Most know this I'm sure and we all know IU has fallen in the past years but an astounding stat is this, they have been past the Sweet 16 exactly ONE time since 1993 and that was 2002 on a fluke FF run. That's over 30 years for a historically great program to only get past the S16 once and 22 years since actually making it past a S16. To me that is just a wild stat. Growing up IU was the team you hated.
Regarding IU an Amazing Stat
- Thread starter jedwar
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IU is a cautionary tale to me. After a legendary coach (cal) you can replace with rotating musical chair hires and end up in obscurity.
You're 100% right. Not on IU's level, but DePaul is another. UNLV. I'm sure there are others.
Thanks, OP. It's those kinds of stats that help me stomach our current Final Four drought.
Another: UofL has only won 18% of their last 60 games.
Another: UofL has only won 18% of their last 60 games.
His slide began after 1993 I guess. I know Rick laid some beatings on him.
UCLA to a degree as well, they've had some success after Wooden, but no near the level they had with him.
I can see how the mistake was made. It's been so long ago. Hard to remember details that far back.
They went to the S16 in 2012, 2013 and 2016. They haven’t been to an elite 8 in 21 seasons and counting.
They've also never won the Big 10 Tournament and have only advanced to the Championship Game once, back in 2001, where they lost to Iowa.
100%. And in 2023 the coach is even more important than it was in the past. In the '90s maybe you can still be relatively successful with a mediocre coach at a great program because the program elevated the coach. Hell it happened here to an extent with Tubby, he wasn't elite but the Kentucky brand still helped pull in big recruits.
In 2023 that world doesn't exist anymore. It's all about NIL and who the coach is. Kids don't really care that a program won 5 titles before they were born. They just want to play for the best coaches, get to the NBA, and make some money while doing it. Make the wrong hire and you're on the path to Indiana very quickly. Some people forget that Wall, Cousins, and Bledsoe didn't come to Kentucky to play for Kentucky, they came here to play for Cal. If he didn't replace Gillispie they would have gone to Memphis.
Arkansas is one on a smaller level. They were a regular top 10 team from 1990-96. They won a title in 94 and were national runners-up the next year. They haven’t been to the FF since 1995, and if it wasn’t for back-to-back elite 8s in 2021 and 2022, they’d be looking at 28 years without one.
Good call. Their drop off was stark from 95 then to the 96 season.
Didn't realize that. Crazy. They really are a middle of the pack B10 team.
I guess you could throw in Temple, Syracuse, and St. John's into the discussion at a somewhat lower level (i.e. fewer national titles.) But none has been as spectacular as IU's (and Uavel's). Brings a tear to my eye...in a very good way.
I love the fact they are irrelevant and hope they stay that way forever !! and I hope UofSmell does as well!
Some good calls there as well. Maybe Georgetown too.
I used to follow Georgetown hoping to see them lose. They were in my top 5 of most despised programs. However, in recent years I don't even give them a second thought. They are completely irrelevant. Their memories of great moments in basketball have to be like Al Bundy reflecting on his HS football career.
I still haven't gotten over 1984. That hurt me. One of my favorite teams. Maybe my favorite that didn't win a title.
Ditto. I remember walking out on the front porch after the game and just standing there with my hands on my hips staring up at the sky wondering what just happened. 3 for 33 is what happened. Still stings to this day...LOVED that team.
Me too. First game I shed tears on. We came out and was playing really well. Then the 2nd half we could not hit anything and Michael Graham ate us up.
That was an amazing Final Four. Virginia with Sampson. Houston with Akeem, UK with Bowie and Turpin and Georgetown with Ewing.
What’s sad is that we have the 2nd longest streak of not making it past the sweet 16 among bluebloods 😞 Gold standard!
Wait. What were we talking about?
It's hard for anyone here born after 1990 or so to really understand the IU-UK rivalry and just how intense it was between both teams and fanbases. I know we have a lot of younger fans here that just don't understand that this wasn't some casual rivalry. It was THE rivalry. I've always had my share of disdain for U of L but back in the early 90s, Louisville-UK was nothing compared to IU-UK for me. This could have been because of where I grew up (western KY, right on the Indiana-Kentucky border). My dad worked in Indiana and I spent time there with him. All the local channels were broadcast out of Evansville, so when it came to sports coverage it was evenly split between Indiana and Kentucky.
This stat is absolutely hilarious to me. I wish I could go back in time and show every single person who used to give me a hard time about being a UK fan in the early 90s the 30 years of non-results they were about to see from their program. They never would have believed it, lol
This stat is absolutely hilarious to me. I wish I could go back in time and show every single person who used to give me a hard time about being a UK fan in the early 90s the 30 years of non-results they were about to see from their program. They never would have believed it, lol
They were complete idiots letting Kelvin Sampson go with that texting nonsense. They’d be perennial top 10 with him coaching.
This is so true. 70's, 80's, 90's it was *intense*. I currently live just north of Evansville and you rarely hear a peep out of IU fans. Oh, you see some license plates and knick-knacks here and there, now and then, but there is no back and forth of any kind. Just silence.
YEAH BUT WATFORD HAD THAT GAME WINNING SHOT!!!
I had an IU fan remind me of the “Wat shot” recently and when I mentioned that we beat them in the tournament and won the title that year, it was like they didn’t even remember that happening. Lol
