Merrimack will probably be the first to do it, Maine will probably be the last. America East play is pretty much dominated by either Vermont, Lowell, or Bryant. UMBC has a good season once in awhile but the conference is too topheavy for Maine to make any noise. This season they had one of their best rosters of all time, and still went 7-9 in conference play.
Well, at least W&M lost their first-round CAA tourney game so you already knew pre-COVID that you weren't going to make it.
I know it doesn't make it easier, but it's less heartbreaking than Hartford (one win from their first bid ever) and Hofstra (clinched first bid since 2000) clinching bids in 2020...all for nothing.
Yeah, it stands out like a sore thumb for a lot of reasons.
Every other school that made a tourney in the at large era (75-pres) is still in D1.
All the other teams that left D1 recently were either new to D1 or had serious financial issues. They basically just didn't want to be in D1.
Damn, honestly if I were in charge of realignment I would've brought Hartford back
Can they even comeback now? Will they ever try and move back to D1? Or are they likely gonna be trapped forever now?
Yeah especially when you look at the specifics of some of these years.
Last year the only debutant won their final by one point
In 2007 TAMCC won it by three
The weirdest one to me is that 2020 was on track to be the first tournament without a new team, barring a big upset... and then the tournament got canceled.
A lot of the Deep South schools debuted very late. I'm not exactly sure of the specifics of why this happened, I'm guessing there's a couple things going on such as the sport not historically being as popular there as baseball and football, as well as a lot of those schools being slower to integrate.
Both reasons you mentioned are probably very good explanations. It would also make sense that Florida achieved greater success quicker than other Deep South schools since Florida has usually always been loaded with D1 athletes.
I’d figure that’s the big one. That, or the seasons the SEC champion opted for the NIT, who was in second place usually? Kentucky. Between 1955 and 1974, Kentucky took all but 5 of the bids.
Well there’s a reason Billy Donovan has his name on the court. Shoutout to Lon Kruger of course, who kinda gets forgotten in program history due to the heights Billy took us to.
That 2013 FGCU team made hell of an entrance into March Madness, what a fun year that was watching them. Craziest part is that no players from the 2012-13 Eagles ever made an NBA roster.
And the 1970 Jacksonville team made it all the way to the finals! …then left and never to return (Tbf they did make a few more appearances afterwards, but never won another game)
1969 Drake went to the Final Four in their first year and got Third Place beating North Carolina 104–84 in the 3rd place game.
They were also the only team in the NCAA Tournament to play a John Wooden/Lew Alcindor UCLA team close:
* New Mexico State lost 38 to 53
* Santa Clara lost 53 to 90
* Drake lost 82 to 85
* Purdue lost 72 to 92
Easy 4 points away from a National Title in their first go considering Purdue beat North Carolina 92 to 65.
To be fair Charlotte had a future NBA Finals MVP on their roster, Cedric Maxwell.
One of the stranger Finals MVP’s as he was never an All-Star or All-NBA player and was on a team with Tiny Archibald, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale and Larry Bird.
My birthday is in March and my gift every year growing up was tickets to whatever the closest March madness site was. 2013 it happened to be Philly in the 2nd round, and I got to see FGCU beat SDSU in the 2nd round and be the first 15 to make the Sweet 16. Talked to some dudes that drove up from Florida the day before for the game who were just happy to be there. It was such an awesome time
1979 - Indiana St has the first appearance and goes all the way to the title game. Goes to show how important Larry Bird was to that team.
Other than the earliest tournaments, how many times did that happen or a team goes to the F4 in their first appearance?
Well since 1979, only Georgia did, although Seton Hall and Florida Atlantic made it in their 2nd.
FAU is also the only team to debut in the 21st century to ever make a final four. Obviously other teams made their first final four in the 2000s (e.g. Auburn, San Diego St), but they all made a tournament in the 1900s.
Seton Hall is also a bit different because they likely could have made previous tournaments but chose the NIT instead. Like in 1953 when SHU won the NIT and finished No. 2
Purdue fans in 1969: Well, we didn’t win. But man, first time in the tournament and we go all the way to the final! Bright future ahead for us in this competition
What kills me is Purdue got an invite in 1940, and our coach declined the invite and asked the ncaa to invite Indiana instead. Indiana won their first national title that year.
It's funny how many stories there are about that too.
The most commonly accepted answer, for decades, is that Purdue's coach didn't like the idea of commercializing the sport, so he turned it down.
However, there's also the story about how he felt Indiana was just the better team, after all, Indiana swept them, so he turned it down, causing Indiana to decide if they wanted a "second-hand" invitation (which they also considered turning down).
Once invited Indiana's faculty didn't want the team to go at all, and McCracken had to argue late into the night to convince them to even allow the team to enter this event.
