Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

There are over 350 D-I basketball teams in the country. About 15 years or so ago someone on here started "the list" of the teams with the longest NCAA Tournament drought and updated it each year as the list grew shorter and shorter for BG's bad company. At the time the list surfaced, BG was ahead of about 35 or so teams that had a longer drought. Well, according to Briggs' article in The Blade, it's now down to just two...I repeat...TWO...

"The Falcons own the third-longest NCAA Tournament drought in the country — behind only Dartmouth (1959) and Tennessee Tech (1963). Five original NCAA teams, including soon-to-be-dancing Northwestern, never have made the tournament."

So of the 350-plus teams, only 2 schools have had a longer drought. Incredible. And even if you factor in teams that have never been in it, that only makes a total of 7, and Northwestern is coming off the list so that'll make it just 6. Either way you look at it, 2 or 6, it's beyond embarrassing.

And Northern Kentucky just became eligible this year and in its first year of eligibility won the Horizon tournament.

If we were in the Horizon league we would've gone a bunch of times ....ok..maybe a few

BGSU33 wrote: So of the 350-plus teams, only 2 schools have had a longer drought. Incredible. And even if you factor in teams that have never been in it, that only makes a total of 7, and Northwestern is coming off the list so that'll make it just 6. Either way you look at it, 2 or 6, it's beyond embarrassing.

I think Briggs simplified my list more than I would have. Here is where it stood at the end of last season:

Columbia: Division I since 1948. Last appeared in 1968.
Tennessee Tech: Division I since 1956. Last appeared in 1963.
Maine: Division I since 1962.
New Hampshire: Division I since 1962.
Dartmouth: Division I since 1948. Last appeared in 1959.
Army: Division I since 1948.
Citadel: Division I since 1948.
Northwestern: Division I since 1948.
St. Francis (N.Y.): Division I since 1948.
William & Mary: Division I since 1948.

Northwestern is almost certainly going to the tournament. When the Wildcats are picked, only nine other schools will have been on the schneid as long.

Schadenfreude wrote:

BGSU33 wrote: So of the 350-plus teams, only 2 schools have had a longer drought. Incredible. And even if you factor in teams that have never been in it, that only makes a total of 7, and Northwestern is coming off the list so that'll make it just 6. Either way you look at it, 2 or 6, it's beyond embarrassing.

I think Briggs simplified my list more than I would have. Here is where it stood at the end of last season:

Columbia: Division I since 1948. Last appeared in 1968.
Tennessee Tech: Division I since 1956. Last appeared in 1963.
Maine: Division I since 1962.
New Hampshire: Division I since 1962.
Dartmouth: Division I since 1948. Last appeared in 1959.
Army: Division I since 1948.
Citadel: Division I since 1948.
Northwestern: Division I since 1948.
St. Francis (N.Y.): Division I since 1948.
William & Mary: Division I since 1948.

Northwestern is almost certainly going to the tournament. When the Wildcats are picked, only nine other schools will have been on the schneid as long.

Still, only 9 out of 350+ is crazy.

Tradition and BG basketball should never be used in the same sentence.

BGSU33 wrote:
Still, only 9 out of 350+ is crazy.

No doubt. Some bad basketball (but not always; the team has won the MAC regular season several times during the past 50 years), and some bad luck, too.

This only reminds me how lucky i was to have been in school seeing players like Jimmy Darrow, Rex Leach, Nate Thurmond (and his unreal Freshman class). Fun and talented players who DID make BG relevant in roundball.
And i saw Piatkowski and co. Lose the heartbreaker NCAA game in '68.
Perhaps we have a HC who'll get us back to these days.