Teams without NCAA Tourney Wins

[jayschool]

I've been pulling out the pity card with KU friends and others to get them to jump on the Nebrasketball bandwagon this year and root for the ultimate underdog story, even better than last year's run by Northwestern. It got me to thinking about what other universities have men's basketball programs still seeking their first NCAA Tournament victory. Here's a quick rundown based on RPI conference ratings by RealTime RPI. I'll give the team(s) from each conference with the fewest wins in the tournament (full tournament record in parentheses). I stop after the first 15 conferences because the bottom 17 conferences have a host of schools still waiting, probably forever unless they get into a play-in game.

 

1. Big XII — TCU (5-7)
2. ACC — Virginia Tech (6-9)
3. Big East — Creighton (12-21)
4. SEC — Mississippi (5-8)
5. Pac 12 — Washington State (6-6)
6. Big 10 — Nebraska (0-7)
7. American — UCF (0-4) and East Carolina (0-2)
8. Missouri Valley — Evansville (1-5)
9. Mountain West — Air Force (0-4), Boise (0-7) and San Jose State (0-3)
10. Atlantic 10 — Fordham (2-4)
11. Mid-American — Akron (0-4), Buffalo (0-2) and Northern Illinois (0-3)
12. Colonial — Delaware (0-5), Hofstra (0-4), Towson (0-2), William & Mary (0-0), Elon (0-0)
13. West Coast — Portland (0-2)
14. Summit — IUPUI (0-1), North Dakota (0-1), South Dakota State (0-4), South Dakota (0-0), Fort Wayne (0-0), Denver (0-0), Omaha (0-0), Western Illinois (0-0)
15. Conference USA — FIU (0-1), FAU (0-0), Marshall (0-5), North Texas (0-3), Southern Mississippi (0-3)

 

Now, of the winless teams, which have a reasonable shot of getting to the tournament, which means they also have a reasonable shot of winning a game (by RealTime RPI ranking?)

 

27. Buffalo (13-5, 6-0 in conference)

34. Boise (15-4, 6-2)

55. UCF (13-6, 4-3)

58. South Dakota State (13-5, 5-0)

66. Nebraska (14-7, 5-3)

72. William & Mary (11-6, 6-2)

96. Marshall (13-6, 5-2)

 

Lots of possibilities for teams to break through, but none of them rival Nebraska's history of futility.

 

 

 

[AuroranHusker]

Boise and Nebraska are both 0-7 in the NCAAs.

[uneblinstu]

BTW, South Carolina was 0-4 since the field expanded to 64 teams before they stumbled their way into the tournament.

[Handy Johnson]

For all the smack Creighton talks their record is horses**t.

[Nebrasketball1979]

1 hour ago, Handy Johnson said:

For all the smack Creighton talks their record is horses**t.

 

I'd give a left and right nut to have their horseshit record and 12 tourney wins!!!  Hell, I might make the trade for 1 win at this point.

[hskr4life]

Judas.  Creighton has 3 times as many losses that Nebraska in the NCAA tournament.  Sucks to be them!  

[Handy Johnson]

2 hours ago, Nebrasketball1979 said:

 

I'd give a left and right nut to have their horseshit record and 12 tourney wins!!!  Hell, I might make the trade for 1 win at this point.

They act like their in the Sweet Sixteen every other year and their record isn't even scaring .500

[Chuck Taylor]

1 minute ago, Handy Johnson said:

They act like their in the Sweet Sixteen every other year and their record isn't even scaring .500

Don't know who you talk to, but every Jay fan I know bitches that they don't make the SS. It's their white whale, like our NCAA schneid.

[jason2486]

On 1/24/2018 at 2:43 PM, Handy Johnson said:

They act like their in the Sweet Sixteen every other year and their record isn't even scaring .500

Some even mention their name with the Gonzagas of the world (laughable). For being very mediocre in March, I do see a lot of their fans puffing their chest. But what do you expect from a fan base who rips on Wichita State yet has a fraction of their recent success?

