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Earlier today I posted a reply to a question regarding whether Temple had ever appeared in the Elite 8. I learned that they had 5 appearances in the past 17 years alone. I realized that teams can live for years off even a single appearance in the Final 4. Or a Cinderella team can live for years off a single Elite 8 appearance because of the surprise factor. (See Gonzaga '99.)
I wondered how many other teams there are like Temple that have have consistently achieved a high level of excellence but have flown below the radar because they have fallen short of the Final 4. So while I was at it with my Temple research, I made a list of the Top Ten: Elite 8 Appearances over the past 20 years. Here it is:
1. Duke (11)
2. North Carolina (9)
tie Kentucky (9)
4. Kansas (8)
5. Connecticut (6)
tie Arizonza (6)
7. Temple (5)
8. All tied with 4 appearances:
Georgetown
Syracuse
Oklahoma
UNLV
Indiana
Arkansas
Michigan
Michigan State
It turns out that Temple is unique, the only one on the list not to make it to the Final Four during this period. In fact, Temple & Oklahoma are the only ones on this list of 15 schools who failed to win a national championship! They are keeping pretty good company.
The only other schools with multiple appearances in the Elite 8 without making it to a Final Four during these 20 years are listed below. All had 2 appearances.
North Carolina State
Virginia
Missouri
Purdue
Conference Totals (total # appearances by current conference members):
1. ACC (31)
2. Big East (24)
3. Big Ten (22)
4. Big XII (21)
5. SEC (20)
6. Pac Ten (13)
7. Atlantic Ten (10)
8. CUSA (8)
9. Mountain West (6)
10. West Coast (2)
11. Patriot League (1)
tie MAC (1)
tie WAC (1)
Last edited by friarfan on Tue Jun 01, 2004 11:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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