And then there were four.
It seems like just yesterday I was filling out a bracket for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. That bracket is now pockmarked with Xs and looks part Tic-Tac-Toe board.
Yeah, welcome to my March.
The Steelers have been engaged in their own madness, staying true to March’s theme by signing, yes, guards. Between NFL free agency and the best NCAA tournament in recent memory, the action has been fast and furious. At some point during sensory overload – and probably because of it – I melded the Steelers and “March Madness.”
The result is a trivia quiz with an added bonus. Perhaps for the first — and almost certainly the last — time on this site I get to use a picture of former Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell dunking a basketball. Let’s see if anyone can dunk on this quiz.
1. Okay, let’s ease yinz into this with a relatively easy Steelers-related hoops question. This former Steelers standout and fan favorite was once the USA Today Wyoming Player of the Year in boys’ high school basketball. Who is he?
2. Like the Steelers, this major college men’s basketball program has had only three head coaches since 1969. Name it (one clue: it played in the NCAA tournament this year).
3. Among Mike Tomlin, Bill Cowher, and Chuck Noll whose alma mater has won a men’s basketball national championship and how many?
4. I was drafted by the Steelers in the late 1950s but opted to go into coaching. I eventually won over 700 games as a men’s college basketball coach, including over 500 at my last stop where I also won six conference championships. I am a member of the College Basketball Hall of Fame. Who am I?
5. Name the most recent school to win the NCAA men’s basketball tournament that also has alumni on the Steelers’ roster. Also, who are those players?
6. On the current Steelers rosters (as of March 31) how many players came from schools that played in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament this year?
a) 23
b) 26
c) 30
d) 37
7. Who is the only player in Steelers history to be taken in the first round of the NFL Draft the same year his school won the NCAA men’s basketball tournament?
8. In the 2008 season, the Steelers needed a late drive, led by Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes, to rally past the Arizona Cardinals and win their most recent Super Bowl. That same season this team trained by nine points with two minutes left in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament title game. It staged a furious rally to force overtime where it won. Who is the team?
9. The UConn Huskies are the favorite to emerge from the Final Four and win the men’s basketball national championship. Sharpshooting guard Jordan Hawkins is averaging 17.3 points per game in the NCAA tournament and is a major reason why the Huskies are poised to win a fifth national championship. He is from famed DeMatha Catholic High School the same as this player on the Steelers roster. Who is that player?
10. UCLA (11) and Kentucky (eight) are the only schools that have won more men’s basketball national championships than Steelers have won Super Bowls. One school has won six national championships, tying what the Steelers have won in Super Bowls. Name it.
Answers to these questions will be posted Sunday. Thanks for playing and, of course, reading!