[HB]

On 1/24/2018 at 12:12 PM, Nebrasketball1979 said:

 

I'd give a left and right nut to have their horseshit record and 12 tourney wins!!!  Hell, I might make the trade for 1 win at this point.

 

Well, maybe only one nut for that.

[atskooc]

16 minutes ago, jason2486 said:

Some even mention their name with the Gonzagas of the world (laughable). For being very mediocre in March, I do see a lot of their fans puffing their chest. But what do you expect from a fan base who rips on Wichita State yet has a fraction of their recent success?

Uhh...we rip on Creighton and have exactly none of their tourney success.

[jimmykc]

Well done jayschool. You may count me among your (online) KU friends as well. At the very least this qualifies us as a "Cinderella" team which would give the talking heads something to say on selection Sunday, and an hour-long Big 10 feature like Northwestern got on the network last night. This ,of course, assumes we get invited and win a game this time!

[AuroranHusker]

8 minutes ago, jimmykc said:

Well done jayschool. You may count me among your (online) KU friends as well. At the very least this qualifies us as a "Cinderella" team which would give the talking heads something to say on selection Sunday, and an hour-long Big 10 feature like Northwestern got on the network last night. This ,of course, assumes we get invited and win a game this time!

 

I just knew when Northwestern finally did get that Big Dance invite that they'd take advantage of it the 'first' time. Now, Nebraska's on the precipice of a dance card. Will NU be crowned the Big Ten's lovable Cub-like team, now?

 

 

 

 

[Might as well win it all.]

 

 

Edited January 26, 2018 by AuroranHusker

[jayschool]

1 hour ago, AuroranHusker said:

 

I just knew when Northwestern finally did get that Big Dance invite that they'd take advantage of it the 'first' time.

 

Our opportunities have been mixed. In 1986, Moe was on his way out, and as a 9 seed against Clem Haskins, we seemed destined to lose.

Of course, 1991 sticks out as the biggest lost opportunity, dropping that 3-14 game to Xavier — and never really feeling like we were going to come back.

We felt like we were on a roll in 1994 after the conference tournament, a 6-11 game against the Ivy League. Damn.

And we led Arkansas by seven at the half in 1998. But, you know.

Sigh.

Edited January 26, 2018 by jayschool

[AuroranHusker]

3 minutes ago, jayschool said:

Our opportunities have been mixed. In 1986, Moe was on his way out, and as a 9 seed against Clem Haskins, we seemed destined to lose.

Of course, 1991 sticks out as the biggest lost opportunity, dropping that 3-14 game to Xavier — and never really feeling like we were going to come back.

We felt like we were on a roll in 1994 after the conference tournament, a 6-11 game against the Ivy League. Damn.

And we led Arkansas by seven at the half in 1998. But, you know.

Sigh.

 

I remember. Especially that one in Boise with Tyronn Lue in '98 against the '40 minutes of Hell,' that one, for sure, should have been a win. Dammmmit.

[jason2486]

2 hours ago, atskooc said:

Uhh...we rip on Creighton and have exactly none of their tourney success.

We do, but for different reasons. And we seem to be a more realistic fan base about our program, at least the citizens of this board do .

[jimmykc]

Sometimes it just makes you want to give up. I sort of felt that way after enduring Bucky F...ing Dent, Bill Buckner's grounder, and Aaron Boone, then going down by three games in the 2004 playoffs....but then one never knows.

[jayschool]

18 hours ago, jimmykc said:

Sometimes it just makes you want to give up. I sort of felt that way after enduring Bucky F...ing Dent, Bill Buckner's grounder, and Aaron Boone, then going down by three games in the 2004 playoffs....but then one never knows.

As a Royals fan, I'm hoping our success is more like KC: brief but spectacular. Like, when we finally win one, we win four more. And then the next year we win it all.

(Cue the John Lennon music)

You may say I'm a dreamer,

But I'm not the only one

I hope some Jayskers will join us

And the state will live as one.