The Thrill is Gone: St. John's Winless Over Last 19 NCAA Tournaments
March 24th, 2019 - 8:07
A significant number of schools turn sheepish at the mention of recent NCAA Tournament success. Among Division I institutions making at least 10 NCAA playoff appearances, seven former Final Four participants - New Mexico State, Oregon State, Princeton, St. John's, San Francisco, Southern Methodist and Texas-El Paso - combined to go winless in the past 19 years.
DePaul, Oregon State and San Francisco each have won more than 20 NCAA tourney games but collaborated for only one win in the past 29 years (DePaul over Dayton in double overtime in 2004). With B.B. King "The Thrill is Gone" lyrics in the background, following is an alphabetical list of schools with at least 10 NCAA playoff appearances for which Sweet 16 is a distant memory:
School (Playoff Appearances) Recent NCAA Tournament Travails Boston College (18) winless past 11 years with only one appearance Charlotte (11) no appearance past 13 years; winless past 17 years DePaul (22) appeared once past 18 years; one victory past 29 years George Washington (11) one victory past 24 years Georgia (12) one victory past 22 years Holy Cross (13) posted first win since 1953 three seasons ago in play-in game Idaho State (11) winless past 41 years New Mexico State (23) winless past 25 years Old Dominion (12) one victory past 23 years Oregon State (17) winless past 36 years Penn (24) one victory past 38 years Pepperdine (13) one victory past 36 years Princeton (25) winless past 20 years St. John's (30) winless past 19 years San Francisco (16) appeared once past 36 years Santa Clara (11) no appearance past 22 years Seattle (11) winless since 1964 Southern Methodist (12) winless past 30 years Texas-El Paso (17) winless past 26 years Utah State (21) one victory past 48 years Weber State (15) winless past 19 years Wyoming (15) one victory past 31 years