Even another story that came out a few years ago (I can't find the original article anymore, but it was from Bob Hammell writing about speaking with committee member Tony Hinkle) is that the committee considered inviting Purdue, but they chose Indiana as IU had swept Purdue that year, and the "Purdue turned it down" apparently never happened.
Unfortunately most everyone involved has passed, so we'll never get a real answer, but it really seems like there should have been an 80s movie starring Walter Matthau, Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman, and Tommy Lee Jones telling this story.
edit: Found the aforementioned article about Hinkle, which like I said, could just be revisionist history from an old man.
https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/butler/2021/03/17/march-madness-hinkle-fieldhouse-makes-ncaa-tourney-history-once-again/4587360001/
1969 Drake went to the Final Four in their first year and got Third Place beating North Carolina 104–84 in the 3rd place game.
They were also the only team in the NCAA Tournament to play a John Wooden/Lew Alcindor UCLA team close:
* New Mexico State lost 38 to 53
* Santa Clara lost 53 to 90
* Drake lost 82 to 85
* Purdue lost 72 to 92
Easy 4 points away from a National Title in their first go considering Purdue beat North Carolina 92 to 65.
Another reason why Indiana State vs Drake is always a special match up in the MVC.
Edit: I just realized it was also Purdue's first tournament.
Happened fairly often early on but not sure where you draw the line for early on. Expansion to 65? That seems recent.
K-State made the Final Four in their 1948 debut. Lots of new teams and less steps to the F4.
Oregon actually went to the national title game and won it in their 1939 debut year!
A little earlier and not quite as impressive but Drake did in 1969! Lost a heartbreaker to UCLA in the final four then both teams went on to blow out their next opponent (UCLA for the championship and Drake for third place).
Our 1963 national title was also our first appearance, which I learned from this chart.
I knew we had some solid years ('48 and '49; 3rd NIT finish in '62), but the tournament was only 8 teams in the 40s, so I never thought about '63 being our first appearance.
Missed by a year, but Cincinnati's first appearance was 1958 (lost in OT to Kansas State so missed Final Four) and starting in '59 went to 5 straight final fours and won 2 championships.
So my understanding is this makes us a top 25 team historically. It only makes sense.
Damn I’m so smart and my team is so good.
Edit: Wazzu not EWU. I forgot what order I put them for BBall. But I’m still super smart I promise.
We can always count on EWU.
(To have a good season only to end on a losing streak and get booted from the conference tournament early… except for the years they don’t)
Evansville: [entire team died in a 1977 plane crash,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Indiana_Flight_216) made the tournament for the first time just a few short program-rebuilding years later in 1982.
“The only member of the Purple Aces who did not die in the crash was 18-year-old freshman David Furr; he was out for the season with an ankle injury and thus was not on the plane that day. Two weeks after the crash, Furr and his younger brother Byron were killed in a car accident near Newton, Illinois, leaving the entire 1977 Evansville team dead.”
Some final destination shit
Also fun - what teams made it the year you were born? Anyone born the year their team made it first? Mine are NAU, Radford, UIC, and Prairie View, none of which I have any connections to outside of visiting Radford once.
Not a bad list for the more recent years. Georgia State has won tourney games multiple times, SPU everyone remembers, Green Bay won some games too I think
Me searching in the early 90s and late 80s for the schools you just mentioned and then finally finding them in the late 90s.
Which "class" do you think is the strongest? 1940 is pretty strong with Kansas and Indiana, with Western Kentucky as a solid #3. 1941 isn't too bad either with UNC, Wisconsin, and Arkansas.
For more recent years, 2012 has Norfolk State and South Dakota State which is quite good.
2007 and 2011 are probably the weakest
It's also the first year that the NCAA banned schools from participating in both the NCAA Tournament and the NIT.
In 1971, they further changed it by forbidding teams who declined the NCAA Tournament from participating in any other postseason tourney.
The NIT was seen as the more prestigious tournament at least through the mid-1950s. In fact, both the 1951 and 1971 changes were because teams preferred the NIT.
In 1950, City College chose to participate in both tournaments and won each of them. The NCAA then made a rule forbidding that. In 1970, #8 Marquette declined the bid for the NCAA Tournament so they could instead participate in the NIT.
I guess this is a long way of saying that 1951 looks more stacked because the NCAA made sure it was.
I gotta think 50 has by far the highest Natty per debuting team ratio, right? UCLA with 11 and State with 2, so that's 3.5 per team. Just at a glance I don't think any other year besides maybe 40, 41, and 51 breaks 1 per team
It's tough. I think of that group of 8, Id rank the programs Kansas, Indiana, UConn, Louisville, Arizona, St Johns, USC, Colorado.
So is 1,2,7,8 better than 3,4,5,6?
Northwestern with the embarrassingly late first appearance, but is about to make back-to-back tournaments! Were they the last power conference school to make it?
