Marquette and McGuire play a role in the coining of "Final Four"

[nathanziarek]

There are some high-school basketball purists who insist that the phrase "Final Four" was first used in connection with Indiana's legendary annual tournament (which inspired the film Hoosiers). But the official NCAA story is that "Final Four" was coined by a Cleveland Plain Dealer sportswriter, Ed Chay. In a 1975 article for the Official Collegiate Basketball Guide, Chay wrote that Al McGuire's Marquette squad "was one of the final four" in the previous year's tournament. Something about the phrase struck a chord with the NCAA's marketing folks, and they started capitalizing it as "Final Four" in 1978. It is, of course, now trademarked. (College hockey is stuck with the nickname "Frozen Four" for its national semifinals.)

http://www.slate.com/id/2248029/

[TallTitan34]

In the Official NCAA Operations Manual for the tournament there is a year by year history of how the tournament evolved.

The manual says:

The term "Final Four" first appeared in an NCAA publication, the 1975 Official Collegiate
Basketball Guide. On Page No. 5 in the National Preview-Review section written by Ed Chay of
the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Clay wrote, "Outspoken Al McGuire of Marquette, whose team was
one of the final four in Greensboro, was among several coaches who said it was good for
college basketball that UCLA was finally beaten."

[TallTitan34]

Also if you've ever been to an IHSA Basketball game you would know that the original March Madness took place in Illinois.

The manual says in 2000:

The NCAA and the Illinois High School Association formed the "March Madness Athletic
Association" and applied for trademark registration for the term "March Madness." The
registration was granted in 2001.

The Illinois High-School Association and the NCAA are the only organizations who may use the term.

[muwarrior69]

Did AL coin the phrase "The Big Dance"?

[sailwi]

Al did coin the phrase 'going uptown" which to him was going the NCAA tournament, I don't think he referred to the tournament as the big dance during his coaching days.  If anyone has a media guide form 74-77 there was a section on Al quotes and we could see if he referenced big dance.

[rocky_warrior]

Did AL coin the phrase "The Big Dance"?

The year we won it all [1977], Coach McGuire wore a lucky blue blazer. At the end of the season, a reporter asked him if he'd keep wearing it during the Tournament. Al said, "Absolutely. You gotta wear the blue blazer when you go to the big dance."

-- Kevin Byrne, former SID, Marquette University