by Mike Douchant
Special to CBS SportsLine
March 27, 1997
Watch for new installments featuring notes surrounding the Final Four this week, exclusively on CBS SportsLine: In this package, we cover:
Duke required nine appearances at the Final Four until the resolute Blue Devils finally won a national title in 1991. Last season, Syracuse became the seventh school to appear a minimum of three times at the national semifinals without winning an NCAA championship. Arizona might join the following list this year:
Despite not taking home a championship trophy, the aforementioned schools have at least managed to reach the Final Four from three to five times. Following is a list of five schools in a quagmire because they've made more than a dozen NCAA Tournament appearances without reaching the Final Four (closest they came to national semifinals is in parentheses):
There are five coaches with gaping holes in their
Final Four records, compiling a mark more than three games under
.500: Lute Olson (0-4 with Arizona and Iowa), Jack Gardner (1-7
with Kansas State and Utah), Slats Gill (0-4 with Oregon State),
Ted Owens (0-4 with Kansas) and Tex Winter (0-4 with Kansas State).
The empires strike out
One might theorize there should be a quantitative correlation between numerous lofty national rankings and winning the NCAA Tournament. But that is an invalid premise because several traditional powers with first-rate merchandise entering the postseason have frequently gotten dime-store results in the tournament.
For instance, Syracuse was eliminated seven times in 13 years from 1979 through 1991 by teams seeded fifth or worse.
Here is a list of schools with an albatross around
their necks because they didn't win an NCAA playoff title through
1994 despite finishing at least seven seasons ranked in an Associated
Press Top 10 since the wire service's first poll in 1949:
| School | AP Top Ten Finishes | Final Fours |
| *Notre Dame | 12 (1953-54-58-70-74-76-77-78-79-80-81-86) | one (1978) |
| Syracuse | 10 (1975-77-79-80-86-87-88-89-90-91) | three (1975-87-96) |
| Bradley | 8 (1949-50-51-54-59-60-61-62) | two (1950-54) |
| *DePaul | 8 (1964-78-79-80-81-82-84-87) | two (1943-79) |
| St. John's | 8 (1950-51-52-53-69-83-85-86) | two (1952-85) |
| *Illinois | 7 (1949-51-52-56-63-84-89) | four (1949-51-52-89) |
*Never reached an NCAA playoff championship game.
NOTES: Maryland is the only one of more than 30 schools
to finish in an AP Top 10 at least six times (6th in 1958, 8th
in 1973, 4th in 1974, 5th in 1975, 8th in 1980 and 10th in 1995)
and never reach the Final Four...Illinois, Notre Dame and Syracuse
have also never won the NIT.
There's history in what Kansas didn't win
Regal regular-season records persuade pollsters, arm alumni with arrogance and impress Division I committee members dispensing seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Gaudy marks don't guarantee postseason success, however. Just ask top-ranked Kansas.
Over the last 21 seasons since the last undefeated
team (Indiana '76), 15 schools entered the tournament undefeated
or with one setback. None went on to win the national title. Only
three teams in this group--Indiana State '79, UNLV '87 and Massachusetts
'96--reached the Final Four.
| Pre-Tourney | ||
| Year School (Coach) | W-L Mark | Playoff Record |
| 1977 Arkansas (Eddie Sutton) | 26-1 | 0-1 |
| 1977 San Francisco (Bob Gaillard) | 29-1 | 0-1 |
| 1979 Indiana State (Bill Hodges) | 29-0 | 4-1 |
| 1980 Alcorn State (Davey Whitney) | 27-1 | 1-1 |
| 1980 DePaul (Ray Meyer) | 26-1 | 0-1 |
| 1981 DePaul (Ray Meyer) | 27-1 | 0-1 |
| 1981 Oregon State (Ralph Miller) | 26-1 | 0-1 |
| 1982 DePaul (Ray Meyer) | 26-1 | 0-1 |
| 1987 UNLV (Jerry Tarkanian) | 33-1 | 4-1 |
| 1988 Temple (John Chaney) | 29-1 | 3-1 |
| 1990 La Salle (Speedy Morris) | 29-1 | 1-1 |
| 1991 UNLV (Jerry Tarkanian) | 30-0 | 4-1 |
| 1996 Massachusetts (John Calipari) | 31-1 | 4-1 |
| 1996 Texas Tech (James Dickey) | 28-1 | 2-1 |
| 1997 Kansas (Roy Williams) | 32-1 | 2-1 |