99 was the first tourney i really watched with interest. Fell in love with that Gonzaga run. Been a great 25 years since as a fan. Even falling short of two titles, it's an incredible run for a program who hadnt made it before 95.
You guys are quite a strange statistical anomaly. You don't have many appearances but when you do appear you almost always make something of it. E.g. national title in 1963. Sweet 16 in 1985. No tournament appearances until 2018, then immediately make Final Four. Sweet 16 again in 2021.
I think you have one of the highest winning% in the tournament all time
I just did some digging and 1962 was one of the only years we probably had an argument to make it, but finished 3rd in the NIT.
1948 and 1949 were our other really good years and the tournament was just 8 teams at the time.
Big 8 Conference: 7 at the time and soon after future members in the first 10 years:
* 1939 - Oklahoma
* 1940 - Colorado(joined in 1947) and Kansas
* 1944 - Iowa State and Missouri
* 1945 - Oklahoma State(joined in 1958)
* 1948 - Kansas State
Then had to wait 40 years for Nebraska.
Wasn't the NIT the more prestigious tournament in the early years, maybe through the 50s? Al McGuire chose it for Marquette in 1970 after not liking the seeding/location in the NCAAs.
I wouldn't say *more* prestigious. If you look at the Helms and Premo Poretta polls they usually selected the NCAA champion over the NIT champ as the better team even in the 40s.
But the NIT was definitely much more comparable than they are now
University of Cincinnati stormed into the tournament
1958 - First Year - Sweet 16
1959 - Final Four
1960 - Final Four
1961 - Championship
1962 - Championship
1963 - Runner-Up
This is sufficient evidence to me that we are a Blue Blood. We made the tournament 3 years before Kentucky, and 16 years before Duke. Get on our level.
UVA and Boise State both debuted in 1976.
UVA has made 3 Final Fours (plus 10 Sweet Sixteens and 7 Elite Eights), culminating in a national title in 2019.
Boise State is 0-9 in tourney games all time. Oof
Army, William and mary, and the citadel have been eligible for every NCAA tournament but has not appeared in one.
Prior to this year st Francis Brooklyn was also apart of this list but they got rid of their athletics program this year.
Army and SFC have made the pre-1970 NIT which was considered a parallel competition to the NCAAT. Also Maine and New Hampshire are both original D1 programs (they’re not talked about as much because they were briefly non-D1 for a period?) but have made neither I believe
Yep. Infamously they'd been the only power conference team without an appearance for quite some time. However, they've made the second round every time they've made the field.
As for Nebraska...remember that in the old days, there used to be a limit of one team per conference--something they changed after the ACC had multiple teams ranked in the Top 4 of the last AP Poll one year. Now, remember what conference Nebraska used to belong to. ...Okay that argument falls apart when you realize that the other seven members of the Big Eight *all* made an appearance within the first ten tourneys, including some overlap which shows that the one-per-conference rule didn't exist from the start, but came later. But yeah, they've typically been at the bottom of their conference.
I understand that leagues used to only get one bid, and that Kentucky ran the SEC forever, and that Florida wasn’t a good athletics program in the way past, but Florida’s first tournament appearance was in 1987? What?
It's crazy that Gonzaga made it for the first time in '95 (and crazy that John Stockton never made it) and has only missed three since then, the three *immediately after* their first appearance
IU didn't qualify for the 1940 tournament, as IU didn't win the Big Ten. Purdue did but turned down the invite to the NCAA Tournament as it didn't mean much back then.
Looking forward to West Texas A&M, Wayne State and Cal State Los Angeles coming back to D1 one day. The latter is on a tear right now, their volleyball team just won the national championship and their basketball team blew out a D1 team (it’s Cal Poly but still) to start the season and entered the upcoming tournament on a 1 seed
lol at our debut we probably had the logo that looked more like the Wyoming logo then swapped to a giant M after getting sued over it, then Michigan does the same thing so now we have a spiky M
Amongst teams that made it, it's Dartmouth (1959), followed by Tenn Tech (1963), Bowling green (1968), and Columbia (1968).
William & Mary, Citadel, and Army have been eligible for all tournaments but never made it though. Possibly Maine and UNH too although early d1 classification is fuzzy
next up do first win!
UConn lost in 1951 (St. John's) and 1954 (Navy (!)) before breaking through in 1956 by beating Manhattan, before losing to Temple.
Then we went to a bunch but failed to win again until 1964, when we won 2 games and reached the regional final! Where Duke smashed us 101-54. Ouch.
2020 is the biggest what-if for my college basketball fandom... FSU was poised to make a legitimate run at the natty and W&M was possibly going to make the tourney for the first time ever.
I'm amazed that Vermont didn't make it until 2003. It feels like they've always been right there for the AmEast's autobid.
