MemphisTiger15
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Strength of the Tiger program
Calkins article this morning mentions that its been 40 years since Finch and Co. went to the champ game and today will mark the 22nd NCAA appearance since then. So he says its a "coin flip". Looking further into it:
21st bid in last 32 years (Lee's freshman yr)
8th bid in last 9 years
10th bid in last 12 years (since the 7 year drought from 96-02)
18th bid in 29 years (since the tournament went to 64 teams)
All much more than a "coin flip". I know its not a birthright, but a bid 75- 80% of the time isn't an unreasonable expectation, IMO. Not with the facilities, money invested in the program, local recruiting base, etc.
30 NCAA wins in the last 32 years isn't too shabby. Especially when you consider an 8 yr drought with 0 wins during the end of Finch/Tic/beginning of Cal era. Not on the level of Duke, UNC, KY, Kansas, etc but its not like we are some Cinderella program, either.
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| 03-16-2014 10:35 AM |
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hollywoodtigerhound
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RE: Strength of the Tiger program
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| 03-16-2014 10:43 AM |
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Tampa Bay Tiger
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Strength of the Tiger program
Programs can grow, decline, or stagnate though, so expectations can and should be fluid. Most here would argue that the Memphis brand has strengthened in the last decade. Most would argue facilities have improved too. You can't just look at past results in a vacuum because programs evolve with everything else.
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| 03-16-2014 11:02 AM |
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Downtown Tiger
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RE: Strength of the Tiger program
Calkins goes back to 73 which IMO is not a good sample size. The tourney was 24-25 teams back then. The 72 squad makes the tourney with ease by today's standards. The correct way to look at it is post 1980 which is what I call the "ESPN era". Nine sweet 16s since 1982 is pretty good. How many teams have more during that period?
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| 03-16-2014 12:01 PM |
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Tiger46
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RE: Strength of the Tiger program
(03-16-2014 12:01 PM)Downtown Tiger Wrote: Calkins goes back to 73 which IMO is not a good sample size. The tourney was 24-25 teams back then. The 72 squad makes the tourney with ease by today's standards. The correct way to look at it is post 1980 which is what I call the "ESPN era". Nine sweet 16s since 1982 is pretty good. How many teams have more during that period?
Quite a few, more than I thought.
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| 03-16-2014 12:40 PM |
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Downtown Tiger
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I Root For: Memphis
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RE: Strength of the Tiger program
(03-16-2014 10:35 AM)MemphisTiger15 Wrote: Calkins article this morning mentions that its been 40 years since Finch and Co. went to the champ game and today will mark the 22nd NCAA appearance since then. So he says its a "coin flip". Looking further into it:
21st bid in last 32 years (Lee's freshman yr)
8th bid in last 9 years
10th bid in last 12 years (since the 7 year drought from 96-02)
18th bid in 29 years (since the tournament went to 64 teams)
All much more than a "coin flip". I know its not a birthright, but a bid 75- 80% of the time isn't an unreasonable expectation, IMO. Not with the facilities, money invested in the program, local recruiting base, etc.
30 NCAA wins in the last 32 years isn't too shabby. Especially when you consider an 8 yr drought with 0 wins during the end of Finch/Tic/beginning of Cal era. Not on the level of Duke, UNC, KY, Kansas, etc but its not like we are some Cinderella program, either.
Here's something else to look at. Since Cal's 3rd season 2002-03 we've only missed the tourney twice: the Sean Banks-debacle/DWash free throw year in 04-05 and the Cal took the sno cone 09-10 season. Both of which I would call aberrations.
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| 03-16-2014 02:05 PM |
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Strength of the Tiger program
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