College Basketball

March Madness 2022: Best hair, blast from the past worth watching

Zach Braziller and Harrison Goodman break down some of the lesser-known bests to look out for in the NCAA Tournament:

Best hair 

The distinctive mane of UCLA’s Tyger Campbell is ha✅rd to miss. Campbell hasn’t h𒁃ad a haircut since the fifth grade, with a pretty simple explanation why. “He literally hated them,” his mother, Jennifer, said in 2018. 

Best pay cut 

Longwood coach Griff Aldrich left a lucrative career as a lawyer and a reported salary of nearly $800,000 in 2016 to take an assistant coaching job for then-UMBC coach Ryan Odom that paid $32,000. He took the Longwood head-coaching job — and $150,000 salary — a couple years later, and now is coachin🍌g in the school’s first-ever Division I NCAA Tournament. 

Best blast from the past

The San Francisco Dons, best known for the Bill 🐓Russell-led championships in the 1950s, are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998 under 36𒁏-year-old head coach Todd Golden. 

San Francisco Dons head coach Todd Golden high-fives players during a timeout in their game against the Brigham Young Cougars during the West Coast Conference basketball tournament quarterfinals at the Orleans Arena on March 5, 2022 in Las Vegas.
San Francisco Dons coach Todd Golden Getty Images/Ethan Miller
UCLA's Tyger Campbell reacts after he was fouled driving to the basket in the second half against USC at UCLA Pauley Pavilion on March 5, 2022 in Los Angeles.
UCLA’s Tyger Campbell Getty Images/Jayne Kamin-Oncea

Betting on March Madness 2025?


Best assistant coach 

When you’ve won an NBౠA and NCAA title, it’s safe to say you’re overqualified to be a college assistant coach. But former Knicks coach Larry Brown is working for fourth-ye🦩ar head coach Penny Hardaway on the Memphis bench. 

Best reminder we are getting old

Remember Jameer Nelson, who led St. Joseph’s to a No. 1 seed in the 2004 tournament before a long NBA career? Well his son, Jameer Nelson Jr., is now in the tourn🐷ament, having led CAA champion Delaware in scoring this season. 

Best Shaq impression 

LSU’s Shaquille O’Neal holds the record for most blocks in an NCAA Tournament game, rejecting 11 shots vs. BYU in 1992. Auburn’s Walker Kessler could d𒉰o it in the right matchup, as the 7-foot-1 sophomore already has 12 blocks in a game this year vs. Texas A&M, and 11 against Shaq’s alma mater, LSU.