New feature: FYI Friday, a Friday collection of for-your-information tidbits, more from The Central Georgia Sports Report you'll be glad you saw

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          Welcome to The Central Georgia Sports Report’s new feature: FYI Friday.

          Every Friday, during the visit you should make every day to gain knowledge, come get specific information on specific topics, answers to questions you didn’t know you had, but answers you’re glad to get.

          If you like being smarter.

          Our first one is posted later than intended, but better late than never. Feel free to send inquiries or updates or corrections – fingers crossed - to centralgasports@gmail.com.

          For your information

          The Final Fours are upon us.

          In 2024, nearly 15 million watched Connecticut beat Purdue in the men’s final. That’s about three million less than the TV audience for South Carolina’s win over Iowa and Caitlyn Clark in the women’s championship.

          The NCAA’s first men’s champion was Oregon, in 1939. Oklahoma A&M won two straight in the mid-1940s, with Holy Cross, CCNY, LaSalle, San Francisco, and Loyola Chicago earning championships through the 1960s

          The first NCAA women’s champion was Louisiana Tech in 1982. The women’s game was split with the NCAA and AIAW (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women), the NCAA not fully recognizing women’s sports just yet.

          The AIAW was found in 1971 and dissolved in 1983 when the NCAA began treating women’s sports with more fairness and equity.

          The first women’s college basketball championship to turn a (small) profit was the 1973 AIAW national tournament, the final played before more than 3,000 fans. Two years later, AIAW powerhouses Queens and Immaculata drew more than 12,000 at Madison Square Garden in the first women’s game at that notable venue.

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            The top women’s national championship programs: UConn, 11 (from 1995-2016); Tennessee, 8; Baylor, Stanford, South Carolina, 3; Notre Dame, Louisiana Tech, Southern California, 2

          The top men’s national championship programs: UCLA, 11; Kentucky 8; North Carolina, Connecticut, 6; Duke, Indiana, 5; Kansas, 4.