

(2) Kansas (2011) vs. (11) North Carolina State (2005) - Friday 3/23 10:17 ET TBS

If you're like me -- and you better pray to your deity that you're not –- you not only love the NCAA tournament, but you are fascinated with the history and statistical minutiae associated with the tournament.  Like I've done the last couple years, I'm going to destroy your mind with some statistical knowledge.  Here are eleven fun (fun for me, anyway) facts about this year's NCAA tournament.

11.  For the first time since 1985, there are no teams from the Mountain or Pacific time zones in the Sweet 16 and only two schools located west of the Mississippi River (Kansas and Baylor).  Since the tournament expanded to 16 teams in 1951, this is only the second time there have been two or fewer teams located west of the Mississippi in the Sweet 16 (there were also only two in 1985).

10.  Four Sweet 16 teams are from Ohio (Cincinnati, Ohio, Ohio State, and Xavier), which marks the first time four Sweet 16 teams have been from the same state, much less the worst state ever.

9.  Four of the Sweet 16 schools are private:  Baylor, Marquette, Syracuse, and Xavier.  This is the fewest since there were only two in 2005's Sweet 16.

8.  The Big Ten and Big East both have four teams in the Sweet 16, which is the first time since 1989 that two conferences have four teams in the Sweet 16.

7.  This is the first time since 2002 that the MAC has a team in the Sweet 16 (Ohio) and the first time since 1964 that Ohio has made it to the Sweet 16.

6.  Norfolk State's win over Missouri and Lehigh's win over Duke marked the fifth and sixth times, respectively, that a 15 seed has beaten a 2 seed.  It was the first time it happened twice in the same tournament.

5.  Cincinnati's win over Florida State was the first time in program history that Cincinnati beat a higher-seeded team in the NCAA tournament.

4.  The average seed number for Sweet 16 teams this year is 4.5625, which is pretty high if you consider that, if the seeding played out as it should (i.e., all teams seeded 1-4 advancing to the Sweet 16, which has never happened), the average seed number would be 2.5. Here is the average seed of Sweet 16 teams since 1985:

2012: 4.5625

2011: 5

2010: 5

2009: 3.0625

2008: 4.375

2007: 3.1875

2006: 4.4375

2005: 4.5

2004: 4.5625

2003: 4.1875

2002: 4.6875

2001: 4.5625

2000: 5.3125

1999: 5.5

1998: 4.75

1997: 4.8125

1996: 3.6875

1995: 3.1875

1994: 4.25

1993: 4.0625

1992: 4.1875

1991: 4

1990: 5.5

1989: 3.125

1988: 4.3125

1987: 4.25

1986: 5.5625

1985: 4.875

3.  For the first time since 2005, we only have 2 mid-majors in the Sweet 16. (I consider non-BCS conferences to be mid-majors, even if a school is now in a BCS conference, so, for instance, Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, and Marquette were mid-majors before joining the Big East in 2005. It's not a perfect science. Deal with it.) Here is a year-by-year breakdown of the number of mid-major teams that made it to the Sweet 16 since 1985:

2012: 2 (Ohio, Xavier)

2011: 5 (Butler, BYU, Richmond, San Diego State, VCU)

2010: 5 (Butler, Cornell, Northern Iowa, St. Mary's, Xavier)

2009: 3 (Gonzaga, Memphis, Xavier)

2008: 4 (Davidson, Memphis, Western Kentucky, Xavier)

2007: 4 (Butler, Memphis, Southern Illinois, UNLV)

2006: 5 (Bradley, George Mason, Gonzaga, Memphis, Wichita State)

2005: 2 (Utah, UW-Milwaukee)

2004: 4 (Nevada, St. Joseph's, UAB, Xavier)

2003: 2 (Butler, Marquette)

2002: 2 (Kent State, Southern Illinois)

2001: 2 (Cincinnati, Gonzaga, Temple)

2000: 2 (Gonzaga, Tulsa)

