If you get the sense there's something familiar about the Final Four field, you're right. This is the third appearance by North Carolina in the nine years of this decade, and its eighth Final Four trip since 1990. That's more than any other school, equal to the number of berths earned over those 19 seasons by the entire Pac-10, and more than the Big East.
UNC and Duke have combined for 15 Final Four representatives since 1990, more than any other conference except the ACC. The rest of the ACC managed four trips to the Final Four since 1990.
Duke and North Carolina combined for five national championships since 1990 - the Blue Devils in 1991, 1992, and 2001, and the Tar Heels in 1993 and 2005. That total matches the high for any league other than the ACC.
The SEC earned five titles during the same span, two by Florida, two by Kentucky, and one by Arkansas. The SEC has no team in this year's Final Four.
|
FOURTUITOUS |
||
| No. | League/School | Members Or Years |
| 19 | ACC | North Carolina (8), Duke (7), Georgia Tech (2), Maryland (2) |
| 15 | Duke/UNC | 1990, 1991 (2), 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 |
| 2004, 2005, 2008 | ||
| 13 | Big 10 | Michigan State (4), Indiana (2), Michigan (2), Ohio State (2), Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin |
| 12 | SEC | Florida (4), Kentucky (4), Arkansas (2), LSU, Mississippi State |
| 9 | Big 12 | Kansas (5), Oklahoma State (2), Oklahoma, Texas |
| 8 | Pac-10 | UCLA (4), Arizona (3), Stanford |
| 8 | UNC | 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2008 |
| 7 | Duke | 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2001, 2004 |
| 5 | Big East | Connecticut (2), Syracuse (2), Georgetown (1) |
| 5 | Kansas | 1991, 1993, 2002, 2003, 2008 |
| 4 | Florida | 1994, 2000, 2006, 2007 |
| 4 | Kentucky | 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998 |
| 4 | Michigan St. | 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005 |
| 4 | UCLA | 1995, 2006, 2007, 2008 |
| LEAGUELY SPEAKING Final Four Appearances, Titles By League Since 1990 |
||||
| League | Total | 2000-08 | 1990-99 | Titles |
| ACC | 19 | 8 | 11 | 6 |
| Big East | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Big 10 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| Big 12 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| Pac-10 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| SEC | 12 | 4 | 8 | 5 |
Of 10 Final Four entrants since 1990 that did not represent power conferences, only UNLV in 1990 won the championship.
Over the past decade, for all the parity palaver, only four teams from outside the power conferences have reached the Final Four, the college game's biggest stage. Those were Marquette in 2003 and Louisville in 2005, both prior to joining the Big East; George Mason in 2006; and Memphis this year. That's 10 percent of the field in the national semifinals from outside the elite circle since the 1999 season, enough to give the illusion of inclusion without much tolerance of any actual intrusion.