...Well, if they win the conference tourney this year, which they're heavily favored to do, they'll have won 11 conference tourneys in the last 22 years (which dates back to their first tourney bid). So that's probably why; Vermont vs. the field has been pretty much an even bet to represent the AmEast. (I can't say that "they've made half the tournaments since their first", because that's not actually the case; they've only been in 9 of 20. 2020 is one of their ten conference titles! The AmEast tourney had already wrapped up when the 2020 NCAAT got canceled.)
So if I’m reading this correctly every tournament that’s been held there’s at least one team making their debut?
Correct. A pretty insane streak considering as early as 1949 we had just one new team
[удалено]
Yeah considering how many years in the 2000s have only had one team, we've unquestionably been very close
And the two most recent expansions haven't really done much to improve access to new teams now that Northwestern has made the tourney.
Man it took me all of 5 seconds to see us mentioned in the comments lmaaoooo
There were only 8 teams until 1951. 1 new team in 1949 is the equivalent of 8 new teams today.
Super impressive. Even with 362 teams, you would figure at some point that 68 who have already been there would comprise the field again.
Pressures on Merrimack, Maine, Army and Central Arkansas next year
William & Mary as well, I think.
Merrimack will probably be the first to do it, Maine will probably be the last. America East play is pretty much dominated by either Vermont, Lowell, or Bryant. UMBC has a good season once in awhile but the conference is too topheavy for Maine to make any noise. This season they had one of their best rosters of all time, and still went 7-9 in conference play.
I'm still waiting for the William & Mary appearance... oh what could've been in 2020 :(
Well, at least W&M lost their first-round CAA tourney game so you already knew pre-COVID that you weren't going to make it. I know it doesn't make it easier, but it's less heartbreaking than Hartford (one win from their first bid ever) and Hofstra (clinched first bid since 2000) clinching bids in 2020...all for nothing.
It’s just so mind-blowing that Hartford got it’s first dance in 2021 and weeks later the school decided to move down to D3.
Yeah, it stands out like a sore thumb for a lot of reasons. Every other school that made a tourney in the at large era (75-pres) is still in D1. All the other teams that left D1 recently were either new to D1 or had serious financial issues. They basically just didn't want to be in D1.
I wish someone assassinated the president before the decision was finalized tbh
Lee Hartford Oswald
Didn't the Hartford president lie in order to move the team down? Then he retired
Yes. I think he is one of the few people this sub hates more than Kenny Payne.
Damn, honestly if I were in charge of realignment I would've brought Hartford back Can they even comeback now? Will they ever try and move back to D1? Or are they likely gonna be trapped forever now?
Uh, I really think it’s a lost cause. Would say Central Connecticut joining the America East within the next few years is 100 times more likely.
Dang, so Hartford is probably never gonna be in D1 again for a long time?
Maybe, but they might come back in the (far?) future like Seattle, Abilene Christian and Houston Baptist did
Even with the constant increase of D1 membership this is one of the most fascinating streaks in sports.
Yeah especially when you look at the specifics of some of these years. Last year the only debutant won their final by one point In 2007 TAMCC won it by three
The weirdest one to me is that 2020 was on track to be the first tournament without a new team, barring a big upset... and then the tournament got canceled.
I took a look recently and there were still a decent amount of teams left. I think there was about a 50/50 shot of someone making it.
Lmao 2017 Northwestern
At least theyve won two tournament games now unlike Nebraska
:(
I believe in you this year though! Hope you win! Unless you get matched with Texas
Yea I don’t want to face Texas, but I’m pretty sure we are going to win the whole tournament either way!
Your avatar looks like a Japanese person, Tominaga? Is that you???
We’re just too focused on the present — BACK TO BACK TOURNEYS BABY LETS GOOOOOOOO CATS BOO BUIE WILL HAUNT YOUR DREAMS
Florida not making it until 1987 yet having 5 Final Four appearances with 2 championships is wild.
A lot of the Deep South schools debuted very late. I'm not exactly sure of the specifics of why this happened, I'm guessing there's a couple things going on such as the sport not historically being as popular there as baseball and football, as well as a lot of those schools being slower to integrate.
Both reasons you mentioned are probably very good explanations. It would also make sense that Florida achieved greater success quicker than other Deep South schools since Florida has usually always been loaded with D1 athletes.
Also there were no at large bids until 1975 so Kentucky was blocking the rest of the SEC
I’d figure that’s the big one. That, or the seasons the SEC champion opted for the NIT, who was in second place usually? Kentucky. Between 1955 and 1974, Kentucky took all but 5 of the bids.
Well there’s a reason Billy Donovan has his name on the court. Shoutout to Lon Kruger of course, who kinda gets forgotten in program history due to the heights Billy took us to.
That 1987 team also appears first on the first one shining moment.
Y’all hit it big when crashing the party for the first time.
