Dream Runs Out of Steam: Texas Tech Can't Match Texas Western's Success

Texas Tech came close but didn't duplicate feat Texas-El Paso achieved five decades ago. UTEP, known at the time as Texas Western, was the last school to capture the NCAA Tournament championship contest in its first Final Four appearance until F4 newbie Connecticut emerged victorious 33 years later in 1999. Following is a list of Final Four newcomers - seven in a nine-year span from 1966 through 1974 - reaching the NCAA tourney title tilt since the Miners won it all in 1966 with a 72-65 triumph against Kentucky:

Year	Final Four Newcomer	Head Coach	Championship Game Result
1967	Dayton	Don Donoher	Lost against UCLA (79-64).
1969	Purdue*	George King	Lost against UCLA (92-72).
1970	Jacksonville*	Joe Williams	Lost against UCLA (80-69).
1972	Florida State	Hugh Durham	Lost against UCLA (81-76).
1973	Memphis State	Gene Bartow	Lost against UCLA (87-66).
1974	Marquette	Al McGuire	Lost against North Carolina State (76-64).
1979	Indiana State*	Bill Hodges	Lost against Michigan State (75-64).
1989	Seton Hall	P.J. Carlesimo	Lost against Michigan (80-79 in overtime).
1999	Connecticut	Jim Calhoun	Defeated top-ranked Duke (77-74).
2010	Butler	Brad Stevens	Lost against Duke (61-59).
2017	Gonzaga	Mark Few	Lost against North Carolina (71-65).
2019	Texas Tech	Chris Beard	Lost against Virginia (85-77 in overtime)

*Indiana State, Jacksonville and Purdue were also making their NCAA Tournament debuts.