The 20 things every Philly hoops fan should know before the start of this week’s March Madness

Villanova isn’t in the NCAA Tournament, but Penn State is.

In fact, no Big 5 or City 6 men’s program made the Dance this year, for the first time since “Tonight’s the Night” by Rod Stewart was at the top of the Billboard Top 100.

In case you were wondering, the year was 1977.

North Carolina, another Final Four member last year, isn’t here either. But Fairleigh Dickinson is — even if it isn’t totally fair.

The Final Four is heading back to Houston, which gave us one of the great endings of all time. So we’ll take a look back at that, too. We can lament an NCAA Tournament without a City 6 squad, but we can still revel in the Madness and our perfect (for now) brackets.

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Here’s a quick look:

1. Miami is led by Monsignor Bonner product Isaiah Wong, the ACC Player of the Year who nearly went pro after last year’s scintillating run in the tournament. His dunk over Auburn’s Jabari Smith, a lottery pick by the way, was a particular highlight. The Hurricanes reached the Elite 8 last year before losing to eventual champion Kansas.

2. Wong’s backcourt mate is Wooga Poplar, a sophomore from Math, Civics & Sciences Charter who played sparingly last year as a freshman. Poplar’s real name is Nasine, but he prefers Wooga (WUH-gah), a seemingly playful name his aunt gave him when he was an infant.

3. The last time the Final Four was in Houston was in 2016 when Villanova’s Kris Jenkins ended things with a three-pointer at the buzzer in perhaps the most perfectly executed play in tournament history. More on this below.👇

4. Alabama, which had never been a No. 1 seed until this year and has never been to a Final Four, is led by Brandon Miller. Tide coach Nate Oats has continued to allow Miller to play (and star) despite Tuscaloosa police testifying that Miller brought the weapon used in a January homicide allegedly committed by former teammate Darius Miles. Miller hasn’t been charged with a crime, but the optics are horrible. The woman who was killed allegedly by Miles is named Jamea Jonae Harris.

5. There was a time when the NCAA threatened to cancel credentials for newspapers and other publications that ran point spreads on college games. On that note, Las Vegas will be the site of NCAA Tournament games for the first time (West Regional, March 23 and 25).

» READ MORE: March Madness 2023: NCAA men’s basketball tournament TV schedule, game times and announcers

6. This will be CBS announcer Jim Nantz’s final One Shining Moment. Nantz, 63, first called the Final Four in 1991 (former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s first championship). He started his career as a student broadcaster at the University of Houston. Nantz plans to remain with CBS for golf and football.

7. Houston would love to be the first team to reach the Final Four in its home city since Butler made it to Indianapolis in 2010. Boy, if only Gordon Hayward made that half-court shot for Butler against Duke in the championship game 13 years ago.

8. Utah State, which has lost nine consecutive NCAA Tournament games, is coached by Ryan Odom — son of Dave Odom, who coached Tim Duncan at Wake Forest.

9. Houston last hosted the Final Four in 2016 when the championship was decided on one of the most memorable shots in tournament history. Here is where the players have landed who were on the floor when Kris Jenkins hit his game-winner for Villanova that night:

Villanova

North Carolina

10. North Carolina, last year’s Final Four runner-up, did not make the tournament field. The Heels returned four starters, yet are the first AP preseason No. 1-ranked team to miss the tournament since the field expanded in 1985.

11. BetMGM’s national championship odds on Nov. 7: Houston 7-1, Kansas 12-1, UCLA 14-1, Purdue 16-1, Alabama 25-1.

12. BetMGM’s national championship odds as of March 10: Houston 6-1, Kansas 8-1, Alabama 8-1, UCLA 9-1, Purdue 11-1.

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13. Kennesaw State, which was 1-28 three years ago in Amir Abdur-Rahim’s first season, is in the tournament for the first time after winning the Atlantic Sun. It beat visiting Liberty in front of a record crowd of 3,805. Reserve guard Quincy Ademokoya, who averages 4.6 points in about 15 minutes per game, played at Temple the previous two seasons. Kennesaw State, like Temple, is nicknamed the Owls.

14. Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-22 last year, also is dancing. First-year coach Tobin Anderson was plucked from Division II St. Thomas Aquinas, and brought 5-8 guard Demetre Roberts (16.7 ppg) and 5-9 guard Grant Singleton (14.3 ppg) along for the ride.

15. Even if FDU used the backdoor to qualify, it’s still worth rooting for. Merrimack actually won the league, but since it is reclassifying from Division II to Division I, the runner-up in the conference championship got the A-Sun’s automatic bid.

16. Consider this a PSA. Illinois’ ball of fire Matthew Mayer had to miss a few days of practice earlier this year with caffeine poisoning. 247Sports.com reported that Mayer drank five Monster Energy drinks consecutively. Ugh. Mayer (12.8 ppg) was a member of Baylor’s championship team two years ago.

17. Auburn is 4-9 since Jan. 25. This is the Tigers’ fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in Bruce Pearl’s nine seasons and easily their lowest seed. Previously, they were seeded No. 4 in 2018, No. 5 in 2019, and No. 2 last year when they were bounced in the second round by Miami.

18. Kansas State star Keyontae Johnson is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since his freshman year at Florida in 2019. In December 2020, Johnson collapsed on the court and was put into a medically induced coma. This is his first full season since that incident, which makes his selection as first-team all-Big 12 all the more admirable.

19. UCLA’s Jaylen Clark (13.0 ppg) tore an Achilles right before the Pac-12 tournament and is done for the season.

20. Penn State hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since reaching the Sweet 16 in 2001. In fact, this is just the Nittany Lions’ second appearance in the last 21 years. They have a bunch of local players leading the way, including forward Seth Lundy (Roman Catholic) and guard Andrew Funk (Archbishop Wood).