By Dan Messerschmidt

CCN Sports Director

Not to understate it, but the Final Four gets a lot of media attention and television exposure each March.

The semifinals and finals are dissected by the talking heads ad nauseum. But do you know who finished third in the NCAA basketball tournament last year? How about the year before? The answer is: No one.

The NCAA no longer holds a consolation game for the losers of the semifinals. The last team to finish third was Virginia, in 1981. The Cavaliers, led by Ralph Sampson, defeated LSU, 78-74.

That ended 36 years of consolation games. While the NCAA tournament debuted in 1939 — Oregon defeated Ohio State in the title game — the consolation game was not introduced until 1946.

Again, the Buckeyes were center stage, defeating California, 63-45, to become the first team to finish third in the tourney. Ohio State’s only other appearance in the consolation game came in 1968, when Fred Taylor’s Bucks, led by Bill Hosket, Steve Howell and the late Dave Sorensen, defeated Houston, 89-85.

Fifty-three different schools played in the consolation game. Five of them — Kansas State, Illinois, Louisville, UCLA and North Carolina — made three appearances each. Other basketball blue bloods to play in the consolation game are Duke, Kansas and Utah (twice each), Indiana, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Cincinnati and Michigan.

The consolation game had its moments of glory. In 1965, Bill Bradley led Princeton to the Final Four. Though the Tigers lost to Michigan in the semifinal, Dollar Bill scored 58 points in Princeton’s 118-82 win over Wichita State in the consolation game. Bradley was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

Penn was the only other Ivy League School to appear in the game for third place, losing to DePaul, 96-93, in 1979.

There were also some quirks. Illinois’s three appearances came in a four-year span (’49, 51 and ’52). The Illini won all three, defeating Oregon State in 1949, Oklahoma State in 1951 and Santa Clara in 1952.

Of teams that were in the Big 10 at the time, only Wisconsin and Minnesota never played in the consolation game.

Cincinnati finished third in 1959 and 1960, part of five straight trips to the Final Four. The Bearcats won the national championship in ’62 and ’63, both over Ohio State, then lost to this year’s Cinderella, Loyola of Illinois, in ’63.

I say, bring back the consolation game. The two losing teams are already in the championship city anyway. And what a preview for the championship game. Patrons who have shelled out big bucks for tickets would really get their money’s worth.

A consolation game would afford the players, especially the seniors, one more opportunity to play after stunning losses in the semifinal.

And it would offer one more game for college basketball junkies like me as the season comes to an end.

Maybe we would get a rematch of the 1970 consolation game between New Mexico State and St. Bonaventure, won by New Mexico State, 79-73.

Hey, I can dream, can’t I?

Twitter: @TF_Schmidt