Are there any “First Time in Final Four History” distinctions here on the eve of the big event? My initial thought was Stevens playing Cal Lutheran tomorrow must certainly be the first time schools located this far apart have ever played in a Final Four? NOPE! In 2019 Stevens played UC Santa Cruz in a semi, and last time I checked out a number line, 2,960 was 139 farther from the origin than 2,821, as in miles, I mean. Thinking that wasn’t changed with the roll out of the “New Math,” and also mildly surprised to find out Santa Cruz is as far North on the Pacific Coast from Cal Lutheran as St. John Fisher is to NYU. Already being in a “Proximity” mode of thought, I then suspected Vassar & NYU would have to be the shortest distance ever between Final Four opponents? NOPE! In 2021 Dominican played Carthage in a semi, and it turns out, even though they aren’t in the same state, 74 miles apart is still 5 miles closer than the distance from Poughkeepsie (Vassar) to Manhattan (NYU), both of these being in the same state. Also, New Paltz and Stevens, a 2015 Final Four match, are the same 79 miles apart as NYU (Manhattan) is to Vassar (Poughkeepsie), too. All of this making both this year’s semi-finals matches Silver medalists in the Olympic category, “All-Time Longest and Shortest Distance Between Schools Playing in the Final Four.” Now, if we just mandate the shortest distance needs to be teams from the same state, like the “Price Is Right’s” winner of the Showcase mandates not going over the actual price, then Vassar & NYU would get Gold, even if there are some in New York City who would protest, vehemently disagreeing they live in the same state as those from Poughkeepsie.
It got me thinking about that 2015 Final Four between those 2 teams mentioned above, New Paltz & Stevens. I seem to remember Stevens spent some time in the UVC in the early years. Was that the only other time 2 teams from the UVC met in the Final Four besides this year? Sure enough it was, from the UVC, anyway. Last year Stevens, now in the MAC, met Messiah, also from the MAC, in a national semi. So it looks like in ’24 we have just the third time two teams from the same conference will have met in a semi, including each of the last couple years, and the first time not to include Stevens, too. In 2021, Dominican and Benedictine, both from the NACC, were also in the same Final Four, but did not play each other, making it 4 times in history there have been multiple teams from the same conference as part of a Final Four. It happening so few times ever, thus making it even more ironic neither of the two playing each other tomorrow evening in the second National Semi were the highest regional ranked team from their own conference the last reporting period before the committee convened to build this year’s bracket.
Right about the moment this all started me thinking about the prospect for 3 tournament teams being from the same conference, I remembered seeing Nazareth on the other side of that 2015 bracket with Stevens, then of the UVC & New Paltz, too. This HAD TO BE the only time 3 teams from the same conference found themselves in a Final Four, right? Sure enough it was, but the championship that year was Stevens defeating Springfield, as Nazareth didn’t advance, so we are still waiting on a day when two teams from the same conference might play each other in a National Championship final.
Get very comfortable, as I suspect we will be waiting for a while! First of all, the days of 3 teams from the same conference earning bids is likely a thing of the past, given so few at-large bids and more conferences popping up almost every year. Second, in the limited cases there are even two who qualify, they have to be on opposite sides of the bracket to have a chance for it to happen. Like #3 Southern Virginia at the bottom and #9 Juniata in the top this year, unlike #6 NYU and #7 Vassar, both on the bottom, making it impossible to play each other in a final. Meeting Southern Virginia in a championship match 3 days from now would have meant Juniata defeating 2 of the best 4 teams in the land, first. Each one defensively superior to that of a Springfield resistance. Think about what’s required to have two teams from the same conference on opposite sides of a bracket, and seeded to have a path of resistance for which each winning no less than 3 consecutive matches is even remotely likely to happen.
It won’t happen from a conference with great depth top to bottom, if or when it ever does. I am almost positive of that! We learned in Week #10, just 6 weeks ago, when in the same 24 hour period the AVCA coaches poll voted 7 UVC teams into its top 20, while Pond Talk was asking the question, “Is this the first year the UVC doesn’t have a National Title contender?” Makes perfectly good sense, sort of… You can’t have that kind of depth and still have two teams unscathed enough to earn the type of seeds on opposite sides of a bracket required to set the stage for a same-conference final to happen. There would likely have to be two dominant teams from a conference with lesser depth, each playing and successfully navigating a few monstrous out-of-conference matches to have a chance, I think. Then you’d still need some upsets because by the time two teams from the same conference are deemed worthy enough to be regional hosts, but won’t be, the NCAA won’t have distinguished the difference between fair and equal yet, still operating with its slippery-slope confounding criteria to decide on National Bid apportionment. And even then, the odds would still be mighty long.
Last week I shared a composite of all teams to have ever played in the National Tournament with their all time records, too. I went back to it earlier in order to update the results from the first two rounds and observed something which made me very curious. Two of the Final Four teams playing this year had never won a tournament match in history before six days ago, and now here they are on the precipice of a National Championship match. This is Cal-Lutheran’s first tourney, but it is NYU’s second, when in their first in 2017, they were one and done. Other than the very first NCAA Tournament in history, it turns out only 2 other times did a team earn their way into a Final Four having never won a tournament game previous to that year. The first being a 2016 Stevenson team, led by setter Rob Wingert, who will be announcing the broadcast this weekend, apparently with a mystery cohost bringing the “gang” back together, and who is one of four members of the 2024 Selection Committee. The 2021 Benedictine squad was the second, whose tournament run that year led them to a championship date with Carthage, exactly one month after losing 3-0, and then taking the Firebirds to a 5th set tie-break as the only team to win a set against the would be champion from 2021. Both these teams from history, who like Cal Lu this year, were in their first tournament ever as they advanced to their first, and to date, their only Final Four. Of course, since these events were five years apart with a cancelled Pandemic season between them, 2024 marks the first time in Final Four history there will be two teams playing for a championship berth, a week earlier never having won a match in tournament history. It also makes NYU a kind of unicorn as the first ever Final Four team, having been in the tournament previously and never won a match, to make its way to the Final Four after this fact.
All of the above fascinating facts discovered by continuing to pull on the string, even as it takes me down the rabbit hole. Need to cut this inquiry short for fear curiosity killed the cat with nine lives, and me not knowing if he had any remaining? Don’t want to be responsible for a death of anything except this painful mix and match of old English proverbs in a Jeopardy-like “Before and After” question to its answer. Bring on the Final Four.