The Dance is brutal

In the history of the NCAA tournament, 19 teams have finished the regular season. Only 7 of those have won the tournament, and none since 1976.

Among the teams who have made the regular season gauntlet unscathed are some surprising names: Columbia, St. Bonaventure, Rutgers. Those who do not study basketball history probably would not have guessed any of those (and some of us who do). Those three teams have fallen on hard times lately, but at one time they were powerhouses.

Interestingly, John Wooden had four undefeated teams, but if he made it unscathed through the regular season, not once did he fail in the Tournament. Some other pretty good coaches cannot say that: John Calipari, Jerry Tarkanian, Gregg Marshall, Bob Knight, Al McGuire, and Guy Lewis all had undefeated teams that stubbed their toes in the Big Dance.