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Remember the days of two mid-majors in the Final Four? That was only three years ago.
Since then, it’s been some of the chalkiest Final Fours in history. Last year had all four No. 1 seeds reach the game’s biggest stage for just the second time ever.
With this stark contrast, it led us to ask the question: when is the next time one of our beloved mid-majors will make the Final Four? One of the next two years, three or four years from now, five-10 years away or more than a decade from now.
It was a good run of mid-majors over the last 20 years getting to the Final Four, even if it’s now three straight tourneys without a mid-major reaching the last weekend.
We start in 2006. Jim Larrañaga took 11-seed George Mason, who barely squeaked into the field, to the national semifinal. The Patriots knocked off one of the heavy favorites for the national championship in UConn in the regional final.
Two years later saw Memphis, a Conference USA standout, come painstakingly close to winning the national championship, but we can thank Mario Chalmers for forcing overtime with his game-tying 3 as Kansas won it all.
Then we had Butler out of the Horizon League. Ah yes, our Bulldogs. We are forever a Gordon Hayward fan club. He was so close to hitting an all-timer to give Butler the title 2010. But it clanked off the glass and rim, and Duke walked away with the trophy. A year later, the Bulldogs were right back on the first Monday of April but were denied a championship once again – this time by UConn.
Staying in 2011, the First Four came into existence, and we had two mid-majors in the Final Four. Shaka Smart and VCU joined Butler there as they went from the First Four to the Final Four. Fast forward two years, and Wichita State ‘shocked’ its way to the Final Four as No. 9 seed. More 11-seed magic happened in 2018 when Sister Jean and Loyola Chicago kept winning close games to run all the way to the Final Four. Houston gave us a run to the national semis out of the American in 2021.
Then comes 2023. San Diego State and Florida Atlantic. Two mid-majors in the Final Four for the first time in a dozen years. And they met in the semifinals, which meant we were guaranteed to have a representative in the championship game. How was it decided? Lamont Butler, perhaps you’ve heard of him. He gave the Aztecs the win with a buzzer-beater, but a title for SDSU was not in the cards. UConn once again denied us a championship.
On average, there has been a mid-major in the Final Four every other year as 10 mid-majors have reached that stage the last 20 years. So, let’s hope we get another one soon.
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