A few things you probably didn’t know about the NCAAs

From the time the men’s NCAA Tournament field was announced last Sunday at 6 p.m., media outlets… From the time the men’s NCAA Tournament field was announced last Sunday at 6 p.m., media outlets all over the country have covered it ad nauseam. People have talked about how brackets will be busted, broken down and analyzed to the point that by now, you probably think you’ve heard it all. But have you?’ I’m here to show to the side of the Tournament you don’t know, with all the information Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale haven’t told you. This is the 2009 Tournament Fun Facts: ‘mdash; Radford heads into its showdown with North Carolina behind the pride of Belarus in 6-foot-11 Artsiom Parakhouski, who was ninth in the country in rebounds per game this year, hauling in 11.2 boards a game. With a major upset, Parakhouski might surpass tennis star and doubles specialist Max Mirnyi as Belarus’ most famous athlete. ‘not;’mdash; Thirteen-seeded Akron (South region) is led by head coach Keith Dambrot, who was Lebron James’ high school basketball coach. Something tells me Dambrot feels like he’s already peaked… ‘mdash; Michigan is in the Big Dance for the first time since 1998. Somewhere, Jalen Rose is smiling. ‘mdash; Binghamton is making its first ever Tournament appearance since it became a Division 1-A program in 2001. That means that in eight years, Tony Kornheiser’s alma mater has made it to the Tournament before his co-host on PTI Michael Wilbon, whose Northwestern Wildcats remain the only BCS conference program to never get a bid to the Tournament. ‘mdash; Stephen A. Austin’s school mascot is a lumberjack. ‘mdash; The most intriguing thing about the Maryland-California first-round matchup is Greivis Vasquez’s soul patch. ‘mdash; Speaking of the Terrapins, Gary Williams’ program graduates a pathetic 10 percent of its players. Vasquez will be the latest Terp to not get his diploma, declaring for the NBA Draft last week. ‘mdash; Cal State Northridge has the lowest graduation rate for its players of any team in the field, with 8 percent. ‘mdash; North Carolina has the highest graduation rate of any program in the tournament, at 89 percent. Roy Williams plans to continue recruiting talented, white centers who will go on to set all sorts of ACC career records, yet will amount to nothing at the pro level. ‘mdash; I played against Temple’s Dionte Christmas in high school in the Philadelphia Public League. My team locked him down and he only went for 37 points. ‘mdash; Connecticut is the No. 1 seed in the West region, the same region the Huskies came out of the years they won their two national titles in 1998 and 2004. ‘mdash; Jim Rice, who was an assistant at Pitt under Jamie Dixon in 2006, coaches Robert Morris. Rice leads his program into the Tournament in only his second year as head coach. ‘mdash; Arizona is making its 24th-straight Tournament appearance, an NCAA record. Somewhere St. Mary’s is crying. ‘mdash; In its first year of eligibility, North Dakota State is in the Tournament. It is’ the first school from the state to ever participate in the event. ‘mdash; Don’t call it a dynasty, but American officially rules the Patriot League, grabbing the league’s only two bids in the last two years after previously never making the Tournament. ‘mdash; Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl is a horrible dresser. ‘mdash; No. 16 in the West region, Chatanooga opens its Tournament against Connecticut, the same team it lost to the last time it made the field of 65 in 1995 as a 15 seed. ‘mdash; The Mocs team that went to the Tourney then included NFL receiver Terrell Owens, who played one minute and had one rebound. Man, even March Madness can’t avoid T.O. Get your popcorn ready.