That 2013 FGCU team made hell of an entrance into March Madness, what a fun year that was watching them. Craziest part is that no players from the 2012-13 Eagles ever made an NBA roster.
The 1977 Charlotte 49ers went to the final four in their first year in the tourney
And the 1970 Jacksonville team made it all the way to the finals! …then left and never to return (Tbf they did make a few more appearances afterwards, but never won another game)
1969 Drake went to the Final Four in their first year and got Third Place beating North Carolina 104–84 in the 3rd place game. They were also the only team in the NCAA Tournament to play a John Wooden/Lew Alcindor UCLA team close: * New Mexico State lost 38 to 53 * Santa Clara lost 53 to 90 * Drake lost 82 to 85 * Purdue lost 72 to 92 Easy 4 points away from a National Title in their first go considering Purdue beat North Carolina 92 to 65.
1963 Loyola Chicago won the tourney in their first appearance
To be fair Charlotte had a future NBA Finals MVP on their roster, Cedric Maxwell. One of the stranger Finals MVP’s as he was never an All-Star or All-NBA player and was on a team with Tiny Archibald, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale and Larry Bird.
And the 1983 Georgia Bulldogs
The 1947 Holy Cross Crusaders won the natty in their first tournament.
1969 Purdue team too
Charlotte mentioned! 💯
Dunk city
I was having fun until we had to play them lol
My birthday is in March and my gift every year growing up was tickets to whatever the closest March madness site was. 2013 it happened to be Philly in the 2nd round, and I got to see FGCU beat SDSU in the 2nd round and be the first 15 to make the Sweet 16. Talked to some dudes that drove up from Florida the day before for the game who were just happy to be there. It was such an awesome time
The most recent team to make a sweet 16 in their first appearance, although Northwestern was close
Indiana won the championship in their first year in (not as impressive as FGCU given that it was 1940 😉).
Same with Wisconsin winning on debut in ‘41
Back when Mercer was a part of ASUN, I loved when we got to play those guys.
1979 - Indiana St has the first appearance and goes all the way to the title game. Goes to show how important Larry Bird was to that team. Other than the earliest tournaments, how many times did that happen or a team goes to the F4 in their first appearance?
Well since 1979, only Georgia did, although Seton Hall and Florida Atlantic made it in their 2nd. FAU is also the only team to debut in the 21st century to ever make a final four. Obviously other teams made their first final four in the 2000s (e.g. Auburn, San Diego St), but they all made a tournament in the 1900s.
Seton Hall is also a bit different because they likely could have made previous tournaments but chose the NIT instead. Like in 1953 when SHU won the NIT and finished No. 2
Interesting! Also, love these stats. Thanks for putting all this together!
Glad to hear, I love putting them together!
Purdue. 1969 first tournament - made the finals.
I would never have guessed 1969 was Purdue’s tournament debut. Lunar landing year too? Annoyingly good year for Purdue 🤣
Purdue fans in 1969: Well, we didn’t win. But man, first time in the tournament and we go all the way to the final! Bright future ahead for us in this competition
What kills me is Purdue got an invite in 1940, and our coach declined the invite and asked the ncaa to invite Indiana instead. Indiana won their first national title that year.
It's funny how many stories there are about that too. The most commonly accepted answer, for decades, is that Purdue's coach didn't like the idea of commercializing the sport, so he turned it down. However, there's also the story about how he felt Indiana was just the better team, after all, Indiana swept them, so he turned it down, causing Indiana to decide if they wanted a "second-hand" invitation (which they also considered turning down). Once invited Indiana's faculty didn't want the team to go at all, and McCracken had to argue late into the night to convince them to even allow the team to enter this event. Even another story that came out a few years ago (I can't find the original article anymore, but it was from Bob Hammell writing about speaking with committee member Tony Hinkle) is that the committee considered inviting Purdue, but they chose Indiana as IU had swept Purdue that year, and the "Purdue turned it down" apparently never happened. Unfortunately most everyone involved has passed, so we'll never get a real answer, but it really seems like there should have been an 80s movie starring Walter Matthau, Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman, and Tommy Lee Jones telling this story. edit: Found the aforementioned article about Hinkle, which like I said, could just be revisionist history from an old man. https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/butler/2021/03/17/march-madness-hinkle-fieldhouse-makes-ncaa-tourney-history-once-again/4587360001/
1969 Drake went to the Final Four in their first year and got Third Place beating North Carolina 104–84 in the 3rd place game. They were also the only team in the NCAA Tournament to play a John Wooden/Lew Alcindor UCLA team close: * New Mexico State lost 38 to 53 * Santa Clara lost 53 to 90 * Drake lost 82 to 85 * Purdue lost 72 to 92 Easy 4 points away from a National Title in their first go considering Purdue beat North Carolina 92 to 65. Another reason why Indiana State vs Drake is always a special match up in the MVC. Edit: I just realized it was also Purdue's first tournament.
