Famine Relief: Furman Ends Lengthy NCAA Tournament Appearance Dry Spell

If your RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) isn't satisfactory, then it's time to R.I.P. (Rest in Peace). That certainly was the case for Furman, a Rip Van Winkle of college basketball, until the Paladins woke up and secured its first NCAA playoff berth since losing an East Regional opener against Tennessee in 1980.

Stanford and Wisconsin, a pair of relatively recent Final Four schools, were tied with Brown for the longest dry spell in NCAA Tournament history for prior playoff participants until Harvard ended its 65-year drought in 2012. Following are the 11 schools - with Baylor, Iowa State and Miami (FL) joining Furman in this year's event - to participate in the tourney at least once before enduring playoff appearance droughts of at least 37 years (length of dry spells denoted in parentheses):

School	Years Failing to Appear	Years Without a Victory
Harvard	1947 through 2011 (65)	Won first game in 2013
Yale	1963 through 2015 (53)	Only victory in 2016
Brown	1940 through 1985 (46)	Never won a playoff game
Stanford	1943 through 1988 (46)	1943 through 1994 (52)
Wisconsin	1948 through 1993 (46)	1948 through 1993 (46)
Furman	1981 through 2022 (43)	Won only game in 1974 (48)
Air Force	1963 through 2003 (41)	Never won a playoff game
Lafayette	1958 through 1998 (41)	Never won a playoff game
Iowa State	1945 through 1984 (40)	1945 through 1985 (41)
Washington State	1942 through 1979 (38)	1942 through 1982 (41)
Baylor	1951 through 1987 (37)	1951 through 2009 (59)
Canisius	1958 through 1994 (37)	Hasn't won since 1957
Miami (FL)	1961 through 1997 (37)	Won first game in 1999

NOTE: Miami suspended its basketball program for 14 seasons from 1971-72 through 1983-84.