Pat Dooley’s High Five (March 31st)

In case you are wondering where the Back Nine was this week, I was leveled – and I mean leveled – by a stomach flu that was pure evil.

And then I gave it to my wife, who had to deal with it while plumbers were re-piping our house.

Good times.

It will be back next week but today we wanted to bring you the High Five and in this case with the Final Four set for the weekend, I thought I’d give you five fun facts about the history of the Final Four:

 

1. Florida has been in five which makes it all that more remarkable that a school like Miami went to its first Elite Eight this year. That total ranks in a tie for 17^th all-time, which may not seem like it is that great except that you have to consider that before Billy Donovan, Florida had only been to one. At that point, Florida was tied with FSU for Final Four appearances. The Semis have not added any.

 

2. Florida is third in the SEC in Final Fours behind Kentucky and Arkansas. Kentucky has 17 while Arkansas has six. However, only two of the Razorbacks’ appearances have been since they joined the SEC – in 1994 and ’95 – so technically Florida ranks second in the SEC.

 

3. Since BYU and Xavier did not make the field, two SEC schools moved up on the list of teams that have made the tournament but never made it to the last four. BYU has not made it in 30 NCAA appearances. While Missouri is No. 1 in the SEC with 28 appearances and no Final Fours, Tennessee is now at 24 after their surprisingly bad showing. And Alabama has 22 now. It seems crazy, but it also shows how difficult it is to get there.

 

4. After the top three that we mentioned earlier, only five other SEC teams have made it. That includes LSU with four and four schools that went once each – Auburn and South Carolina recently and Georgia and Mississippi State not so recently. That will change (I guess) when the two new teams join. Oklahoma has been five times and Texas three.

 

5. Here are the number of times this year’s teams have now made it:

North Carolina 21

Duke 17

Kansas 16

Villanova 6

Bluebloods indeed.