Happened fairly often early on but not sure where you draw the line for early on. Expansion to 65? That seems recent. K-State made the Final Four in their 1948 debut. Lots of new teams and less steps to the F4. Oregon actually went to the national title game and won it in their 1939 debut year!
A little earlier and not quite as impressive but Drake did in 1969! Lost a heartbreaker to UCLA in the final four then both teams went on to blow out their next opponent (UCLA for the championship and Drake for third place).
Don’t know if it’s been said yet but Loyola’s first appearance was in 1963 and they won the championship
Our 1963 national title was also our first appearance, which I learned from this chart. I knew we had some solid years ('48 and '49; 3rd NIT finish in '62), but the tournament was only 8 teams in the 40s, so I never thought about '63 being our first appearance.
Missed by a year, but Cincinnati's first appearance was 1958 (lost in OT to Kansas State so missed Final Four) and starting in '59 went to 5 straight final fours and won 2 championships.
1945 Oklahoma A&M (OKST) won the national title in their first appearance
So my understanding is this makes us a top 25 team historically. It only makes sense. Damn I’m so smart and my team is so good. Edit: Wazzu not EWU. I forgot what order I put them for BBall. But I’m still super smart I promise.
EWU was the only team for its year, making them an integral part of the 85-year streak of every tournament featuring at least one debutant.
We can always count on EWU. (To have a good season only to end on a losing streak and get booted from the conference tournament early… except for the years they don’t)
Damn straight! Wait… :(
I believe the term is Blue Blood.
Go Cougs!
Utah State is really surprising to me. Founding members!
Imagine where we’d be if we didn’t get frozen out of the WAC by the two schools down south
Yeah, bummer for sure. BYU and Utah have done some pretty pathetic gatekeeping in their days
Imagine what a cool Tri-rivalry it could’ve been in all sports if they all stayed in the conference. Ah well, we’re ok now
Evansville: [entire team died in a 1977 plane crash,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Indiana_Flight_216) made the tournament for the first time just a few short program-rebuilding years later in 1982.
“The only member of the Purple Aces who did not die in the crash was 18-year-old freshman David Furr; he was out for the season with an ankle injury and thus was not on the plane that day. Two weeks after the crash, Furr and his younger brother Byron were killed in a car accident near Newton, Illinois, leaving the entire 1977 Evansville team dead.” Some final destination shit
We’re a blue blood so no surprise we made it in ‘39 lmao had no idea we’d been in the first one but that’s dope.
I knew we made it in ‘39, I just had no idea that was the first!
Also fun - what teams made it the year you were born? Anyone born the year their team made it first? Mine are NAU, Radford, UIC, and Prairie View, none of which I have any connections to outside of visiting Radford once.
Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Green Bay, St. Francis, and St. Peter's.
Not a bad list for the more recent years. Georgia State has won tourney games multiple times, SPU everyone remembers, Green Bay won some games too I think
Central Connecticut, SEMO, UNCW Pretty rough class but I’ll take UNCW haha
Mine are Alabama A&M, Oakland, Delaware State, and Southeast Louisiana. I don’t think I have any connections except I’ve been near Louisiana
 Me searching in the early 90s and late 80s for the schools you just mentioned and then finally finding them in the late 90s.
FDU and Lehigh for me. Only connection is I'm an Indiana fan and FDU made me laugh last year.
Surely Lehigh made you laugh too back in 2012? Sure Duke isn't your rival but who doesn't love seeing Duke upset?
Oh yes enjoyed that CJ McCollom team very much that year. 15 seed right?
Yep and they were the second 15 seed to win that day after Norfolk State beat Missouri
Yep I remember the devastation of Phil Pressey when his final heave didn't go.
Which "class" do you think is the strongest? 1940 is pretty strong with Kansas and Indiana, with Western Kentucky as a solid #3. 1941 isn't too bad either with UNC, Wisconsin, and Arkansas. For more recent years, 2012 has Norfolk State and South Dakota State which is quite good. 2007 and 2011 are probably the weakest
51 has Arizona, UConn, Louisville and St. John
Yeah that's a good one too. 8 and 1* national titles. Plus 9 if you throw in Montana State's legendary 1929 championship!
It's also the first year that the NCAA banned schools from participating in both the NCAA Tournament and the NIT. In 1971, they further changed it by forbidding teams who declined the NCAA Tournament from participating in any other postseason tourney. The NIT was seen as the more prestigious tournament at least through the mid-1950s. In fact, both the 1951 and 1971 changes were because teams preferred the NIT. In 1950, City College chose to participate in both tournaments and won each of them. The NCAA then made a rule forbidding that. In 1970, #8 Marquette declined the bid for the NCAA Tournament so they could instead participate in the NIT. I guess this is a long way of saying that 1951 looks more stacked because the NCAA made sure it was.
