By Woodrow Carroll
We love the underdog. The sports public long has been fascinated by an athlete or team overcoming odds, even if the perception is far from reality.
At the start of the 2021 NCAA men’s Division I basketball tournament, we were introduced to a host of surprise teams. Low-seeded team were dreaming big. It’s fun to dream big, however, a look at the Elite Eight field this season shows that the bigs are still in charge. Four teams following Tuesday’s games will form the Final Four field set for Saturday and Monday.
All of the eight schools to reach that final step before the Final Four have been to the Final Four. There is no first-time experience for any of the eight teams Here is a look at the history of the eight:
• The UCLA Bruins need no introduction. Under head coach John Wooden, the Bruins captured 10 NCAA national tournament championships starting in 1964 and ending in 1975.
For good measure, UCLA added an 11th championship under head coach Jim Harrick in 1995.
Two other schools among the final eight rose to the occasion to win national championships: Michigan and Arkansas.
• In 1989, Michigan beat Seton Hall, 80-79, in overtime, for the championship. The story there was the change of coaches at tournament time.
Bill Frieder was the Michigan head basketball coach in the 1988-1989 season. At the conclusion of the regular season, with the Wolverines on their way into postseason play, Frieder took the job at Arizona State. It did not sit well with Michigan athletic director Bo Schembechler who replaced Frieder with Steve Fischer who guided Michigan to six straight NCAA tournament victories, including close games over Illinois and Seton Hall to give Michigan the 1989 NCAA championship.
• Arkansas joins UCLA and Michigan as a previous champion among the final eight schools in the 2021 tournament.
The Razorbacks under head coach Nolan Richardson, captured the 1994 championship by beating Duke, 76-72, in the championship game. Arkansas reached the championship game the following season, only to fall to UCLA led by Harrick.
Three schools in this year’s Elite Eight have scaled the mountains, only to come up just short of the championship peaks, Gonzaga, Baylor, and Houston.
• Houston had two shots at the championship and lost both times in the championship games, in back-to-back seasons. In 1983, the Cougars were thwarted by North Carolina State. One year later, it was Georgetown which stopped Houston’s bid.
• We turn back the clock to find Baylor in the Final Four!
In both 1948 and 1950, Baylor made it to the semifinals of the NCAA tournament. The 1948 squad reached the championship game only to fall to Kentucky, 58-42. Two years later, Baylor dropped a semifinal game to Bradley and then a third-place game to North Carolina State.
• Gonzaga is the top ranked team in this season’s tournament. The Bulldogs were runners-up to North Carolina in 2017 when Northwestern University reached its only NCAA tournament. Gonzaga ousted the Wildcats, 78-73, in a round of 32 game following a victory by Northwestern.
Oregon State and Southern California are two schools with potent athletic programs, yet, never in men’s NCAA basketball championship games.
• In 1940 and 1963, Oregon State made it to the men’s semifinal each year. In the 1963 Final Four, Oregon State was defeated by Cincinnati, 80-46, then roughed up by Duke, 85-63, in the third-place game. In that tournament, Loyola Chicago came from 15 points behind to defeat Cincinnati, 60-58, in overtime in the championship game.
The Southern California (USC) Trojans lost in a semifinal game to Kansas in 1940 and to Bradley in 1954.
The final eight teams in this season’s men’s tournament are not composed of a bunch of unknowns. There is a wealth of tournament history among the schools. The only first-time schools in the this year’s tournament are Hartford and Grand Canyon University. Both lost first round games.