Breaking New Ground: Alabama Turns Tide Making 1st Final Four Appearance

March 29th, 2024 - 22:12

West Regional winner Alabama advanced to Final Four for the first time in school history. Last year, Florida Atlantic, Miami (Fla.) and San Diego State became the first trio to participate in their first Final Four since Jacksonville, New Mexico State and St. Bonaventure each made their only national semifinal appearance in 1970.

When Gonzaga and South Carolina met at the 2017 Final Four, they were the first set of newcomers to oppose each other at the F4 in 40 years since UNLV defeated UNC Charlotte in the 1977 national third-place game. Newbies Memphis State and Providence clashed in the 1973 semis.

Prior to Connecticut in 1999, the last team to win a championship in its initial national semifinal appearance was Texas Western (now Texas-El Paso) in 1966. Following in reverse order are the "first-timer" schools - two of them coached by Hugh Durham setting standard for Jim Larranaga to duplicate - making their first impression on the Final Four since 1970:

Year Final Four Newcomer NCAA Tourney Appearance Head Coach Final Four Outcome
2024 Alabama 25th Nate Oats TBD
2023 Florida Atlantic 2nd Dusty May Lost in semifinal.
2023 Miami (Fla.) 12th Jim Larranaga Lost in semifinal.
2023 San Diego State 15th Brian Dutcher Lost in final.
2019 Auburn 10th Bruce Pearl Lost in semifinal.
2019 Texas Tech 17th Chris Beard Lost in final.
2017 Gonzaga* 20th Mark Few Lost in final.
2017 South Carolina 9th Frank Martin Lost in semifinal.
2011 Virginia Commonwealth 10th Shaka Smart Lost in semifinal.
2010 Butler* 10th Brad Stevens Lost in final.
2006 George Mason 4th Jim Larranaga Lost in semifinal.
2001 Maryland* 18th Gary Williams Lost in semifinal.
1999 Connecticut* 21st Jim Calhoun Won NCAA championship.
1997 Minnesota 7th Clem Haskins Lost in semifinal.
1996 Massachusetts 6th John Calipari Lost in semifinal.
1996 Mississippi State 4th Richard Williams Lost in semifinal.
1994 Florida* 4th Lon Kruger Lost in semifinal.
1990 Georgia Tech* 7th Bobby Cremins Lost in semifinal.
1989 Seton Hall 2nd P.J. Carlesimo Lost in final.
1988 Arizona* 7th Lute Olson Lost in semifinal.
1983 Georgia 1st Hugh Durham Lost in semifinal.
1981 Virginia* 2nd Terry Holland Won third-place game.
1979 Indiana State 1st Bill Hodges Lost in final.
1979 Penn 9th Bob Weinhauer Lost consolation game.
1978 Notre Dame 15th Digger Phelps Lost consolation game.
1977 UNC Charlotte 1st Lee Rose Lost consolation game.
1977 UNLV* 3rd Jerry Tarkanian Won third-place game.
1976 Rutgers 2nd Tom Young Lost consolation game.
1975 Syracuse* 5th Roy Danforth Lost consolation game.
1974 Marquette* 9th Al McGuire Lost in final.
1973 Memphis State* 4th Gene Bartow Lost in final.
1973 Providence* 5th Dave Gavitt Lost consolation game.
1972 Florida State 2nd Hugh Durham Lost in final.
1971 Western Kentucky 7th John Oldham Won third-place game.

*School subsequently returned to Final Four.