Texas Tech Nearly Joined List of Schools Bowing to Titlist Three Straight Years

March 19th, 2024 - 14:36

A total of 10 power-conference members - Boston College, Clemson, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Northwestern, Rutgers, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington - never have incurred an NCAA tourney setback against an opponent capturing the NCAA title that season. On the other end of the spectrum, Kansas has an all-time high 13 such reversals (1940-53-57-66-71-91-93-97 and 2002-03-12-16-18). Right behind KU are Duke (12 defeats), Utah (11), North Carolina (11) and Oklahoma (10).

Texas Tech, losing in back-to-back playoffs against titlists Villanova (2018) and Virginia (2019) before 2020 tourney cancellation, earned an at-large bid three seasons ago. If Arkansas had won the national title that year, the Red Raiders would have been eliminated by the eventual national champion for the third consecutive NCAA playoff. They would have joined the following chronological list of schools in rare category of bowing out in back-to-back-to-back tourneys against kingpin:

School Coach (Vital Players All Three Years) Tourney Defeats vs. NCAA Champion in Three Straight Seasons
New Mexico State Lou Henson (Jimmy Collins/Sam Lacey) Lost to UCLA in 1968 (Regional Semifinal), 1969 (Regional Semifinal) and 1970 (National Semifinal)
Long Beach State Jerry Tarkanian (no player in regular rotation all three seasons) Lost to UCLA in 1970 (Regional Semifinal), 1971 (Regional Final) and 1972 (Regional Final)
Louisiana State Dale Brown (Greg Cook/Ethan Martin/Willie Sims) Lost to Michigan State in 1979 (Regional Semifinal), Louisville in 1980 (Regional Final) and Indiana in 1981 (National Semifinal)
Houston Guy Lewis (Eric Dickens/Reid Gettys/Akeem Olajuwon/Michael Young) Lost to North Carolina in 1982 (National Semifinal), North Carolina State in 1983 (National Final) and Georgetown in 1984 (National Final)
Duke Mike Krzyzewski (Danny Ferry/Billy King/John Smith/Quin Snyder/Kevin Strickland) Lost to Louisville in 1986 (National Final), Indiana in 1987 (Regional Semifinal) and Kansas in 1988 (National Semifinal)
Michigan Steve Fisher (Juwan Howard/Ray Jackson/Jimmy King/Jalen Rose) Lost to Duke in 1992 (National Final), North Carolina in 1993 (National Final) and Arkansas in 1994 (Regional Final)