You raise an intersting observation about Illinois in the Turner thread about bball & and only five UI appearances in final four in fifty years in the state where March Madness was born in IL HSs.

Other than the elite programs of past 50 years like Duke, UCLA, Carolina, 'Cuse, Louisville, Ky and maybe a handful of others, I wonder how many other schools have been to final four more than five times in fifty years.

Syracuse has actually only been to 4 Final Fours I believe. And this is only Illinois' second in the last 50 years.

The teams that have been there 5+ times since 1955 are:

UNC - 15
UCLA - 14
Duke - 13
Kansas - 9
Kentucky - 9
Louisville - 8
Indiana - 6
Cincinatti - 6
Ohio St. - 5

ncaa championship goes back to '39 in Evanston. Does '55 mark the begining of final four format for tourney or do we have alot of missing data to fill in before '55?

I have found info re: the two finalists since 39 but nothing more.

Plus for some of the early years- up into the 50s I think, the NIT was considered on a par with if not superior to the NCAAs. And NIT final four during that era should be considered of equal value. Not exactly sure where the proper historic cutoff for that would be.

Quote:I wonder how many other schools have been to final four more than five times in fifty years.

Teams that have been to the final four more than 5 times EVER
16, North Carolina
14, Duke
14, *UCLA
13, Kentucky
12, Kansas
9, Ohio St.
8, Indiana
8, Louisville
6, Arkansas
6, Cincinnati
6, Oklahoma St.

Only surprise there for me was Arkansas.

ALOT of notable progams one might imagine to have been there are missing. Temple, Georgetown, UNLV, Michigan,