1999: 4 (Gonzaga, Miami (OH), SW Missouri State, Temple)

1998: 3 (Rhode Island, Utah, Valparaiso)

1997: 3 (St. Joseph's, Utah, UT-Chattanooga)

1996: 3 (Cincinnati, Massachusetts, Utah)

1995: 3 (Massachusetts, Memphis, Tulsa)

1994: 2 (Marquette, Tulsa)

1993: 4 (Cincinnati, George Washington, Temple, Western Kentucky)

1992: 5 (Cincinnati, Memphis State, Massachusetts, New Mexico State, UTEP)

1991: 4 (Eastern Michigan, Temple, UNLV, Utah)

1990: 4 (Ball State, Loyola Marymount, UNLV, Xavier)

1989: 2 (Louisville, UNLV)

1988: 4 (Louisville, Rhode Island, Richmond, Temple)

1987: 3 (DePaul, UNLV, Wyoming)

1986: 5 (Cleveland State, DePaul, Louisville, Navy, UNLV)

1985: 3 (Louisiana Tech, Loyola (IL), Memphis State)

2.  This year, there are 3 teams seeded 8 or lower that advanced to the Sweet 16: #10 Xavier, #11 NC State, and #13 Ohio.  For the third year in a row (and the fourth year in the last five), there are at least three double-digit seeds in the Sweet 16. Here is a year-by-year breakdown of the number of teams seeded #8 or lower that made it to the Sweet 16 since 1985:

2012: 3 (#10 Xavier, #11 NC State, and #13 Ohio)

2011: 5 (#8 Butler*, #10 Florida State, #11 Marquette, #11 VCU*, and #12 Richmond)

2010: 4 (#9 Northern Iowa, #10 St. Mary's, #11 Washington, #12 Cornell)

2009: 1 (#12 Arizona)

2008: 3 (#10 Davidson, #12 Villanova, #12 Western Kentucky)

2007: 0

2006: 2 (#11 George Mason*, #13 Bradley)

2005: 2 (#10 North Carolina State, #12 UW-Milwaukee)

2004: 3 (#8 Alabama, #9 UAB, #10 Nevada)

2003: 2 (#10 Auburn, #12 Butler)

2002: 4 (#8 UCLA, #10 Kent State, #11 Southern Illinois, #12 Missouri)

2001: 3 (#10 Georgetown, #11 Temple, #12 Gonzaga)

2000: 4 (#8 North Carolina*, #8 Wisconsin*, #10 Seton Hall, #10 Gonzaga)

1999: 5 (#10 Gonzaga, #10 Miami (OH), #10 Purdue, #12 Southwest Missouri State, #13 Oklahoma)

1998: 4 (#8 Rhode Island, #10 West Virginia, #11 Washington, #13 Valparaiso)

1997: 3 (#10 Texas, #10 Providence, #14 UT-Chattanooga)

1996: 2 (#8 Georgia, #12 Arkansas)

1995: 0

1994: 2 (#9 Boston College, #10 Maryland, #12 Tulsa)

1993: 1 (#12 George Washington)

1992: 2 (#9 UTEP, #12 New Mexico State)

1991: 3 (#10 Temple, #11 Connecticut, #12 Eastern Michigan)

1990: 4 (#8 North Carolina, #10 Texas, #11 Loyola Marymount, #12 Ball State)

1989: 1 (#11 Minnesota)

1988: 2 (#11 Rhode Island, #13 Richmond)

1987: 2 (#10 LSU, #12 Wyoming)

1986: 4 (#8 Auburn, #11 LSU*, #12 DePaul, #14 Cleveland State)

1985: 4 (#8 Villanova**, #11 Auburn, #11 Boston College, #12 Kentucky)

*Advanced to Final Four

**Won NCAA title

1.  The NCAA tournament is even that much more fun to watch when IU is in it, especially after the last couple years of despair.  I may have to break another toe this Friday, but if that's what it takes, so be it.