Was it Kent St. getting to the Elite 8? Just curious....hopefully one of u can help. Thanks!

As far as I know, Kent State reaching the Elite 8 was the furthest a MAC team ever got...

Yes, Kent State. Several others have made the Sweet 16, including Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Ohio, Miami.

LongtimeFan Wrote:Yes, Kent State. Several others have made the Sweet 16, including Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Ohio, Miami.

Actually, Ohio made the Final 8 in 1964, beating Louisville and Kentucky before losing to Michigan. :)

Actually, OU made the Elite 8 (1964, I think). This was back before the tournament expanded, so OU won fewer games to get there than Kent, but faced mainly conference champions.

Falconfreak90 Wrote:As far as I know, Kent State reaching the Elite 8 was the furthest a MAC team ever got...

One would have to go WAY back to find another Elite 8 team... to the 40s, 50s or 60s.

BobcatFan Wrote:Actually, OU made the Elite 8 (1964, I think). This was back before the tournament expanded, so OU won fewer games to get there than Kent, but faced mainly conference champions.

Yes, there were only 24 teams in the field that year, so getting into the final 8 was a much easier thing to do.

Back in those days, there were a lot of excellent teams who didn't win their conferences and did not get invites. The NIT back then was a powerhouse event and its champion could rightly challenge the NCAA champ. It's like if UNC, who is ahead in the ACC right now, got the NCAA invitation, and Wake and Duke were left out. They may be top 20 teams, but they were out. Some weak conference champions were in. Not to say OU was one of those weak teams--they had some strong teams who could compete on a national scale I hear.
It was a whole different era.

Miami has been to the Sweet 16 4 times, the most of any team considered a midmajor...1958, 1969, 1978, 1999. Both OU and Kent reached the Elite 8 in their only Sweet 16 appearance. Ball State and Eastern Michigan have gone to the Sweet 16.

1979 UT Rockets#5 seed lose to #1 Mideast seed Notre Dame 79-71
in Sweet 16 appearance.ND loses to Michigan State #2 Mideast seed.Michigan State with Magic Johnson beats Indiana State and Larry
Bird 75-64.

CMU also made the Sweet 16 in 1975. That year, the Chippewas (22-6) were led by future NBA players Dan Roundfield and James McElroy. CMU beat Georgetown 77-75 in its first game, then lost to Kentucky, which eventually won the national championship.

The following year, a WMU team that featured future NBA player Paul Griffin defeated Virginia Tech in its first game, before losing to Marquette.

DICK Wrote:Miami has been to the Sweet 16 4 times, the most of any team considered a midmajor...1958, 1969, 1978, 1999. Both OU and Kent reached the Elite 8 in their only Sweet 16 appearance. Ball State and Eastern Michigan have gone to the Sweet 16.

What about Gonzaga?

To go way back in time, Bowling Green played Depaul (George Mikan) back in the early '50's for the NIT title in Madison Square Gardens. This was back when the NIT was considered the premier post-season tournament in the country.
Also, BG with Nate Thurmond and Howard Komives lost to Illinois by 2 points back in the 1962-63 season in the NCAA's after BG had beaten Notre Dame in their first game. Back then I believe there were only 24 teams that made the tournament. Some teams received first round byes back then. BG was the only team to beat the eventual champion Loyola of Chicago that year. At Anderson Arena BG won by 19 points and the Loyola coach said he knew when he walked into the building 2 hours before the game they were in trouble. The place was already rocking. I listened to it on the radio.

DrTorch Wrote:

DICK Wrote:Miami has been to the Sweet 16 4 times, the most of any team considered a midmajor...1958, 1969, 1978, 1999.  Both OU and Kent reached the Elite 8 in their only Sweet 16 appearance.  Ball State and Eastern Michigan have gone to the Sweet 16.

What about Gonzaga?

Gonzaga is a very RECENT (historically speaking) ESPN phenomenon much like Florida State football and watching the NFL draft live.

Dayons_Den Wrote:

DrTorch Wrote:

DICK Wrote:Miami has been to the Sweet 16 4 times, the most of any team considered a midmajor...1958, 1969, 1978, 1999.  Both OU and Kent reached the Elite 8 in their only Sweet 16 appearance.  Ball State and Eastern Michigan have gone to the Sweet 16.

What about Gonzaga?

Gonzaga is a very RECENT (historically speaking) ESPN phenomenon much like Florida State football and watching the NFL draft live.

A recent phenomenon that produced John Stockton?

Willo Wrote:A recent phenomenon that produced John Stockton?

Yep, exactly.

What was Kent's final ranking after the Elite 8 appearance?

I know that if you go back in time they used to take some (maybe all) of the final polls either before the NCAA tourney, or even during it. I'm pretty sure that the final AP poll for 1978 had us (Miami) at #19...that was after we beat defending champ Marquette in the first round (32 team brackets) of the NCAA tourney, but before we lost badly to eventual NCAA champ Kentucky in the second round...pretty wierd.

Also, WMU's 25-3 team was ranked #10 in the final polls, but not sure if that was before the NCAA tourney as well. WMU won its first round game, and then lost a close one (to Marquette) in the sweet sixteen round.

I think we were #12. I also remember someone's ranking had us #8, but it was not one of the two major polls. We were not ranked at all during the regular season due to our slow start, despite winning 14 in a row up to the MAC tourney. Streak finally went to 20.

Ohio was ranked in top 15 in Dec 1994 after winning the preseason Nit that year(wins at Ohio State, at Virginia, then New Mexico State& GW in NYC). The 4-0 Bobcats gave #3 Kentucky a big scare at Rupp in their next game out, but lost. They were ranked until losses At Xavier and At Iowa that month. Ball State was ranked a couple years ago after a great Maui Invitational. However, the 1964 Bobcats and The 2002 Kent State team were the MAC's elite 8 teams. Ohio was national runner up in 1941 to Long Island U. in the NIT. That banner still flies in the Convo rafters.