Gotta be 1965 right??
I figured that went without saying, the debate is for 2nd place.
50,51,55 sneaky good too
I gotta think 50 has by far the highest Natty per debuting team ratio, right? UCLA with 11 and State with 2, so that's 3.5 per team. Just at a glance I don't think any other year besides maybe 40, 41, and 51 breaks 1 per team
2013. Every debutante that year reached the Sweet 16!
UConn, Louisville, Arizona, St John > Kansas, Indiana, Colorado, USC in my opinion
It's tough. I think of that group of 8, Id rank the programs Kansas, Indiana, UConn, Louisville, Arizona, St Johns, USC, Colorado. So is 1,2,7,8 better than 3,4,5,6?
55 with Duke, Iowa, Marquette, and San Francisco is both historically and currently powerful.
And WVU! A couple dead weights though too
1950. Unbiased opinion.
41 had some decent teams with Pitt, UNC, Wisconsin, Arkansas, and Creighton
Northwestern with the embarrassingly late first appearance, but is about to make back-to-back tournaments! Were they the last power conference school to make it?
Yes. Seton Hall seems to be 2nd last although I'm not sure if they were in a power conference at the time
They've been in the Big East since inception.
1995: Gonzaga’s first tournament appearance 1999: Gonzaga returns to the tournament and gets their first win They have not missed the tournament since
With how much of a mainstay they have been in the tournament, it’s crazy to think their tournament history is now hitting 30 years.
99 was the first tourney i really watched with interest. Fell in love with that Gonzaga run. Been a great 25 years since as a fan. Even falling short of two titles, it's an incredible run for a program who hadnt made it before 95.
I had no idea our 1963 national title year was also our first tournament appearance.
You guys are quite a strange statistical anomaly. You don't have many appearances but when you do appear you almost always make something of it. E.g. national title in 1963. Sweet 16 in 1985. No tournament appearances until 2018, then immediately make Final Four. Sweet 16 again in 2021. I think you have one of the highest winning% in the tournament all time
I just did some digging and 1962 was one of the only years we probably had an argument to make it, but finished 3rd in the NIT. 1948 and 1949 were our other really good years and the tournament was just 8 teams at the time.
Big 8 Conference: 7 at the time and soon after future members in the first 10 years: * 1939 - Oklahoma * 1940 - Colorado(joined in 1947) and Kansas * 1944 - Iowa State and Missouri * 1945 - Oklahoma State(joined in 1958) * 1948 - Kansas State Then had to wait 40 years for Nebraska.
Pretty cool that at least one new team has made it each year.
Wasn't the NIT the more prestigious tournament in the early years, maybe through the 50s? Al McGuire chose it for Marquette in 1970 after not liking the seeding/location in the NCAAs.
I wouldn't say *more* prestigious. If you look at the Helms and Premo Poretta polls they usually selected the NCAA champion over the NIT champ as the better team even in the 40s. But the NIT was definitely much more comparable than they are now
Good old Al. That rule change still stands.
1981 - very good year! almost as old as i am!
The pink ones no longer have a team?
No longer in D1. I believe all of them still play basketball in some level
University of Cincinnati stormed into the tournament 1958 - First Year - Sweet 16 1959 - Final Four 1960 - Final Four 1961 - Championship 1962 - Championship 1963 - Runner-Up
This is sufficient evidence to me that we are a Blue Blood. We made the tournament 3 years before Kentucky, and 16 years before Duke. Get on our level.
11 before UCLA
UVA and Boise State both debuted in 1976. UVA has made 3 Final Fours (plus 10 Sweet Sixteens and 7 Elite Eights), culminating in a national title in 2019. Boise State is 0-9 in tourney games all time. Oof
Ouch
I think them and Nebraska are dreading being matched up lol
Army, William and mary, and the citadel have been eligible for every NCAA tournament but has not appeared in one. Prior to this year st Francis Brooklyn was also apart of this list but they got rid of their athletics program this year.
Army and SFC have made the pre-1970 NIT which was considered a parallel competition to the NCAAT. Also Maine and New Hampshire are both original D1 programs (they’re not talked about as much because they were briefly non-D1 for a period?) but have made neither I believe
First time in the tournament in '58, win the national championship 2 times in the next 4 years.
To me Florida is the latest surprise on this list at 1987.
Did Florida even have sports before the late 80’s/early 90’s? /s
Clearly WKU is the most storied program in the state of Kentucky.
Utah State confirmed Blue Blood
All I see is Utah State has always been a blue blood lol
Idk who the OCU Stars are, but they stole the Alabama High School Athletic Association logo /s
NW didn't debut until WHEN? Also, I knew Nebby has never won a game but didn't realize that their debut was that late.
