TODAY'S NOT-SO-TRIVIAL question: Which Conference USA team has gone the longest without making the NCAA tournament?
Answer: Rice, whose drought will hit the 46-year mark. The Owls were members of the Southwest Conference when they played in the 25-team Big Dance of 1970.
If you said Marshall, you were incorrect, but not far off. With sadness and resignation, many Thundering Herd fans know the last appearance was 1987.
The Herd was in the low-rung Southern Conference, the league tournament was held in Asheville, North Carolina, and there was alcohol in the media room.
And there was nobody who thought the Herd would be desperately seeking its next NCAA tournament bid 29 years later. (Take extra credit for remembering "Desperately Seeking Susan" was released in 1985.)
So who in C-USA has gone the next longest without a dance invitation? Louisiana Tech, 1991.
The Herd and the Bulldogs tangle Thursday night at Cam Henderson Center, with a tip time of 7. An NCAA bid isn't on the line, but the game isn't unimportant.
With Alabama-Birmingham clinching the regular-season title, seeding in the Conference USA tournament is one issue. The Blazers aren't the backyard bullies the Memphis Tigers were last decade, but it's good to land on the other side of the bracket.
Therefore, a No. 2 or 3 seed is desired. Marshall, Tech and Middle Tennessee are tied for third at 11-5, with Old Dominion a game back at 10-6. (I'll sort out the tiebreakers in my "Inside Marshall Sports" blog.)
Another challenge is simply to win a tough game. The Herd and Bulldogs need all the experience and confidence they can get when the league's 13 teams convene at Birmingham's Legacy Arena next week.
They'll need all they can get, for their trip to the long-lost promised land runs through hometown UAB. It's not the Blazers' home court, but they have won 28 straight in any arena in Birmingham. With a few thousand of their fans in the house, can they be beaten?
As deep and complete as UAB may be, the Herd and Bulldogs can do it. Not to say they will, but they certainly can.
You know how Marshall's two games with UAB turned out. In Huntington, the Blazers led for 32 minutes, but Ryan Taylor was foiled while driving for a game-winning basket. (And you thought I was incapable of diplomacy!)
At UAB's Bartow Arena last week, the Herd was ahead for about half the game, but the Blazers used a few Dirk Williams 3-pointers, a few offensive rebounds and free throws to keep the Herd away in the final minutes.
As for Louisiana Tech, the Bulldogs have beaten the Blazers this year, dominating the final 10 minutes in an 85-76 win at Ruston.
That doesn't ease the Bulldogs' pain from 2015, when they won the C-USA regular-season title but fell to the Blazers in the semifinals, 72-62 in overtime. The Bulldogs tied the game after trailing by 16, but the Blazers dominated the extra period. That was the third year in a row the Bulldogs either won or shared the regular-season championship, yet failed to win its league tournament and an NCAA bid. There was a loss to Tulsa in the 2014 C-USA final and a toe-stub against eighth-seeded Texas-San Antonio in the '13 Western Athletic Conference quarters.
There were two other such missteps since 1991, in 1992 and 1999.
Marshall has had only two good looks, dashed by identical 71-70 losses to Tennessee-Chattanooga in 1988 and 1997. Trips to the 1989 Southern Conference final and the 2012 C-USA title game were 20-plus point washouts.
That is the backdrop to Thursday's game between C-USA's most star-crossed programs. The contest won't settle that much in a one-bid league, but I expect a postseason feel.
nnn
With March upon us, some housekeeping:
n I hope this stands as the only reference to a "double bye" in the C-USA tournament you will see in this newspaper. You will hear references to the "double bye" on radio, which is technically correct though misleading.
The field was expanded to include every team that isn't in the NCAA sin bin, so it went from 12 to 13 teams. In the spirit of keeping the four byes to quarterfinals intact, the 12-vs.-13 play-in game was created. (On the women's side, there also is an 11-vs.-14 game.)
C-USA is calling that 12-vs.-13 game the first round. The next round, formerly the first round, is now the second round, followed by the quarterfinals. So technically, four teams get a "double bye" to the quarters.
Double bye, my foot. By that, you're telling me 11 teams get a "bye" to a "second round."
C'mon, C-USA.
n This is the 20th C-USA tournament and the 20th in one of the team's home cities. Given the league's geographic nature, it has to be that way.
If you think otherwise and can find a neutral city to bid upwards of a million bucks plus guaranteed ticket sales, contact the C-USA office in Irving, Texas.
n I figure work on C-USA's financially leaner television package is at least 99 percent complete, but it won't be rolled out this week or next. In other words, it won't be announced until after league officials and visiting media evacuate Birmingham.
That's not a criticism. If you're new commissioner Judy McLeod, you want no part of that circus.
n Back to the hardwood, a reminder on stats: When used the right way, they're illustrative. But they can be humorously useless.
Last week, the Herd outscored UAB 44-30 and Middle Tennessee 34-28 in that lovable points-in-the-paint category. Before that, Old Dominion held a 38-24 advantage, Charlotte 36-33, Western Kentucky 58-40 and UTSA 46-30. Before that, Marshall led Texas-El Paso 51-48.
That's a seven-game streak of irrelevance. Welcome to the wild world of Marshall basketball.