Special Sub-Topic: 2006 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Click Here To Play: 2006 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

In the starting game of the tournament, what school lost the play-in game?

Hampton. The Hampton Pirates fell 71-49 to another team that was a possible choice, the Monmouth Hawks. The Hawks were led by Chris Kenny who scored 20 points.

Many teams were upset in the first round of the tournament. Which one of these schools did not lose to a lower-seeded opponent in the first round?

Boston College. 6th seeded Michigan State lost to George Mason, 4th seeded Kansas fell to Bradley, and 6th seeded Oklahoma were downed by Wisconsin-Milwaukee. While the 4th-seeded Boston College Eagles beat Pacific, it wasn't easy. They needed two overtimes to defeat the Tigers.

The #1 seeded Connecticut Huskies were one of the favorites to win it all in the tournament. They almost didn't make it out of the first round. With a bit over 11 minutes to play, UConn was losing by 12 points to what school?

Albany. UConn came back from that deficit with a 34-9 run, to beat the Albany Great Danes 72-59. Marcus Williams led the comeback with a flurry of clutch 3-pointers.

How many overtime games were there in the first round of the tournament?

2. George Washington narrowly beat North Carolina-Wilmington in overtime, and Boston College took down Pacific in two overtimes.

Ohio State was dismantled in the second round by a Big East school. Which team beat the Buckeyes by 18 points?

Georgetown. The 7th-seeded Hoyas took out the 2nd-seeded Buckeyes easily in Dayton. Both teams, however, had something in common. Georgetown was defeated by the Florida Gators in the round following this game. Ohio State was defeated by Florida in the next season's basketball and football championships.

Nine conferences were represented in the Sweet Sixteen. Which one of these conferences was not?

Big Ten. Surprisingly, not one school from the Big Ten made the Sweet Sixteen. The Big 12 sent only Texas, while the WCC had Gonzaga, and the CAA had George Mason as one of the final sixteen.

Which #1 seed did not make it to the Elite Eight?

Duke. Duke lost in the Sweet Sixteen to LSU. None of the #1 seeds, however, would make to the Final Four. Memphis lost to UCLA, Villanova lost to Florida, and Connecticut was shocked by George Mason in one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.

This tournament's Final Four was only the second Final Four to have no #1 seeds present. In what season did this first occur in?

1980. In 1980, #5-seeded Iowa, #8-seeded UCLA, #6-seeded Purdue, and champion #2-seeded Louisville made up the Final Four. This season, LSU, Florida, UCLA, and George Mason made up that crowd. Coincidentally, both these tournaments were in Indianapolis.

George Mason went on one of the most exciting, surprising, and fantastic runs to get all the way to the Final Four from being a #11-seeded squad from the nation's capital. Which of these teams did they not defeat on their route to the Final Four?

Tennessee. Tennessee would have played George Mason if they had not been upset in the second round by Wichita State. George Mason was seeded lower than every team they faced in the tournament. In making it to Indianapolis, they tied for being the lowest seed to make it to the Final Four, the other being the 1986 LSU Tigers.

The Florida Gators won the National Championship in convincing fashion, winning 73-57 over the UCLA Bruins. Who won the Tournament Most Outstanding Player award?

Joakim Noah. In the championship game, Noah had 16 points, 8 rebounds, and set a record for a title game by blocking six shots. The 3rd-seeded Gators beat South Alabama, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Georgetown, Villanova, George Mason, and finally UCLA to gain the school's first men's basketball title. This started a run of two more major championships, the football championship the following season, and a repeat basketball title.