21.   Its national teams consistently qualify for World Cup finals and the country has a credible, if unambitious, professional league.

22.   No Eastern Conference team would have qualified for the playoffs if they had played in the Western Conference.

23.   One New England football team has qualified for the Super Bowl and will maintain a high profile for another couple of weeks.

24.   Only eight teams will qualify for the playoffs from each conference.

25.   Teams qualify for the state tournament by winning or being one of two teams to survive selected tournaments.

26.   The baseball team has qualified for the postseason tournament in five of its seven years in Division I.

27.   The hospital school team qualified for the nationals by placing second in the Mid-South Regional Tournament in Arkansas in January.

28.   The last-place team does not qualify for the conference tournament.

29.   The Japanese national soccer team has never qualified for the World Cup, though if Japan wins the bid it would qualify automatically.

30.   The SEC has had seven teams qualify two other times, but getting eight usually has been viewed as a stretch.