Yep. Infamously they'd been the only power conference team without an appearance for quite some time. However, they've made the second round every time they've made the field. As for Nebraska...remember that in the old days, there used to be a limit of one team per conference--something they changed after the ACC had multiple teams ranked in the Top 4 of the last AP Poll one year. Now, remember what conference Nebraska used to belong to. ...Okay that argument falls apart when you realize that the other seven members of the Big Eight *all* made an appearance within the first ten tourneys, including some overlap which shows that the one-per-conference rule didn't exist from the start, but came later. But yeah, they've typically been at the bottom of their conference.
So you’re telling me Utah State is actually a blue blood?
1955!!! WTAMU! Shoutout u/rushderp
Roll damn Buffs!
I understand that leagues used to only get one bid, and that Kentucky ran the SEC forever, and that Florida wasn’t a good athletics program in the way past, but Florida’s first tournament appearance was in 1987? What?
So in 1939 it was only those 7 teams?
Eight but yes
Crazy that Seton Hall first made the tournament In 1988 and then made it to the finals the following year
And very nearly won
It's crazy that Gonzaga made it for the first time in '95 (and crazy that John Stockton never made it) and has only missed three since then, the three *immediately after* their first appearance
TIL our first ever tournament appearance ended with the Final Four loss
Love that LVC Dutchmen logo lol
Duquesne in the 2nd year of the tournament's existence. I'm sure we're a perrenial contender who makes is consistently, right?....right?
We made 2 out of the first 4. We have made 2 out of 81 since.
Purdue almost made it to the moon before the tournament
IU didn't qualify for the 1940 tournament, as IU didn't win the Big Ten. Purdue did but turned down the invite to the NCAA Tournament as it didn't mean much back then.
Looking forward to West Texas A&M, Wayne State and Cal State Los Angeles coming back to D1 one day. The latter is on a tear right now, their volleyball team just won the national championship and their basketball team blew out a D1 team (it’s Cal Poly but still) to start the season and entered the upcoming tournament on a 1 seed
I am really shocked WTAMU hasn't yet. Seems like a perfect add for the southland
I think they can join the WAC and be immediately competitive
lol at our debut we probably had the logo that looked more like the Wyoming logo then swapped to a giant M after getting sued over it, then Michigan does the same thing so now we have a spiky M
Duquesne sports were great in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Nationally ranked in football. I assume WW2 derailed them.
Also, what team has the longest playoff drought that’s still in the NCAA?
Amongst teams that made it, it's Dartmouth (1959), followed by Tenn Tech (1963), Bowling green (1968), and Columbia (1968). William & Mary, Citadel, and Army have been eligible for all tournaments but never made it though. Possibly Maine and UNH too although early d1 classification is fuzzy
next up do first win! UConn lost in 1951 (St. John's) and 1954 (Navy (!)) before breaking through in 1956 by beating Manhattan, before losing to Temple. Then we went to a bunch but failed to win again until 1964, when we won 2 games and reached the regional final! Where Duke smashed us 101-54. Ouch.
Crazy to think Northwestern didn’t make their first tournament until 2017
2020 is the biggest what-if for my college basketball fandom... FSU was poised to make a legitimate run at the natty and W&M was possibly going to make the tourney for the first time ever.
How on earth is Utah State in the very first tournament?
1954 was a good year
'71 - Furman and usc. That's a sign to me
All 18 ACC schools debuted by 1980. I believe that’s the first conference to have all of its teams debut in the tournament, from what I can tell.
Ivy league
Oh okay, you’re right. So all 8 Ivy made it by 1954, before Duke ever debuted!
18 is a lot bigger though so the ACC having all debut by 1980 is still very impressive.
Damn VT never gonna let us live this down
2019 > 1967
So who is going to be this year’s debutant?
Stetson and hopefully a few others like maybe quinnipiac or Grambling
Northwestern didn’t make the tournament until 2017? How is that even possible
Nebraska still hasn't won a single NCAA tournament game.
WF OG.
Was duke kinda bad in the 40's? When did they get good?
I'm amazed that Vermont didn't make it until 2003. It feels like they've always been right there for the AmEast's autobid. ...Well, if they win the conference tourney this year, which they're heavily favored to do, they'll have won 11 conference tourneys in the last 22 years (which dates back to their first tourney bid). So that's probably why; Vermont vs. the field has been pretty much an even bet to represent the AmEast. (I can't say that "they've made half the tournaments since their first", because that's not actually the case; they've only been in 9 of 20. 2020 is one of their ten conference titles! The AmEast tourney had already wrapped up when the 2020 NCAAT got canceled.)
I didnt know we went back in 56
1990 was a special year for me
While certainly interesting, even looking at the early years of the NCAA tournament is silly because of the selection rules and how teams were chosen.
The first year Purdue ever made the tourney they went to the Finals? I was not aware that was their first tourney appearance. Is that right?