How West Has Lost: Majority of Tourney Dirty Dozen West of Old Man River

An unsightly Pac-12 Conference flop in the NCAA playoffs this year shouldn't have been a surprise unless you put stock in Stormy's creepy porn lawyer or always believe contrived comments from Muslim Brotherhood apologist/former CIA chief John "NBC News' Snoopy" Brennan. But at tourney time, the West frequently is worst. Oregon State (12-20) has the worst tourney record among longstanding power-league members. Moreover, Wyoming is the only former national champion (1943) to compile an all-time NCAA playoff record more than five games below .500 (9-20).

Everett Shelton, coach of Wyoming's titlist, is the only championship team bench boss to finish with a non-winning playoff record (4-12 from 1941 through 1958) and was more games under .500 in NCAA Division I Tournament competition than any coach in history until supplanted by Fran Dunphy (3-16 with Penn and Temple from 1993 through 2016). Also, Shelton is the only coach to lose three consecutive regional final games (1947, 1948 and 1949).

Joining Dunphy and Shelton among the eight coaches more than six games under .500 in NCAA playoff play are Rick Byrd (0-7 with Belmont from 2006 through 2015), Pete Carril (4-11 with Princeton from 1969 through 1996), Don Corbett (0-7 with North Carolina A&T from 1982 through 1988), Hugh Greer (1-8 with Connecticut from 1951 through 1960), Stew Morrill (1-9 with Montana and Utah State from 1991 through 2011) and Mike Vining (0-7 with Louisiana-Monroe from 1982 through 1996).

BYU is more games below .500 than any institution in NCAA playoff history (minus 17 with 15-32 record). More than half of the following 12 schools at least 10 games below .500 in NCAA tourney competition are from west of the Mississippi River:

	Playoff	Games Below
School	Record	.500 Mark
Brigham Young	15-32	minus 17
New Mexico State	10-26	minus 16
Princeton	13-29	minus 16
Utah State	6-22	minus 16
Miami (Ohio)	6-19	minus 13
Murray State	3-16	minus 13
Penn	13-26	minus 13
Iona	1-13	minus 12
Weber State	6-17	minus 11
Wyoming	9-20	minus 11
Creighton	12-22	minus 10
Montana	2-12	minus 10